Day 4--Koblenz, the Middle Rhine and Rudesheim

We woke up to another beautiful day on the Rhine. Shortly after 7:15 am, we passed Neuendorf, a district just north of Koblenz.

A few minutes later, we passed Deutsches Eck (the German corner), where the Moselle River meets the Rhine River.

The Ehrenbreitstein Fortress sits 118 meters above the Rhine. It is Europe's largest fortress.

Preubisches Regierungsgebaude--Prussian government building

Electoral Palace Koblenz located at Km 591.

Statue of Joseph Gorres, a German author who was born in Koblenz, sits in front of the Electoral Palace.

Koblenzer Brewery

Schloss Stolzenfels is a former medieval castle turned into a palace. It's at Km 585.

Fortunately, all these landmarks were on the starboard side and we were able to enjoy them from our cabin.

We arrived in Braubach at 8 am. It's located south of Koblenz and we were bussed back to Koblenz. Not sure why we didn't just stop in Koblenz.

After touring Koblenz, we arrived back on the Eir at noon, just in time for lunch.

Red Lentil & Coconut Milk Soup--good flavors.

Rigatoni alle Melanzane was the best pasta dish of the trip. It was cooked a la minute. Al dente pasta and good tomato sauce with tender pieces of eggplant.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs served with sweet potato fries, coleslaw and side of broccoli and green beans. We asked for the greens because it had been a while since we had some good vegetables. The ribs were tender and good. The sweet potato fries were on the limp side. The broccoli and beans were just boiled.

In the afternoon, we traveled through the Middle Rhine and all the castles. We sat on the top deck while our Program Director narrated from 1:15-3:15 pm. After that, we went back to our cabin. Fortunately, most of the rest of the castles were on the starboard side so we could enjoy them from our balcony.

At 3:30 pm, there was a demonstration of Rudesheim Coffee.

There was a Port Talk at 4:45 pm then we arrived in Rudesheim at 5:30 pm. We were on our own but Rudesheim is very small and you don't need a guide. After we walked around Rudesheim, we decided to go to the Niederwald Monument. This was at 6:30 pm and the cable car closed at 7 pm so it wouldn't have given us much time at the monument. No Niederwald Monument this time.

Back on board, dinner was served at 7 pm.

Meli Melo Salad with mesclun greens, avocado, quail egg, brioche croutons, crispy pancetta and Emmental. It was quite good.

The Traditional Fish Soup with rouille and croutons was tasty but it was watered down.

Classic German Tafelspitz. It was boiled beef--tender but the flavor was lacking.

Herb Crusted Ahi Tuna Steak, medium rare. It was served with wilted spinach, potatoes and sherry shallot vinaigrette. It was good, seared quickly so still rare inside, and a better option than the beef.

Almond Bee Sting cake with Berry Sauce was meh.

Lime Cake with White Chocolate & Berry Sauce. This was also just okay. May have been better if there was actually a berry sauce.

We left Rudesheim at 1 am.

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