History of the Germans Podcast Tour

Day 1

Iris will be moored in Aschaffenburg, where you may drop off your luggage before joining a tour of the town and the Johannisburg Palace, home of the Archbishops of Mainz for centuries and one of the most important examples of late Renaissance architecture in Germany.
Later in the day, we visit the Pompeianum, a 1:1 reconstruction of a Roman villa built in 1840–48 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Alternatively, you may choose to relax in one of the city’s excellent beer gardens.

In the afternoon, Iris will cast off and head downstream to Seligenstadt, where we will visit the impressive Benedictine abbey founded by Einhard, adviser to Charlemagne.

Day 2

We arrive in Frankfurt, the beating heart of the German financial world and home of the original Rothschild bank. Frankfurt is also one of the three “capitals” of the Holy Roman Empire. From the late Middle Ages onwards, imperial elections took place in the Church of St Bartholomew, now the cathedral, followed by celebratory banquets in the Römer halls.

The city is also home to Germany’s first freely elected parliament, the Paulskirche of 1848. No visit to Frankfurt would be complete without a stop at the Städel Museum, one of Germany’s finest art collections. We leave Frankfurt in the late afternoon and continue to Mainz.

Day 3

The day begins with an exploration of Mainz, one of Germany’s oldest cities, seat of the most senior of the Prince-Electors and home of Johannes Gutenberg. We visit the magnificent cathedral and the Landesmuseum, which houses important treasures from the Ottonian and Salian periods, as well as reminders of the once-thriving Jewish communities along the Rhine.

In the afternoon, we continue to Eltville, the gateway to the Middle Rhine and home to some of Germany’s finest vineyards, which we will, of course, sample.

Day 4

Today we travel through the Middle Rhine Valley, the landscape that inspired Romantic writers, poets, and painters from Achim von Arnim to Robert Schumann and from Lord Byron to J. M. W. Turner. Around every bend, another castle rises above the river.

We stop in Bacharach to visit the Werner Chapel and Burg Stahleck, continue to St. Goar to explore mighty Rheinfels Castle, and end the day in Braubach.

Day 5

We begin with a visit to Marksburg, the only Rhine castle never to have been destroyed. We then continue to Koblenz to explore the largest fortress complex built in the first half of the 19th century, which never saw combat.

The day concludes in Remagen, famously captured by U.S. forces in the final weeks of the Second World War and later the site of a vast prisoner-of-war camp.

Day 6

In the morning, a bus takes us to Aachen to visit its magnificent 8th-century chapel, the coronation church of the Holy Roman Empire. The adjacent cathedral treasury houses some of the finest surviving works of medieval goldsmithing.

On our return journey, we stop in Brühl to admire one of Europe’s finest 18th-century palace complexes, celebrated for its grand staircase designed by Balthasar Neumann. We then continue to Cologne, where we rejoin Iris and may enjoy a glass of the city’s famous Kölsch beer.

Day 7

The day is devoted to Cologne and its many treasures. The great cathedral houses the relics of the Three Wise Men, brought from Milan by Archbishop Rainald von Dassel. The older church of St. Pantaleon is the burial place of Theophanu, the Byzantine princess and wife of Emperor Otto II.

Those with energy to spare can explore the city’s many Romanesque churches and historic town halls. In the evening, we cruise north toward Düsseldorf, passing the imperial palace of Kaiserswerth, scene of one of the most dramatic kidnappings of the Middle Ages.

Day 8

It is time to say farewell as Iris continues on to her next journey.