In the Land of Fairytale Castles.

When we arrived here in St. Goar, on the banks of the Rhine, I was delighted to see that our campsite was overlooked by a lovely fairytale castle. St. Goar itself is a prettylittle town, which is typical of the region. There are half-timbered houses, and lovely small streets lined with coloured buildings, vines, paintings on the hotel walls.......I think you get the idea.

One day, we went to Boppard by train. It was very similar to St. Goar, but bigger. The town square was lovely, dominated by a beautiful church. As ever, you could walk down to the Rhine for a stroll along the river. We had our usual coffee and tea in a gorgeous cafe, which was run by a family, and was very old fashioned. I wandered about, taking photos, while Tony sat by the river. We were both tired that day, as it is very noisy here at night.

I think that our favourite day here was the day we went down the river by boat to Bacharach. It was a short, but lovely journey. You can see why this is such a famous area. Every small town seems to have attractive spires, and its own castle, or two! The valley is quite deep here, and wooded, so altogether it's a very picturesque place. Bacharach was extremely quiet and lovely. We found a hidden, very old part of town which was very peaceful. It was quite fascinating. It was another day of quiet strolling, drinking tea and thinking how lucky we are.

Today we went to Koblenz. We were underwhelmed at first, but when we got to the old town, things cheered up a bit. To begin with, the sun came out.There were the usual beautiful squares, full of cafes. There was a particularly nice church there, too, with some lovely quiet spaces for prayer. We spent ages in there.

Then, down by the river, we found a beer garden and a park, with a buzzing, fascinating car boot sale. I went straight into "Bargain Hunt" mode, and had to stop myself buying all sorts of very attractive rubbish that I don't need, much as all the small children were doing.
When we got back, we had "van concoction" for tea, which consists of throwing everything into the wok. We have been out for a couple of nice meals, though, and I'm afraid to admit that bratwurst and chips has been on the menu, too. It's some consolation for missing out on ice creams and cake!
Tomorrow is washing day, and maybe a trip to the castle in the little train, with all the Japanese tourists and old folk. The train was broken the other day, so we couldn't go.
Time is flying, and we are heading for Switzerland next, which is to be the highlight of the holiday, weather permitting. Hopefully we will get wi-fi so that we can write another post from there.