Marksburg Castle and the Rhine Gorge

We docked in Koblenz an hour earlier than our schedule so we went ashore and went for a walk around the town and along the other arm of the river.  As we arrived in to town there was an enormous statue probably some Prussian king.  We walked along to where the statue was located on a small square.

We returned to the boat for the excursion to Marksburg Castle,  a beautifully preserved 700 year old hilltop fortress.  It is an extremely steep and rocky path to the castle and I decided to stay onboard the ship instead and Colin went on the excursion.

Many of the castles on the Rhine are rebuilt versions of the original but Marksburg stands today as the best preserved castle because it sits atop a steep isolated hill on the a bend in the river and the formidable terrain discouraged enemies to the extent the castle was never attacked during the countless wars that raged around it through the centuries.

As soon as everyone was back on board we were on our way to sail through the most scenic part of the journey, the Rhine Gorge. 

We went upstairs to the sun deck to look at the scenery and the many castles and fortresses along the river and of course the famous Lorelei Rock.  The picturesque Middle Rhine is a river valley with precipitous cliffs, a castle perched on virtually every hilltop and quaint villages lining the river banks.  Myths and legends abound in this area, such as the story of the Lorelei, the beautiful siren of the rocks who lured sailors to their doom.

Steep vineyards line the banks of the Rhine and produce the famous Rhine wines.                

We remained up on the sun deck for the entire afternoon until it was almost time for dinner.  I haven't counted them, but I think I may have taken more than 100 photos of this very picturesque area.