Continuing on toward Burg Eltz, my Garmin GPS alerted me to turn north off the autobahn toward Birkenfeld at the next exit. Alas, the next exit was closed due to road reconstruction. A happy accident, since the detour route it recommended took me to a great overview of the middle reaches of the Moselle river valley. Turning south off the autobahn at Ulmen, I encountered my first twisty-tiny road through forest, hills and hamlet until finally arriving at Marienmaifeld, the Rick Steves recommended approach town to the castle. 

My faithful GPS chirped on with the requisite directions, until stating we’d arrived at our destination. Unfortunately, we were at the dead end of a pleasant residential street, with nothing resembling a castle anywhere to be seen. Turning around, I silenced the GPS and broke out my Steves directions. Right town, right route number, no castle! Then I noticed I was on Burgeltzstrasse.... I’d tricked my GPS by entering the wrong destination point! Fortunately, an elderly man working in his front garden suffered through my abysmal German by providing the requisite directions. After all the misadventures with the GPS, I finally reached my goal.

 From the castle parking lot, I found no signage directing me to the castle, so awaiting the next arriving group I followed them down into a deep ravine, where the elusive castle at last came into sight. No one told its builders to “take the high ground”; from where I stood I could have easily put a grenade into the central courtyard! Nevertheless, the same family has owned and lived in the castle since about 1450, and it’s never been successfully besieged. I took the 45-minute English tour, which mostly visited parts of the castle under structural renovation where the original artifacts and furniture had been replaced by visqeen dust –containment barriers. Luckily, the castle treasury held some marvelous gold/silver/pewter/porcelain dinnerware, jewelry, housekeeping items and an extensive armor and weapons collection. That made up partially for the disappointment of missing the normal castle interior scenes.  

It was now late afternoon, and I had less than two hours daylight for my drive down the Moselle and mid-Rhine valley for my overnight reservations in Bacharach. A quick review of my map (I wasn’t entirely trustful of the GPS by this point!) and I was off toward Koblenz and Rte 9 south along the west bank of the Rhine. Found Koblenz without difficulty, crossing the Moselle about mid-town. Having previously spent three hours near the “German Corner” while river cruising, I recalled the Rhine was to my left, so I turned accordingly.  Wrong maneuver. Forty-five minutes of dead reckoning later, and far inland from the riverbank I finally intercepted Rte 9 and turned south just as twilight faded. Traffic was moderately heavy Friday night as many German families were starting their holiday weekend, so I cruised along behind several other cars doing a respectable 80 Kph through Boppard and St Goar. 

Arriving at Bacharach about 1900, I parked in the only public pay-lot next to the river, donned my daypack and pulled my 21” wheeled take-aboard over the cobbles and thru the gate into the city. A light drizzle began to fall, giving impetus to my search for “Pension Lettie”. After walking the main street from north to south, and failing to locate it in the gloom of night, I remembered my German T-Mobile connection. A short call, and Lettie provided me with ATC services right to her doorstep! My 23 Euro room was tiny, tidy and had private head and TV. What more could one ask for such a price? Had dinner next door at the Hotel Krankenturm. Ordered Jaeger Schnitzel, an excellent meal and new gastronomical experience for me. Turned in about 2200, after watching BBC (with German sub-titles) so I’d be rested for another day of castle touring. 

Up at 0700 the next day, and after a good hot shower, descended to the breakfast room to find a huge selection of both American and German items from which to choose. Also met a nice couple from St Louis who were enroute to visit a son working in Munich, and two young women from Boston who were backpacking thru Europe. Lettie, who speaks flawless English, is a bit of an anomaly. A Filipina, she trained in Manila as a health-care professional, and gradually worked her way via the Persian Gulf/Saudi circuit to a job with the US Army’s Wurzburg clinic. When Wurzburg was BRACed, she lost her job, and bought a pension in Bacharach, where she tends tourists (mostly American) in summer, while vacationing in warmer climes for the winter. A naturalized German citizen for the last decade, she has no dreams of returning to the Philippines, stating her social scurrility and health care as a German were far superior to those at home. And she makes really great waffles!

After a leisurely walk around the city, which consumed three hours, I had lunch at an outside table of the Altes Haus cafe downtown. Despite a lowering cloud layer and occasional drizzle, after lunch I drove up to St. Goar and visited the ruins of Burg Rheinfels. From a lofty and windy corner tower, one enjoys a terrific view of about 10 miles in each direction, up and down the Rhine. It also showed graphically, how low water effects river traffic; a self-propelled barge from Romania was hard aground about a half- mile upstream, awaiting winter rains to provide enough water to free it.  

Being a retired swabby, I gravitate toward things nautical. Directly below lay a German (Coast Guard?) buoy station. Wanting to be able to provide some close-up photos for my USCG son, I drove there next. Unfortunately, access was barred by a lift –gate and easily understood Verboten sign! So I settled for visiting a small dike side display of riverine nautica, most of which was likewise closed for the season.

Returning to Lettie’s for the night, I found Bacharach in full swing of a fall wein-fest, complete with fireworks and drunken singing societies parading the streets. A check of the major restaurants disclosed long lines awaiting entry, so settled for a doner-kebab place for dinner. Despite having lived for two years in Turkey, and dearly loving the people, food and culture, I must say it was the worst meal I recall having anywhere in the world. Decided the owner had been banished by the Turkish government for offending national honor with his poor cuisine! So to bed on a churning stomach, which mercifully rectified itself prior to dawn.

After fortifying myself with orange juice, coffee and four of Lattie’s waffles, checked out about 0900 and headed north to Oberwesel, where I crossed to the east bank on the small auto ferry. Driving north to Marksburg Castle took less than an hour. It’s quite a long, steep hike up to the castle from the parking lot, but by now the first winds of fall had lowered the temperature into the low 50’s, so at least the climb was sweatless! Although Marksburg is the most historically accurate Rhine castle, with intact interior furnishings, the guides provide only German tours. A written English guide is provided at no cost, which allowed me to comprehend what was displayed. 
After an excellent light lunch for 7 Euros at the Anker Weinstube in St Goarhaussen, headed back across the river to St Goar, and turned south for the return to Ramstein. My GPS had finally recovered its wits, and guided me flawlessly thru several tricky autobahn interchanges transiting Mainz. Made my first gas stop since trip commenced. Near as I could determine, my little Hyundai delivered a resounding 36 MPG! Which was doubly appreciated after tallying the $ 65 + USD petrol billing for a fill-up.

Arrived at the Ramstein Inn at 1700, and was rewarded with another great view room on the sixth floor. A visit to AMC Mall’s Baskin –Robbins for a snack was followed by a two-hour nap and immediate seating in Macaronis at 2100. Found the child’s portion and a desert were all I needed for a comfortable dinner. To bed by 2300, with tomorrow requiring an early start to turn in car and get to Landstul Bahnhof for the start of Phase II of my explorations.