Sunday 10th September
The morning that greets us today is beautiful, we have docked in the early hours at a small hamlet called Ferudenberg, when we draw back the drapes it is to shimmering sunlight on a calm river, reflecting puffy white clouds from the sky above.
Below a bridge behind us two white swans swim lazily towards the ship, to check us out. The sounds of silence are all there is to hear when we open the balcony doors, just peaceful serenity. Behind the bridge sits a hillside of pointed pines dotted with deciduous trees just starting their seasonal colour change. In the midst of this a round castle turret flies two flags, further up the hill another square taller turret, part of the same castle built from local red stone, stands watch over the river below. In front of us the morning sunlight shimmers off the water leading the eye towards a river bend. A three quarter moon sits clear and bright in the blue sky above, the wind has dropped off from yesterday leaving a brisk but calm morning.
We have stopped to pass through a lock just around the next bend, taking the opportunity for some braves souls to disembark with bicycles to take a bike ride to Wertheim our final stop for the day but still a few hours away. Around the bend we pass through the Lock, a fascinating experience, the gate opens, we glide in with less than a meter/3′ and 3″ on either side. The Lock gates close behind us, ahead of us the lock begins to fill with foaming water, as the water pours in the ship is raised almost imperceptibly higher and higher until we are all raised above the lock wall. The gates ahead of us open and we sail out into a channel that takes us through to another part of the Main river.
We continue to float on serenely, hamlets and castle ruins pass us by, church bells ring in the distance calling the faithful to prayer. Sunday morning on the river peaceful, serene. Somewhere a German version of Mr Toad and Ratty are sunning themselves in tiny deck chairs on the riverbank, while Badger and Mole are napping underground after Sunday lunch. The landscape is engulfing me, time to wake up stop dreaming as we pull into Wertheim for our next scheduled tour.
The dream continues, brightly coloured ginger bread buildings dating back to the 1500’s surround us as we walk into the market square under a low archway that once was tall enough for a horse carriage to fit through. Is this Alice in Wonderland territory or should I wait for the newspaper taxis to appear at the shore. The plasticine porters with kaleidoscope eyes are looking at me, is your audio device working sir? Ok let’s begin the tour.
This Rhine town floods a lot, so much so that doorways are covered with markings indicating the levels the flood waters have risen to, going back to the 1500’s. The archway we entered the market square by is only low because the river silt from flooding kept raising the street level until it is what it is today. The market square is full of pop up stalls, selling beer, wine and food, the Germans love a festival if there isn’t one then they create one. The cobbled stone market square is ringed by buildings that originally held all the guilds of the town, the coffee shop is still a coffee shop after 300 years, the bakers are thirteenth generation bakers. The town has a centuries old glass blowing tradition although we couldn’t see any of this today.
This was a Protestant town with Catholics on the other side of the river in Bavaria there were often disagreements. Churches here date back to the fourteenth century, the castle that overlooks the town from upon high originates from the Twelfth century.
Our brief tour of this magical town comes to an end, we return to our meeting place to catch buses for a walk in the woods, now we are back in faery land, or more precisely Hansel and Gretel territory, there are wolves in those woods we are told, I grab hold of grandma, you have to look after grandmas around these parts. A short bus ride over the bridge that fords the Main river here, also acts as the border between Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria then we arrive high in the hills over looking Wertheim. We reach our destination a dense forest that we are encouraged to enter, we walk along a gravel path, little creatures scurry away from us as we approach, is Mr. Wolf glaring at us with red hungry eyes from behind a nearby tree, eyeing off the grandmas in the group? We walk on finally emerging from the forest, following hand dressed moss covered dry stone walls made from the same local red stone, that stretches for hundreds of meters, part of a terracing project that goes back hundreds of years. The remains of old orchards rise above us and are visible below, In places we can now see the vineyards rising almost vertically above the stone wall in front of us.
We keep walking leaving the forest behind, eventually coming upon a little bit if suburbia that leads us to a winery where we are to experience some local wines and eat some local pretzels. Usually I would think beer with pretzels but today wine will be the drink of choice. The vineyard is apparently a working one, specialising in hand crafted wines, made from hand picked grapes that grow high in these terraced vineyards that no machine could ever pick. We take our seats in a modern covered open structure opposite a very old barn now housing a couple of stainless steel fermentation tanks. The vigneron introduces himself, his family has made wine in this district for many generations, he invites us to try some of the wines. We are given one empty average size wine glass each, the first wine poured is a large helping of sparkling Prosecco. Next we meet the baker from the town, his family has baked here for thirteen generations, he is a humorous man to say the least, and begins to tell us the story of how pretzels are made. He introduces us to his son a nine year old, who demonstrates how pretzels are rolled from the base dough then twisted and folded to form the pretzel shape, after this a volunteer guest is invited to make one. He then opens up the floor to questions and so through a question and answer process we learn in a very humorous way all about the origins and making of pretzels. The baker is a natural comedian, with great timing, if you ask a question or answer one correctly your prize is a pretzel. The vintner jumps in occasionally to describe the next wine, each time a full glass is poured as we go through a Pinot Blanc then a Riesling then a red wine similar to a Pinot noir. All the time the dialogue between the vintner and baker is hilariously funny. This was no tasting every one agrees, more like a comic relief show with drinking. We switch to sharing a glass to try and slow down the intake a little. The afternoon speeds by the suns appearance is a welcome addition to the day, with the 45 minute walk here we are all certainly warmed up.
From here we return to the River Duchess and our pending presentation followed by dinner. Tonight our choices are an egg salad or a pot pie appetiser, the pot pie served in a small glass container. A soup, followed by sliced veal shank or breaded ocean trout, both served with carrots and broccoli. We opt for cheese to finish as the red wine being served tonight is worth continuing on with. Another Dornfelder red, light almost of a Pinot noir quality but a little more body, but very easy drinking, that just leaves you wanting more. Mike and a Pauline again join us for dinner tonight, between us we enjoy all the dishes although I must say my trout was still swimming on the plate, in just a little bit too much olive oil for my liking.
Once again the tables are cleared around us and we need to depart for our beds as tomorrow tours start at 9.00am.