Driving in Germany was a real treat! All the speed signs said 140 km/h (87mph) but
the average speed was around 95mph. The
Mazda 3 handled it like a champ! The
landscape was of rolling mountains, and long sweeping roads and bridges spanned the gaps
between them. We were scanning the radio
for good music and found one playing a lot of American music; turns out it was
Armed Forces Network (AFN) Germany, The Eagle.
The roads were in perfect condition and the rest stops were immaculately
clean. Who knew that German engineering
could make such efficient rest stops?!
When we arrived in the small town of Bacharach, we found
narrow cobbled streets lined by tall houses.
The town was parallel with the River Rhine and had a rail track between
the town and the river. We parked in a small
car-park near our hotel and found our room to be amazingly quaint. The hotel even had a pool that we took
advantage of as soon as we could. We finished the day walking the streets of Bacharach and had
a lovely meal, sitting outside a local restaurant.
Outdoor seating at a medieval restaurant:
The next day we went on a self-guided tour of
the town, where we got to climb a watch-tower in the reisling vineyards, see the old cathedral ruins, and
view markers showing how high the floodwaters got at one of the gates. Later in the day, we rented bikes and jumped on a riverboat for a tour of the River Rhine. After seeing a multitude of old German "robber baron" castles, we disembarked with our bikes and rode back to Bacharach. On the way home, we got to see a few more
towns along the river. We got a really
good workout and needed a nice relaxing evening before heading to Switzerland
the next day. We dined on the patio at a fancy
restaurant and watched the trains go by while eating spectacular food.
The vineyard tower we climbed:
~Blake
