Meandering Mosel : BIKE & BARGE Germany, Luxembourg & France (commencing COCHEM)

Cochem

Join the barge and discover Cochem, a bustling and characteristic Mosel town with steep wine-clad mountains, wooded hills, an impressive castle and a picturesque square with beautiful timber-framed houses and cafes. You can visit the castle or have a glass of local wine—or both!

Cochem-Zell

In the early morning, while you are having breakfast, the IRIS sails to the village known as Sleeping Beauty on the Mosel. It’s a precious medieval village next to our mooring pier. You can’t imagine a prettier place. Beilstein has been the backdrop for many German films. You will have the chance to see the venerated and rare relic of the Black Madonna in the chapel of the Carmelite Monastery overlooking the valley. Superb photo ops here.  After the visit, our bike journey follows the river upstream, passing the steepest vineyards in the world to arrive in Zell, a beautiful hamlet where the river slices through slate mountains in dramatic oxbows and S turns. Zeller Schwarze Katz (black cat) is a legendary Mosel Wine.

Zell - Bernkastel-Cues

After breakfast, the cycling along the Moselle continues onto Traben-Trarbach; this town features world-class Art Nouveau architecture that proves its great importance in the international wine trade during the 19th century. After a nice stop here, our next goal is Bernkastel-Kues, the darling of the famed middle Mosel. This is Valhalla for Riesling aficionados. A good size village with great shopping, wine bars and ice cream. One of the prettiest town squares with timber-frame buildings dating back to the 1400s! The castle ruins on the hill are base-lit at night. An evening stroll along the river is a must…words can’t describe the feeling of Old Europe.

Bernkastel - Trier

From Bernkastel, the valley opens up and vineyards expand as far as the eye can see. Today we cruise past the heavy-hitters in the wine world: Brauneberg, Piesport, Trittenheim. Piesport is beloved by the Brits for the “little golden droplets.” Trittenheim lies in a sharp hairpin turn on the river surrounded by mountains coated with grapes. The chapel in the vineyard is one of the most photographed on the river. Later we bike on to Trier, a lively university town, powerful Arch-diocese, and Imperial Residence of Constantine the Great. All roads lead to Rome as they say, but in this case our road leads to Trier, the 2nd Rome in the 3rd century. The history is fascinating. More than you’d expect on the sleepy Mosel. Great museums. Superb shopping. A gem of a city.

Trier - Saarburg

After vibrant Trier, our path leads us to a place that’s a throw-back in time. The name Saarburg means “fortress on the river Saar” to give you a hint of what to expect there. The ruins date back to the 10th century, a summer palace for the Archbishops of Trier—powerful men and power brokers in the Holy Roman Empire. We love Saarburg. There’s a natural, steep drop between the “upper and lower” towns, but they’re connect by a high waterfall. Town fathers back in the 1300s diverted a local river to run through the center so they’d have access to water to fight fires quickly and have continual energy to run their mills. All of this is well-preserved in the 17th-18th century homes that cling to the hillside. It’s medieval German engineering at its best.

Saarburg - Remich (LUXEMBOURG)

From Saarburg we pedal toward Luxembourg, the tiny nation about the size of Rhode Island. Don’t let size fool you, Luxembourg is an important finance center and EU administrative city. On the way to the Grand Duchy, we visit a wine cellar to taste the whites from the upper Mosel. The wines here are different than the middle Mosel styles. When the terroir (geology) changes, so too do the wines. We also take you to a hidden gem. It’s a great story of historic preservation…imagine you’re a farmer in 1852 and you’re tilling your field. Suddenly, these colorful square pieces start appearing in the plough sod. What that farmer soon discovered was pieces that belonged in a tiled mosaic floor—dating back 1,600 years! The tile floor which lies in its original place, was once the centerpiece in a palatial Roman villa. The scene (in 3 million individual tile pieces) reveals scenes from gladiator games in the amphitheater. It’s breathtaking and original.

Remich (L) - Metz (FRANCE)

Today we leave Germany and Luxembourg behind and look to France. For centuries, this territory has been German then French; German then French. You get the idea. We pass the fortress high up on the rocky outcrop, one of the palaces inhabited by the powerful Dukes of Lorraine. The route is lovely French countryside, riparian landscapes and tiny villages. We ride past wheat fields and pastures of white cows (charolais) praised for their strength as draft animals and excellent meat. Thionville was the center of the steel industry until the 1980s. That might sound modern and industrial, but the city is ancient. The historic center shows us the medieval ramparts, lovely gardens, old streets and St.Maximin basilica which houses one of the finest organs in the world. Thionville is also part of the infamous Maginot line, an enormous defense network of forts and bunkers built between World Wars against the Germans. It failed miserably—one of the worst military strategies ever conceived. After spending millions on it, the Germans simply marched around in their Blitzkrieg warfare style. We cruise by barge to Metz, another ancient city strategically situated on a Roman trading route. St.Etienne Cathedral is the 3rd largest gothic church in France with flying buttresses and Marc Chagall stained glass windows. Metz is full of stunning architecture, flowers and great cafes. You will fall in love!

Metz

Today we have to say Au Revoir!

Your guided tour ends after breakfast. You can leave your luggage on board untill lunchtime and go and enjoy some more of Metz, visit the Cathedral! And then: save travels!