The highlight of Wednesday was a walk into Sank Goarhausen and an evening BBQ. Oh… wait a minute… it was a beautiful day and after spending the late afternoon exploring the quaint streets of this old town, followed by an early evening beer, we debated whether or not to return to base and fire-up the BBQ after all.
In the end, a second beer convinced us to remain in-situ and eat at the restaurant. We both ate Schnitzel. Again. It was very nice but just wondering how long Schnitzel and chips will appeal.
We get the impression that St Goarhausen is the “poor” cousin of the town of St Goar, just across the Rhine on the east bank. Nevertheless, there are some nice buildings located in the “altstadt” and this has been an great place to spend much of July.
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Friday was my birthday and so my choice of activity. Wishing to avoid the weekend, a habit we have adopted since retirement (although it seems places along the Rhine aren’t very busy any day of the week), I chose a cycle ride up the river to Bingen, which lies on the opposite bank to Rudesheim. We found a hotel on the “Bett and Bicycle” (bed and bike) website and set off on our trip early Thursday morning. My birthday tea would be in the evening before the actual date.
The “bed and bicycle” website lists hotels which are bike friendly. By that, they must have secure indoor bike storage and be amenable to stays of a single night. We chose the Hotel Koeppel which satisfied all the requirements.
We had chosen a nice Italian restaurant for dinner but when we arrived, it was closed! We managed to find a typical German affair nearby and avoided the Schnitzel. I enjoyed an Argentinian filet steak whilst Moe ate Salmon and roasted vegetables. Food was excellent.
Some more pictures from Bingen.
On our journey back the next day, we stopped at the medieval town of Oberwesel.
The town wall of Oberwesel with its 16 defence towers is the best preserved rampart on the Middle Rhine and it is now possible to walk over large parts of the city wall.
Birthday lunch (and today is my birthday!) was at a Thai restaurant in the main square.
We had enjoyed a great couple of days away on our bikes.