Rhotenberg to the Mosel River Vallley

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

This morning we got up and enjoyed a nice breakfast of a hard boiled egg, bread, cheese and coffee. We went back to the room to get ready and pack when someone knocked on the door and said that check out was in 15 minutes. What kind of place has check out at 9:45 am? So, we rushed around thankful that at least we didn't have to catch a train. We took our stuff to the car and finished getting ready there.

After all of that we went back into the city and up onto the wall and walked a ways around the city on top of the wall. We did a little more last minute gift buying and then made our way out of the city.

Our next stop: Cochem, a town along the Mosel River known for its white wine. The drive to Cochem was our longest drive yet but it wasn't too bad, mostly autobahn until the last 30 km. Along the way we stopped for linch and caffeine. The rest stops are interesting, you don't have to get off the autobahn, it's set up like a rest stop but with a restaurant, gas station and sometimes even a hotel. While on the autpbahn Jamie got our little VW Golf up to 199 but even with the pedal to the floor that's as fast as the car would go. Most of the time we cruised along at about 150 kmh which is plenty fast.

We arrived in Cochem at 3pm and parked at the winery where we would be staying. We tried to check in but no luck, the place seemed to be desserted. We decided to walk around town and come back a little later to check in. The town is situated on the hills rising up from the banks of the Mosel River. This means that all of the houses and even vineyards are built into the mountainside. It makes for a beautiful sight. Perched up on the highest hill is the Cochem castle which is now a museum. It was really warm out so we got an ice cream cone and wandered down towards the river front. There were a lot of people biking along the river. By the way they were dressed and the load on their bikes I would guess that they were riding all along the valley making a vacation out it. As we walked we made note of the places we would want to come back to the next day.

We made our way back to the hotel where we found the proprietor and found out why no one was around. It is time to bottle the wine and since it's such a small vineyard they do it the old fashioned way, one bottle at a time with a little 3 man crew, filling, corking and storing. We were shown to our room and decided to drive down to Beilstein for dinner.

The original plan had been to stay in Beilstein but they were booked by the time we contacted them. The town of Beilstein makes Cochem look like a booming metropolis, it is so small! We began with a walk up to the castle ruins. Unfortunately this cost money and was only open until 6pm, we were too late. We settled on a little path that gave us a great view of the river valley and the town across the river. I love this place! Unfortunately my immune system does not.  All of the Zyrtec in the world could not stop my sneezing, it was a bit ridiculous and my eyes felt like there was sand in them and I wanted to claw my eyea out!

Anyway, aside from the allergies I loved it! We went to eat along the river front, I got a beef stew with spãtzle noodles and had a wonderful dry riesling with it. For dessert I had apple pie while Jamie had rhubarb and I had some dessert envy, hers was so good!

We left Beilstein and headed back to Cochem where we parked at the winery and walked into town for another glass of wine. We found a place that was open and enjoyed another wonderful white wine.

It was a good day, full of beauty and good wine!

Suzie :-)