Riding Down the Rhine Valley & Perusing Prague

The next leg of our adventure took us to Koblenz, Germany. Here we took full advantage of one of the many perks of our EURail pass and spent a whole day riding the Köln-Düsseldorfer paddle steamer all the way up and down the Rhine River Valley. We spent the day admiring the quaint little riverside towns, the beautiful vineyard covered vistas, and the historical hilltop castles once belonging to the wealthy robber barons of the area. It was nice to be able to do some sightseeing from a different perspective.

The Köln-Düsseldorfer paddle steamer has been paddling the Rhine since 1913.

 

We rode the paddle steamer from Koblenz up the river to Rudesheim and sat at the bow of the boat for the whole 6 hour ride. Even though it was a bit cold and misty it made for quite a pleasant trip since we were the only ones crazy enough or dressed well enough to outlast the elements. Near mid-day it warmed up quite a bit which proved to be quite the reward because the bow filled with people and we had the best seats on the boat.

One of the 18 castles that line the hilltops along the banks of the Rhine River. Back in the day these nobles and wealthy landowners would close off the river and extract tolls from passing cargo ships to line their own pockets, which is how they came to be known as robber barons.

On the way back to Koblenz we decided it was time to warm up a bit and enjoy the view from inside the boat. I was a little sad we didn’t get the chance to do one of the dinner cruses through the canals in Amsterdam so Matt surprised me and we had a lovely three course meal aboard the boat on way back. This turned out to be the right thing to do as it started pouring at about the point we got our food. We were glad we weren’t one of the many on the bow scrambling for a nice warm seat inside. 

Steering the ship though the rough waters of the Rhine. 

No need to worry, we made it back ok!

ELTZ CASTLE
The next day we took a nice scenic hike though the town of Moselkern and up the hill to Eltz Castle. 

The walk up to the entrance of Eltz Castle

Eltz Castle is the only Medieval castle on the left bank of the Moselle River to never be destroyed. It also still belongs to the original family that started living there in the 12th century and has been passed down through 33 generations. It truly feels just like a castle from a story book!


Inside the courtyard.



PRAGUE
That night we took the overnight train to Prague. Let me give you a bit of advice, if traveling by train do all that you can to get a place to lie down. The seats, although better than the bus, are not akin to a restful night’s sleep. Don’t get me wrong - they do recline about twice as much as your average airline seat and offer much more feet room, which is great. This would have been fine and dandy but the moment we entered that train car I knew we were in for a long night. It wasn’t just hot, it was sweltering - like second circle of hell sweltering! I have never been so miserably hot aboard a mode of public transportation in all my life as I was that night. I don’t know how anyone slept at all. Matt and I both stripped down to as little as we could, even including our socks and Matt is never comfortable without his socks! Then to top it all off we had to deal with the obnoxiously nosey and noisy children behind us who, I swear woke up just before the break of dawn and decided it was time for the rest of the train to join them. And one of them (Maxwell I believe his name was) just wouldn’t stop staring at me. I mean it was borderline creepy. Needless to say we were glad when we finally made it to Prague. And all in all besides the sauna-like temperatures and the incessant peering eyes of Maxwell it was better than the bus!

We celebrated our arrival and survival with a nice Czech meal!
 

It was time for a well deserved giant Czech beer after that.

When the waitress came to take our order we told her what we thought we wanted and she looks at us both, shakes her head and says, “oh no. You don’t want that.” We were both like, “alright… How about this?” Her response was something along the lines of, “not that either.” We both looked at each other and then at her and said, “what should we have?” We ended up with the Pork Knee and a Mix Grill Plate. It was absolutely delicious but not what either of us were planning on having. I’m not sure why they have a menu but we were glad the waitress didn’t let us make the wrong choices.


When Matt’s Knee came out I was pleasantly pleased to have the plate of meat that was pre-boned. I looked at him and asked, “how do you eat that?” His response, “with a knife!” (referring to the knife that had been shoved into it). Although it seemed intimidating and quite scary looking at first it proved to be the better of the two meals in the end. I made sure to do my bit of picking pieces from his plate when he wasn’t looking.

BONE CHURCH
The next day we decided last minute to take a beautiful scenic train trip through the countryside to see the bone church.

Watching the fields fly by on the way to the Bone Church.

Like the catacombs in Paris, this is a result of the plague, but instead of just throwing them all underground, here they tried to turn the ugliness of the plague into something beautiful.

In total there are some 40 thousand people worth of bones decorating this church.

PRAGUE CITY

The following day we explored many of the sites the city of Prague has to offer.  We went to the Jewish Quarter, saw the town square and the astronomical clock, went to the top of the Klementinum along with the library and Mirror Chapel inside, we walked along Charles Bridge, listened to some street musicians and ate some more delicious local food. Of all the cities we’ve been to, so far Prague is near the top of my list of the ones I liked most! It’s a must-see for anyone traveling to the Czech Republic!

The gravestones in the Jewish Cemetery.

When the Jews ran out of space they would just bury the dead on top of one another. Because of this it is very crowded, but there is a kind of closeness and sense of beauty in all of its clutter.

Enjoying the view of the city from the top of the Astronomical Tower at the Klementinum.

The breathtaking decoration inside the Mirror Chapel in the Klementinum.

And the absolutely stunning library and globe collection inside the Klementinum.

We tried to avoid the rain whenever possible but we got caught in a squall when looking at the local art along the Charles Bridge. Too bad we didn’t have an umbrella like in all the pictures.

We wrapped up our time in Prague with beers, brats, and what I called “rotating bread” (a sweet bread that they wrap around what looks like rolling pins and is cooked on a rotisserie over an open fire) in the town square! What could be better than good food at good prices to make the day!

Now we head off to the train station to start our long train adventure to Greece! Keep reading to find out where we end up next!