Rhine & reisling

I have flown over it, been on a train under it, but it was now time to cross it on a boat. What am I talking about? Well, it is the 34km stretch of water known as the English Channel. While it took Susie Maroney 17 hours 14 minutes hours to swim across and back, my journey from Dover to Calais took 1½ hours each way.

The destination of my journey was Bad Salzig, a small town located in the German Rhineland. The Rhineland is the general name for land on both sides of the river Rhine, which itself is 1,320km in length and remains a key waterway for the transport of goods from the Netherlands to France. On a beautiful balmy Sunday afternoon we cruised along a stretch of the waterway for approximately 2 hours. We passed many castles and prehistoric fortifications along the Rhine, including Marksburg - the only surviving medieval castle on that part of the Rhine.

The Rhine region is also known for the being the origin of riesling grapes (a personal favourite). There are several vineyards that line the river banks, many of which still hand pick the grapes due to the sheer gradient of the land. The tour of the region would not have been complete without a few tastings of reisling & ‘ice wine’ from the local Weinhaus.

The weekend was topped of with an afternoon stop over in the Belgium town of Ghent. The town has plenty of medieval architecture and impressive buildings including: Saint–Nicolas Church, Belfry and Saint Bavo Cathedral.