Kathleen
Bernkastle-Kues, August 3 – 9, 2013
A small town on the Mosel River seemed like the perfect place to regroup for a week after travelling pretty furiously since leaving Bergen. Wow! What a great choice. The hypenated towns actually represent the towns on either bank of the river, which for some reason always seem to be a completely different town(I am guessing it is because the vast bridges are a fairly recent addition) so the town we actually stayed in was Bernkastle, but you may not be able to find it on the map without the reference to its partner on the other side of the Mosul. We had rented an apartment with a view of the river in a fairly modern building amidst a very historic town. We were excedingly pleased to find a very large, very modern apartment which actually was only one year old and had just been renovated for rental, so that we were actually the first people to stay there and use the new furnishings, towles, bedding, etc. It was ABSOLUTELY a WONDERFUL place and in addition to the large living space included a very large balcony on the third (highest) floor which seemed to hang right over the river itself. We could sit on the balcony in the evening and watch the sun set and the boats (some very large boats, but all very close to the water given the relatively short bridges) go back and forth with their passengers or cargo. The hills were covered with vines in both directions about as far as the eye could see and even the steep parts seemed to have nearly perpendicular vines, which was amazing to look at but frightening to wonder about harvesting.
The Mosul is one of Germany’s largest wine-producing areas and also a favorite destination for cruising tourists (It flows into the Rhine so the lucky tourists get to see both). There are pretty towns all the way up and down the river valley, and it is very close to Luxembourg, Begium and France. The day after we arrived was a Sunday and we decided to take advantage of the non-work-day to visit Luxembourg City in Luxembourg, another country for our list! Luxemborg was so lovely, I have to show you several pictures, so I will put it (and Belgium) in my next post.
The week went by way too quickly. We could have easily spent a month in this heavenly place. We did hiking, biking, more wine-tasting, cooked some local sausage and sauerkraut and even met a very friendly neighbor, Michael, on the next balcony who was there on his own for work during the week and took us one night to an amazing place on the hill way up over town for dinner. It had a wonderful view and I was introduced to eisbein, a German dish that is sort of like a big ham bone with a layer of fat over the meat, that you peal back and enjoy the juicy meat on the inside. Michael was convinced that I didn’t like it (I couldn’t possibly eat it all, it was gigantic!), but actually I thought it was quite juicy and nice. The next evening he invited us along to a local free music show that he was attending with one of his colleagues. Apparently, they have a free show in town every Thursday during the summer, and pick a different street in which to set it up and play. They chose a lovely little square at the top of the main street for this one and the German band played pretty much exclusively US hits from the 80’s and 90’s (which we especially like). The male singer had a fantastic voice and range and could even successfully perform outliers like “Word-up”. We had a great time and probably one too many beers, but were very happy to make a local friend who enriched our time there and was willing to show us the sights. We had to say goodbye at the end of the evening, since he was headed home (close to Hamburg) after work immediately the next day and we were leaving on Saturday for our next German destination, but we won’t forget how friendly he was and how he agreed to translate for us and teach us a few tidbits of German culture. We will certainly show him around next time we he visits the East Coast or Texas!
There really isn’t a ton more to say about Berkastle, except, enjoy the pictures and do visit if you ever get the opportunity….if you are looking for a vacation rental, we can recommend the PERFECT place!
