15 April 2019
We arrived in Braubach in the morning while we were having an early breakfast. After the mandatory fresh fruit and yogurt, Alison and Peter tried the eggs benedict with smoked salmon, which was delicious.
We left the ship at 08:30 and walked the few metres to where our coaches were parked within sight of Marksburg castle, quite close, but vertically above us.
See the video of our visit to the castle:
Marksburg Castle
We drove through the charming village of Braubach and headed up a steep narrow road, just wider than the coach, until we reached the parking place, still some way below the castle. Descending the coach, we then ascended via steps and a winding road up to the castle area, where we waited for about 30 minutes, on the terrace outside (and inside!) the shop, while the other small groups headed into the castle for their separate guided tours.
Our guide was very knowlegeable and emphasised that we should all be very careful climbing the very roughly hewn steps in the stone floor. Nevertheless one unsteady gentleman did manage to tumble, but fortunately was not injured. The castle dates back many centuries and was never conquered, on account of its location high up on the rocky outcrop.
There were spectacular views of the Rhine as we ascended even further up steep narrow and sometimes winding staircases up to the top of the castle, stopping to examine the various rooms on the way. We returned down for a few more minutes of shopping experiences before retracing our steps to the coach and heading back down what we discovered was a two way road, but we concluded that there must have been a degree of cooperation as we did not meet anything on the way down.
Back onto the ship for lunch as we made sure of a table on the “Aquavit terrace” out side of the lounge at the bow as the weather brightened up to brilliant sunshine and almost warmth while we proceeded for the scenic cruise up the middle Rhine from Braubach via the Lorelei rock and past innumerable castles and small villages to our final destination of Rudesheim.
View our 14-minute video giving a glimpse of our afternoon’s cruise:.
Cruise
Towards the end of the scenic cruise, we were served German afternoon tea and offered Rudesheim coffee, made with sugar, flaming brandy, coffee, topped with whipped cream and chocolate flakes. Understandably, we declined!
Alison went to a presentation covering all of the other places that Viking visit, plus some unrepeatable special offers.
We left the ship for a brief look around the town, which was unremakable, apart from a large number of tourist shops, beer houses and ice cream parlours.
Dinner was a quiet refined affair back on the boat, as we had decided not to take the um-pa-pa excursion to a beer-house that evening, followed by a fascinating glass-blowing demonstration on our sister ship that was moored alongside and was heading in the opposite direction from Basel to Amsterdam.
Back to our cabin ( sorry, stateroom) for the usual slide show of the day’s photographs before a rather tired retirement to our bed with no time for blogging, so this is written on Tuesday morning before breakfast!