European Mountains and Rivers Day 19 – The Moselle River to Cochem

We have left the Rhine and are now travelling up the beautiful Moselle River to the town of Cochem. The thing you first notice when approaching this town is the Castle towering over it.

And if there is one thing that Jeanette likes almost as much as visiting churches, it’s visiting Castles. So this was our first order of business. There were some fabulous views of the surrounding countryside from up on its walls.

There has been a castle on this spot since at least 1000AD. The current one however was  built in the 19th Century by a German Industralist as a summer residence. Its predecessor had been blown up by Louis XIV’s troops. This particular French king seems to have wrought havoc over large areas of this region.

Now if you were asked what particular animal this statue represented I am guessing you would say a frog. But you would be wrong. It’s a lion wearing a helmet with the visor closed. The lion was the symbol of the counts that used to rule this region.  But as to why it’s wearing a helmet is a little unclear. I reckon it’s because the sculpter couldn’t do lion heads.

The town below is very quaint and full of houses from the 17th century. It still has significant portions of its town wall and a couple of the town gates still intact.

Tonight we had dinner at the Portobello restaurant on the boat. We had arranged a table of 10 comprising friends we has made on the Swiss section of our tour. It was a very enjoyable night.