While we were in Svalbard in June we met Dimitris when we joined the same hike over a glacier. Dimitris invited us to visit him at his work if we were passing through Frankfurt. He works at the European Central Bank in an iconic glass building which we thought would make an interesting stop. We checked into a campsite on the outskirts of the city with easy access to the metro system. The campsite owner is the grumpiest we’ve met since leaving the uk (we met a really grumpy farmer at Rutland Water in the UK who still holds the record for being a bad host) this guy told us off for not booking online and was generally rude. Fortunately we have found most Germans to be very friendly & helpful..,

Frankfurt is a busy business city with only a small old town centre to interest the tourist but we had a great time with Dimitris. He showed us around the bank and treated us to lunch. We enjoyed tea looking across the city from the 27th floor that is reached by the quickest lift we’ve been in. Although 3000 people work here it is open, light and quiet. The bank employs people from all the member states of the EU but all work and business is carried out in English. Dimitris is a fellow traveller and it was good to share experiences of Asia, Australia etc.

Frankfurt, like Berlin, is plagued by litter and graffiti. Not good art graffiti but scrawls of names on any flat surface. After leaving Frankfurt, taking a wrong junction and nearly going back, we went to the Rhine valley. This is a very touristy part of Germany and the campsites are large and busy but clean, efficient and friendly. We have been camping on the edge of the river with great views of the valley & hillsides covered by vineyards & forests, & dotted with castles. There’s a lot of freight ships using the river along with tourist cruisers and day boats. There’s also railways on each side of the valley carrying freight and passengers. So although this is an idyllic location it isn’t quiet.

There are a lot of foreign tourists here and in the quaintest towns they flood the shops. There is almost a feeding frenzy as Americans and Italians purchase cuckoo clocks and other selected tat. We saw a “deal” 18 bottles of German beer, 3 beer glasses, delivered to the US all for just €239.

There are a lot more British campervans here now and we have met a couple from the Isle of Wight who are travelling with the Adria owners club, the common link being that Connie is an Adria Twin camper.

We visited a monastery that originally had hundreds of monks and lay priests who developed a large vineyard that is now commercially run. We did some wine tasting & in addition to the 3 we selected, the host offered 2 special editions - over 30 years old & priceless (they auction old bottles off - but we wouldn’t have bid on them!!) We did buy a couple of bottles of 2018 vintage though.

There are no bridges on the Rhine and so when we want to get across we use the small ferries, more expensive than the IoW ones at €8 for a 4 minute crossing. The towns are small and mostly based around a medieval castle. The castles were built to protect the Rhine or rather to extort tolls from passing ships. They used to pull a chain across the river to stop ships until they paid. The sides of the river valley are steep and covered with vines, they use every available space. We took a good hike up through the vines to a convent famous for its wines. Makes you think drinking wine must bring you closer to god?

We stopped at Boppard and enjoyed an evening at their wine festival. A live orchestra entertained us as we sat on benches in marquees drinking taster glasses of German Riesling wine. We had a great time conversing with the locals in broken German, English and sign language. We bought a few more bottles. Connie may be heavier coming home.

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