Monday 8 July
Berkastel to Traban-Trarbach

“We left our heavy curtains open and the sliding glass door
opting for fresh air overnight. We were woken by voices on land as we docked
about 4.30am.” That’s all Ches had time to write.

We had travelled from Trier to Bernkastle overnight and
having woken so early, I set off to walk this very small town and the larger
town of Kues across the river. There is
nothing quite like walking a town before the tourist invade for the day and
when the locals are going to work by car and therefore the streets and squares
are deserted. Despite my reputation, I
didn’t take my camera and just walked and took in the atmosphere. Nice crisp morning but a blue sky and the
promise of a 29c day.

I’m glad I didn’t take my camera on this first walk as my CF
card somehow became corrupted late morning when I had taken dozens of
photographs and we were climbing the hill to the castle. I would have been even more bitter about
losing even more photographs. Thankfully
Ches had been videoing all morning, so we will have some memories of what many
regard as the prettiest town on the whole river cruise.

It’s a town that lives off wine and tourism and possibly so
out of the way that it doesn’t get overrun like many towns do. We walked up to the castle at the end of our
guided tour and it’s got to be one of the most challenging climbs. Many, many stops on the way to the top, only
to discover the CF card was dead. Worse
still, I hadn’t taken my phone, so couldn’t even fall back on the phone camera.

The trip back down was only a tad easier than the trip up,
as it is so steep and paved with cobble stones.
Back in town I had half an hour to return to the boat, grab my phone
camera and sprint around town trying to capture the highlights. I still don’t know that a managed to capture
them all. There was the building on the
main square where a recent owner of this medieval building spent a small fortune on restoring
it only to discover that the foundations were sinking. Unfortunately, half the ground floor was
owned by someone else, having been sold off three hundred years ago when the
owner was short of money. Apparently it
took some years of wrangling to get the foundations restored and now it’s a
showpiece. There was the building with
all the flood marks recorded going back over 500 years, some as high as 5
metres or so. Across the river in Kues
is a magnificent old building; St Nikolaus Hospital, a retirement home set up
in the 1400’s has never closed down and today has 60 residents. All funded by
the profits of a vineyard set up at the same time. There is a similar home in Beaune in Burgundy,
that we saw some years ago. Finally,
there is the fountain in the Marktplatz that is still filled with wine in September
for the wine festival, and where I took photos of Ches … all lost.

Anyway, I dashed around town taking random snaps on my phone
and then back on board by 12.30 as we set sail for Traben-Trarback.

This town, or twin towns, burnt down twice in the mid to
late 1800’s, so not much to see other than a magnificent building facing the
river which was the main wine trading house.
We only stopped here for a wine tasting.
Axel Emert met us at the boat and then lead us along the river and
through town to his winery, all the while with a running commentary that would
have done a comedian proud. We tried four
of his Rieslings, from dry to sweet and
bought several bottles, one to take to Ireland to share with the Crawfords and
O’Donnells.

Back in the 60’s we used to drink Australian “Moselle’s”
that were sickly sweet. On various
occasions over the last thirty years, there have been attempts to sign people
up to buy Moselle wines on plans and they used gimmicks like pottery wine
glasses etc. What a surprise to discover
fantastic Riesling wines on the Moselle. The wineries we visit and the wines served on
board with lunch and dinner have been very easy to drink. Too easy most evenings. Even more of a surprise to buy them for E6 –
E9 a bottle. I’d been returning to
drinking Rieslings at home, and now I’ll give it an even more serious go.

Axel debunked so many myths about wine production and
consumptions that it was refreshing. I
don’t know much about art, but I know what I like and I don’t know much about
wine but I know when I have enjoyed on … or three.

Back on the boat, we set sail again and prepared for the Captain's Welcome Dinner. Have a look at your creation Ann, doesn't both the dress and Ches look stunning. She turned heads on her grand entry to the dining room.