After packing up our little tent we left our riverside camp site in Rudesheim and headed into the hills. Purpose? To visit Schloss Johannisberg – another very famous winery and cave. Rhine Riesling – of course! – is the main grape for this area. Fantastic views from the winery, lovely gardens and grounds. Also great service in the cave – very helpful staff and some lovely wine. Schloss Johannisberg has a very distinctive label – easy to spot. Lots of very expensive bottles of wine for sale – we did find one though in our price range. Reg left happy! We also visited Abbey Kloster Eberbach – a former monastry; now a winery and function centre. About a 20 minute drive and further up into the mountains. Another lovely setting – wines maybe not quite as good. Still worth a taste!
We then followed the river – amazing little villages on the way. Stopped at a cafe for lunch. Reg had a huge glass of the local beer – actually quite a challenge to drink it all!!! But he did his best. After lunch it was time to find a camp site for the night. The first we visited was full – still school holidays! But they directed us to another site up the mountain, above the village of Lahnstein. Still packed but they had one tiny spot left – just enough space for our little tent. We had no idea but we happened to be there on a very special night – makes it even more amazing that they had a spot for us! On the second Saturday in August the local communities celebrate a past military victory over France. Over a hundred riverboats – lit up with fairy lights – make their way along the Rhine. There are heaps of red floodlights lighting up the riverfront buildings in the villages, and fireworks are let off to welcome the boats as they pass. We stood on the hill of our camp site with people from all over Europe who had come to watch it all. We were pinching ourselves!!!!!! Our camera wasn’t able to capture it though – our photos of the fireworks are dismal – a little red dot in the distance. But a great night.
Love
Di and Reg
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