June 1999 Trip to Germany
- Bill and Suzie Hickox -
Part 2 - The Mosel River
Two days later we arrived in Trier. We headed for the Porta Nigra,
originally built by the Romans in the 2nd century! It still stands 4 stories tall, built of sandstone turned black by the dark patina forming on the sandstone over the centuries. Read about it and you'll want to see it. Even in the rain, it was majestic! From there we walked to visit the Dom,
the Basilika,
and the Liebfrauenkirche. Before we could see more, the rain increased and we ran for the car. We pulled out the map and decided to drive on down the road and the Mosel River, to see the little towns and look for a zimmer for the night.
When we reached Zell, on the Mosel, we knew "this was it!" Picture it…
the beautiful and wide Mosel River with small winding roads on either side, all nestled between tall, vine filled hills on either side. Along side the roads were little three and four story houses, backed up to the hills, for almost as far as the eye could see before rounding the river bend. Opening onto the street, each house seemed to have two large doors which appeared to be garage doors, and next to these were two smaller "half sized doors." Behind the little houses, so filled with individual personality, were high steep hills, lined to the top with vineyards. Driving on down the river road, we noticed almost every other little house had a zimmer sign. Suzie, being the "don't take the first place you see" person she is, wanted to drive all the way to the end of the town, "window shopping" all the zimmers before deciding which zimmer to choose for the night. By now, you must know who runs this family!
We (Suzie) chose the Gastehaus Eberhard (Haus Gretal Eberhard, Brandenburg 42, 56856 Zell/Mosel, Telefon 06542/41216). Herr und Frau Eberhard welcomed us with wonderful warmth.
In their zimmer, (their 2nd floor, "our" 3rd floor)
we opened the windows to see the Mosel River winding before us.
Large barges would quietly float their cargo past about 3 or 4 times an hour. The view of the river, village and vine-laden hills was breath taking. And the cool breeze of fresh air gave us an exciting energy to walk through the town, street by street to see and feel its history, character, and people.
We noticed the villagers placing leaved tree branches of all types throughout the little town, and asked the occasion. The young man replied that the next day was a holiday to celebrate the patron saint of their church. He went on to explain that each church has its own patron saint. Each patron saint is celebrated with a holiday once a year. (We laughed as he proudly explained they have three churches in town…and three different holidays each year to celebrate. We all laughed when he went on to say, "We love all our holidays in Zell!") The parade the next day was a happy celebration to all the local towns people. All were dressed up, men in local official uniforms, some older men wore their medals on their chests, and all honored the Catholic church, their priest and their church.
Is it obvious we will talk to anyone as we travel? Our German language skills are marginal at best, but we try to communicate, laugh at the responses, and very often find the friendly people of Germany eager to visit, tell us of new sights, and often show us "their" little niche of this beautiful country. That's what happened next.
As we returned to our zimmer, the husband was closing the large garage doors on the front. Suzie asked him, "Do you make your own wine?" Well, his eyes lit up, and with a broad smile he replied in German and broken English, "Zie haben ein minuten?" We had many minutes for what was about to become a special highlight of the trip. Herr Eberhard then walked over and opened the two smaller wooden doors on the front under his home. His wein keller! Taking us inside, he started by first showing us his hand-cranked grape presses,
then his awards from years gone by, and then continued process by process through the entire small cellar to the oaken casks, full of aging wine, and to the neatly stacked, slightly dust covered bottles (no labels yet) of his own wine. Now he escorted us a few feet over to his wine tasting table and asked, "You taste der wein?" We happily said, "Yes." With flair and great pride, he then proceeded to give us tastes of his wines: we were not interested in the dry wines, so we began with his "not to sweet" then "medium sweet" and finally "sweet" wines. Suzie and I agree. To our tastes, our favorites of all wines are those in Mosel made from the Mosel grapes! You might see my delight
as I kneel in this wein keller surrounded by the stacked bottles on one side and the oaken kegs on the other. My smile of happiness is very real! We did purchase a bottle of his wine to bring home and share with our family.
The next morning over a wonderful breakfast, we visited with the couple. Herr Eberhard was still proudly discussing his wine making skills, and said in German, "Very good for a man of 68 years and a wife of 63." Frau Eberhard immediately scolded him saying in German, "Do not tell them my age…it's not for them to know!" and left for the kitchen. The three of us laughed, and Suzie and I commented how much the four-star travelers really miss with their room-service breakfasts.
After leaving Zell, we continued down the winding road of the Mosel valley toward Koblenz. It's hard not to stop, so we did, many times. First to walk among the hillside grapevines under an old abandoned castle.
Then we stopped to walk through another little picturesque berg and finally we continued on to Burg Eltz, the castle that's been in the same family for over 800 years.
We drove the back roads to the parking area, walked down the steep hill, and toured the beautiful old original castle…definitely worth the time and visit!
Beyond Burg Eltz we came to Koblenz, where the Mosel River meets the Rhine River.
