BIKE and BARGE Tour Moselle River Koblenz to Metz

Koblenz

Arriving in Koblenz you will find the IRIS, moored close to the Deutsche Eck, the triangel landmark at the confluence of the Moselle with the Rhine. We have a nice view at the mighty Ehrenbreitenstein fortress. Here the noble Riesling grape is the Queen of Cups. Trocken means dry. Order one and prepare to become a convert for life. Prefer a beer in the Koblenz’ Biergarten? Just steps away from the barge.Koblenz is a lively and touristic place, worth a visit. A cablecar can take you up to the Fortress for a great view of this area! What a way to start!

Koblenz - Burg Eltz - Cochem 31 ml/50 km

On a morning sail we cross the first lock and enter the Moselle! Drop off gives us a headstart to the foot of the hills where the Burg Eltz is hidden.

Untouched by wars or fires, you will find this beautiful castle worth the effort of walking to it. The guided tour takes you back through the ages. This is the best castle ever.

After our visit, we continue cycling to Cochem, the most visited village on the Moselle River. 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. Time for a Moselle wine!

Cochem-Zell-Bernkastel 31 ml/50 km

In the early morning, while you are having breakfast, the IRIS sails to the village known as the 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 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. Continuing onto Traben-Trarbach, this town features world-class Art Nouveau architecture that proves its great importance in international wine trade during the 19th century. From here we cruise to 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.

Daun to Bernkastel, Rails to Trail Mare Mosel 31 ml/ 50 km

This morning we leave the river and vineyards behind. We bus you UP to an agricultural region called the Eifel (and yes, there is a connection to the famed Parisian tower). From here, it’s an exhilarating ride for the most part downhill along a rails-to-trails path. Amazing! It will be the ride of a lifetime for many—through German forests and former train tunnels, over bridges and around small lakes formed from volcano craters aeons ago. After the last tunnel, we have a break in a little local town where you will love to have an icecream on the terraces, well deserved! This day is the highlight of our biking-experiences.

Bernkastel - Pfalzel 31 ml, 50 km

From Bernkastel, the valley opens up and vineyards expand as far as the eye can see. Today you 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. In the end, we cruise on the Iris to Pfalzel. This tiny little town just outside Trier houses the old stone residential building in Germany dating back to the 4th century. Having been part of a small palace outside the city it later became a monastery and a residence for the Carolingian emperors.  

Trier

Today we sail one mile to the port of Trier so we can spend all day exploring this spectacular city. Trier is the oldest city in Germany dating back to before the Romans. They made it their northern Capitol, though, and made it famous. It has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than we can name here but the ‘Porta Nigra’ is probably worth mentioning. This Roman city gate is 90 feet high and forms an impressive start of a day filled with extraordinary sights. From Constantine Karl Marx they all left their mark on this city.  

Trier - Saarburg 22 ml/35 km

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) 31 ml/50 km

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) 25 ml/40 km

Leaving, Germany and Luxembourg behind, it is off to France.  You 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. You ride past wheat fields and pastures of white cows (Charolais) praised for their strength as draft animals and excellent meat. Thionville was the centre of the steel industry until the 1980s. That might sound modern and industrial, but the city is ancient. The historic centre reveals 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 defence 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. You experience the last leg of the day onboard the Iris, cruising on to Metz. 

Metz -Jouy-aux-Arches-Metz 10 ml/17 km

Today we spent one more day on the bike in France. We make a round trip to Jouy-aux-Arches to see the Roman aquaduct that crosses through their town. After a coffee and a stroll, we head back to Metz to have enough time to experience this hidden gem. This heavily fortified city has German and French roots as both countries fought each other multiple times over these lands. We can find the strange combination of German Timber frame and stone designs next to French ‘Belle Epoque city houses as both cultures made their mark on the city. We’ll be sure to visit the Cathedral, which has one of the highest naves in the world, but also the Basilica Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains, which is the oldest church building in France dating back to the 4th century.  

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!