Being in Germany meant trying all things German (but especially beer). You can see here my first foray into German beer - unfortunately I was actually rather disappointed. For all that the Germans are known to love beer and have their famous Oktoberfest, I found it very forgetable. Not much taste and slightly watery.
The Rhine valley is famous for medieval villages, vineyards down swooping hills, rocky outcrops, rugged castles, and of course, the inexorable wending of the river.
Having a car is a great way to get around this region as I can't imagine buses would be very easy or pleasant, and this way we could pick and choose from a multitude of villages. The one downside of having a car is that the villages are of course on both sides of the river, and there is no bridge. But don't panic yet! There are many little car ferries crossing constantly at set points on the river, and only cost a few Euro.
Our first stop on our pleasant drive was in the Moselle valley on the way to the Rhine. Traben-Trarbach was once the site of two villages across the river from another that were agglomerated into one in 1904 (I couldn't help but wonder how the residents themselves felt about this). A pretty bridge straddled the river between the two villages creating a picturesque scene.
Unfortunately three major fires meant that this village no longer had a medieval centre, but it was pretty nonetheless. We were on a mission for bread for a picnic lunch, and thought we were in luck when we spotted a bakery. The bread that we purchased however reminded me of Hagrid's rock cakes - concrete.
The Rhine valley was once rife was river pirates and barons who would build castles on the river and exort tolls from passerbys. This meant that at almost every new bend in the river, a castle greeted our eyes.
Bacharach was hands down my favourite town in the Rhine valley, and in fact in all of Germany. I do think a large part of this was because we went at dusk - the crowds disappeared leaving quiet cobblestone streets, half timbered houses glowing from warm street lights and mysterious dim alleys. I am sure had we seen other towns in the Rhine during the evening, I might have been similarly blown away.
One of the most interesting things from Bacharach was the Wernerkapelle. In 1287 the body of sixteen year old Werner of Oberwesel was found murdered. Due to his unexplained death, the Christian community of Bacharach accused the Jews of murdering him for Passover observances. This accusation was called a 'Blood Libel' and was extremely popular at this point in time - indeed it is one of the major reasons for European persecution against Jews.
As usual, the Christians had if horribly wrong considering the Torah expressly forbids murder. Regardless of this glaring flaw in their logic, the alleged murder led to an anti-semantic mob that violently wiped out the Jewish communities of this region.
Werner was buried at this site and became venerated as a martyr - stories of miracles soon began to circulate from his burial place. This led to the expansion of the original church on the site of Werners burial, becoming known as St. Werners chapel which still stands here today. Although originally it was to be expanded into a larger church, a lack of funds and decline in veneration of martyrs meant this church was never finished.
In happier news, we also found some wild berries growing by the church which we thought might be raspberries or blackberries, but decided not to test our theory.
As everyone knows, Germany is the home of pretzels, or as they are called n Germany, Brezal! I wonder why we changed it pretzel?
The exact origins of this tasty bread are hazy, whether they came from Germany, Italy or France seems unsure as there are many different legends. It does however probably originate from the 7th century AD as was invented by the monasteries. And nowadays it makes a damn good snack!
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