The UNESCO Rhine River Gorge

 C-A-S-T-L-E  D-A-Y

July 11

If you're considering a European river cruise there is no place better..... NO PLACE BETTER than to sail the Rhine River because THE DAY of a Rhine River cruise is the day you sail through the UNESCO protected Rhine River Gorge and get to see all the majestic, medieval castles lining the river.  Some have been refurbished and converted to luxury hotels, others still remain in ruins.  But all of them are unique and just so cool to see.  Each have their own stories (which would mean nothing to you except to add interest as you sail by) - just seeing them is awe inspiring (in my opinion!).  This is my fourth trip through the Rhine and it was just as great today.  Considering the previous photos of the castles I've taken, I thought today's were the best quality pictures - just seemed like the light, combined with the contrasting colors of the trees in mid-summer to the color of the castles was more vibrant....that's my opinion!  Here's a look at the best pics of the castles.....

This castle was actually seen BEFORE we hit the gorge

Dotting many of the hillsides were vineyards like this - the area is known for their white wines

Straight out of a fairy tale, a typical medieval village which still thrives on the banks of the Rhine River

Note - two castles....and the wall in between.  Owned by the same family, when the parents passed away the two brothers each took a castle (and the blind sister just got some of the family treasure).  The brothers argued and so built a wall between the two of them.  Each morning they would shoot an arrow across the wall toward the other to let them know they were awake and watching them until one day one of the archers fatally killed the one brother :(

The Loreley Rock - legend has it a beautiful siren would sing to the captains through this narrow, rock-invested turn in the Rhine and lead them to crash and sink their ships at this spot.

Just beyond the Loreley Rock is the statute of the Loreley siren

Close-up of just the castle from above

My favorite photo-op spot as you can see two castles at the same time in this shot

The obligatory castle-couple photo op of the day (and the trip!)

The final castle of the day

Rüdesheim Wine Tasting Excursion

Once we'd seen the final castle it was nearly time for lunch.  And by the time lunch was completed we were docking in Rüdesheim.  Our excursion was to take a "choo choo train" as our program director Lucas described it into town where we'd be dropped off at a local winery for a wine tasting.  The wine cellar we were led down into, "The Cave," is the original cellar from medieval days and the family-owned winery business is committed to keeping their small, independent winery as authentic to the ways of the past as possible.  We tasted three white wines with an option to taste the one red wine they produce.  All three were "good," but one was particularly good.  The owner described the process of "ice wine" which we'd never heard of before this trip where you gamble that a frost will freeze the grapes sometime in late fall to early winter and you harvest the grapes frozen.  It produces a much small quantity of wine, but a sweeter and much more expensive wine - we did NOT get to taste this, but I'll look forward to searching for such a wine once we are home.

The Cave Winery

Sampling some of the white wine

Our program director offered to take our photo (the one above) and then included himself in the next photo.  He's a GREAT guy and an excellent program director.  We've enjoyed interacting with him.....MUCH better than the Avalon program director (very "Viking-like" - and that's about as high a compliment I can give!

We set sail out of Rüdesheim a little after 2am this morning headed for Ludwigshafen where we are expected to dock around lunch time.  We will board busses to ride to Heidelberg and explore the castle and old town for about three hours before returning back to the ship.