Day 7: Bacharach and the Rhine

Today is Tuesday, September 18^th. I slept pretty fitfully in my bunk-bed, since the mattresses were pretty thin. I woke up before 5 AM and read in my bunk until it was time to get up. It rained during the night, and, in the morning it was cold and windy, with drizzle but no steady rain.

Breakfast at the hostel was very good: sliced meat, yogurt, cereal (I had Sugar Crisps) coffee, rolls and cheese. We left right after breakfast (about 7:30) for the walk down to the boat docks. I forgot to bring a map (packed away in my luggage) so we navigated our way down the hill from memory, since the chairlift didn't start working until 9:00 AM. We kept looking for the switchbacks that went down the hill and never saw them. Finally, we came to a bus stop where we found a German woman who pointed and gestured explaining how to get on the bus. It cost 4,40 (2,20 ea) to go to the city center. Kathy tried to get off the bus at the river, but the same lady stood up and told us, "Nein, nein!". Apparently you don't get off wherever you want like you do with our buses.

We had only a short walk from the city center where the bus let us off to the boat docks; we actually got there 15 minutes early. We spoke briefly to the ticket agent who told us we could just walk on with our Eurail pass. The KD line operates a whole fleet of Rhine boats, including the 1913 paddle-wheel steamer Goethe that we took. In the picture, you can see the steamer as well as the fortress across the river.



The trip down the Rhine to our destination (Bacharach) took about four hours. We read along with Rick Steves "Rhine Blitz Tour" notes about the different castles and landmarks like the Loreley Rock.



We got to Bacharach at 13:30 (1:30 PM). It was drizzling just a little, but it was only a short walk to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Kraneturm which was part of the original fortified wall, and contained "crane tower" where cargo would be loaded and unloaded from barges going up and down the Rhine. The hotel was actually full with two of Rick Steves' tours, but when Kathy called the night before from Koblenz, they had just had a cancellation.

Our room was on the third floor, reached by climbing a narrow wooden winding staircase. We were right under the roof, with sloping ceilings and four small windows looking out over the city. Our room was actually a "triple" with an extra bed, but we only had to pay for a double. The owners had added a nice modern bathroom and shower. (Fatima told us at breakfast when the other guests saw how nice the new bathroom was, they had to do the same thing to all of the other rooms.)

After getting our room, we went for a walk to try and find some lunch. I had a 2-Euro bratwurst on a roll at the butcher shop, but Kathy wanted something more substantial, so we went across the street to the Bacharach Pizza and Kebap store, and she ordered the Bacharach Special pizza. (I had a few nibbles because it was actually pretty big.) Our total lunch bill, including drinks and my bratwurst, was 11 E.

After lunch, we walked across the street to the Italian Eis (ice cream) store and had cones and coffee. (I know this sounds like all we do is eat, huh?) I had the Reisling-ice, which is only found here. It tasted kind of like the daquiri-ice flavor from Baskin Robbins. After that, we took out our guidebook and followed it for a walking tour of the city.

We both really recommend the Rick Steves guidebooks, especially the self-guided walking tours. We saw all of the important sights in Bacharach, as well as several things we just wouldn't have found on our own, such as the observation tower just north of the city. (We would never have thought that you could climb it, even if we had noticed it. It just didn't look obviously open to the public.) As we went up to the observation tower, we sampled the grapes (both red and white) from the vineyards that surround the city.

After our walking tour, we went back to the room, and then decided to go out again and climb up to the castle overlooking the city before dinner. Today it's a youth hostel (and has been since 1926). As with the hostel at Koblenz, this one was filled with middle-school-aged children spending the week on a field trip.


After the castle, we climbed down past the ruins of the Werner chapel and then headed back to the hotel for dinner. (I know, I know, more food.) I had schnitzel and fries, and Kathy had a large chicken salad. The schnitzel was just great; salads though are "pre-dressed" and always seem to have more dressing than we're used to. You also don't get a choice of dressing like we're used to in the states.

After dinner we made our last run down down. We picked up a liter of diet coke and four scoops of ice cream this time (I had banana and rum-raisin). While we were out we called home but didn't get through, so we left a message for Hosanna. At 9:30 we climbed our three stories and hit the sack.