Wed September 28

Wednesday September 28, 2011

Breakfast was a magnificent candle-lit spread in the old kitchen/hall of our hotel Haus Lipmann, a medieval mansion from the 1300s which has been in this family (Lipmann) for over 200 years. A long wooden table sits in front of a walk in fireplace with antlers, chandeliers and feudal weapons lining the walls. We ate our brains out –giant slabs of butter, bacon, eggs, muesli, marvelous little bakery pastries, fruit, etc, then set out to explore the downstream part of the Mosel valley. The Mosel runs 300 miles from the Trier/Luxembourg area to Koblenz where it empties into the Rhein. The boat traffic is amazing and peaceful, controlled by numerous locks which control the flow; it still floods regularly every winter, but is managed well at the time. The vineyards start high on the steep hills and run all the way down to the river, which has carved this path. Classy campgrounds run along grassy lawns in between the small towns. In 1973 we were amazed by the complexity of the family tents which were planted for each summer by families returning to the same site. Now, there are still the fancy huge tents, but they are attached to large travel trailers which set up their spots shortly after Easter each year and then accommodate family visitors till October. Dads, in the past, came in from work on the weekends and the rest of the family stayed all summer; appears to be a similar situation now. We understand many such campgrounds flood in the winter and so these will soon be removed for the winter.

We decided to trek off to Burg Eltz which is one of the best preserved castles on the Mosel. Started in the 1100s, it has been complete since before Columbus decided to sail off the edge of the world. The same Eltz family (and a mix of descendants) has owned it for 850 years. In that time it has never been damaged and only been besieged unsuccessfully once – for 5 years ; this appears to be due to its construction, family diplomacy, good marriages and perhaps some luck. We reached it by hiking 3 kilometers up a narrow valley from Moselkern and then climbing up lots of rock stairs. 80 rooms, 40 fireplaces, and 20 rain flushed toilets- it was quite comfortable for its day (as long as it rained!). A large conference room and courtyard provided a meeting place for the families who shared it (then and now) to discuss management of the complex.

After the hike, we were quite hungry so moved on to Cochem with another majestic castle and medieval streets. We did some “weinprobe” (sampling). We drank a marvelous halb trocken (medium dry) bottle of Riesling along with the Gaststaette Noss specialty of pork or beef in another green pfeffersauce. (They grow and butcher their own meat so it was better than most you find in Germany.) Along with the meat came a stack of perfectly crisped fries which were only improved by the pepper sauce “gravy.” Mark had similarly perfect potato croquettes (read tater tots). I’ve tried for years to match a pepper-sauce meal we had in Munich in 1999, without success; obviously, I have to renew my efforts in that direction. The giant castle complex above Cochem was completely redone in the 1800s – we did not hike up and visit it…too much wine. The lovely little yellow train which took tourists around town would have been fully appreciated by the grandsons. We enjoyed walking along the riverfront promenade through the open air market which lined the street nearby…a place to buy just about any needed (or desired) article of clothing.

Home for a short nap to sleep off the Riesling, and then off for dessert. Apfelstrudel with vanilla eis and Sahne (whipped cream) – hit the spot. Tomorrow we head upstream instead – to Bernkastel-Kues and perhaps Trier or Luxembourg.