Old Retired Guy Blog
Jun 30 - Jul 2, 2010
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Bacharach and St. Goar (Page 2 of 2)After breakfast we took a train back downriver to St. Goar. It's another quaint old town about 10 miles away from Bacharach. I don't think that it's as nice as Bacharach but we went there primarily to see a great old castle named Burg Rheinfels.
The ruins are extensive; we spent about two hours exploring the place. It was kind of fun going through the narrow dark tunnels peeking out of the slits in the wall that were used by men with crossbows when the castle was under siege. It reminded me of building "forts" and fighting pretend battles when I was a kid. Daily life for the average peasant in those days must have been very difficult. Much more so than any kid building forts could possibly imagine. In fact, as an adult I can't even imagine how tough life must have been in those days. I complain when I can't get good TV reception!
We wandered back down to town for lunch and then boarded a boat that would take us up the Rhine and back to Bacharach. This was very relaxing. It was a 10-minute train ride to St. Goar and about an hour boat ride back. Part of the reason for the longer boat ride is that we were going upstream and the Rhine River has a very strong current.
This part of the Rhine reminded me of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon except for the fact that the hillsides were full of vineyards and castles. We even passed one castle that sits on a small island in the middle of the river. In the good old days they had a chain across the river and demanded a toll for boats to pass through. Fortunately, we didn't have to pay a toll. In fact, the ride was free with our Eurail Pass. Back in Bacharach we wandered around for a while enjoying the scenery of old houses and shops along narrow streets.
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'Bacharach and St. Goar' Entry |
