3-Night Winery Stay in Spectacular Cochem

This is one of my favorite towns in the Mosel, or elsewhere in Germany for that matter.

Just look at this view of a fairytale castle shrouded in the morning mist, perched above a medieval town surrounded by lush vineyards. You too would be enticed to spend a few nights in this magical place.



Located on a sharp turn of the Mosel is the 1000-year-old town of Cochem, one of many along a serpentine river widely recognized as Germany's most prestigious wine region. Every hill along the valley is covered with rows upon rows of Rieslings, and it was for this reason that we decided to base ourselves in a local winery for the next 3 nights.



This may be the most complete medieval town we've ever stayed in, with clusters of cute timber-frame houses, cobblestone townsquares, terraced vineyards that have sustained its townsfolk since time immemorial, and a gothic castle on the hilltop from which the nobles ruled. The whole infrastructure for fiefs and peasants is still mostly intact to this date.



Ever since the Romans brought their grapes 2000 years ago, the terrain of the Mosel has been adapted specifically for one crop. Every inch of cultivable land seems to be covered with grapevines, creating a dramatic cultural landscape of frighteningly steep vineyards staring down a narrow valley.



That's the backdrop for this enchanted little town, merely a 2-hour train ride from Cologne or Frankfurt but feels like a world away. Boats at the pier would ferry travelers up the Mosel to the ancient Roman city of Trier or downstream to join the Rhine at Koblenz.



We arrived by train after a day-trip to Luxembourg and Trier, into a historic train station that seems stuck in the late 1800's. Where the train tracks ended, the vineyards began. Wine is the lifeblood of this age-old community of vintners.



Our base for 3 nights was Weingut Rademacher, a family-owned winery conveniently located just a 3 minute walk from the train station. Located on the hillside above the house is the family estate, a small and precipitous looking plot of land that produces some surprisingly flowery semi-dry and dry Rieslings.



The family operates a small Weinstube that serves up cheese-and-Schinken platters to accompany their wine, in addition to renting out Gästzimmers to supplement income outside of wine production. Our double room was clean and very spacious, albeit a little noisy in the morning as it faced the park-and-ride lot for the train station. On a positive note though they do offer a free glass of wine for each guest upon arrival.



The included breakfast was one of the best we've had anywhere in Germany, a generous buffet of dry-cured ham, bread and juice, plus a whole plethora of mouth-watering cheeses. And if you're still thirsty, they do wine tastings at a nominal charge and offer their wines at very reasonable prices. I would have carried some back to Canada if we weren't traveling further.



After breakfast we entered the town's medieval walls and headed straight for its busy Market Square of 17th Century half-timber houses flanking a Baroque townhall. The surprising number of shops offered some decent shopping, but the best deals were at the informal open-air market (Tues/Wed only?) just outside of the town walls next to the main bridge.



A shuttle bus drove us up some impossibly narrow and steep cobblestone streets to the Reichsburg, Cochem's Imperial castle. This was arguably the most popular sight in the entire Mosel Valley, and we arrived among hundreds of other tourists, mostly Germans but many English and French speaking ones as well.



These 1000-year-old Romanesque arches actually led to a much more recent neo-gothic castle, destroyed by Louis XIV and last rebuilt in the 19th Century. Even on a Tuesday morning the courtyard was completely packed, and we had to wait almost 30 minutes for an English tour.



Even our guided tour session, delivered bilingually in German and English, was entirely packed with visitors as curious as ourselves. Our guide was a humorous lady who spoke English with barely any accent.



The 45 minute tour took us through some extravagant 19th Century halls and living quarters, decorated with neo-baroque and even renaissance style furnishings and sculptures. Particularly interesting was the collection of hunting trophies, including a polar bear from Alaska.



The most memorable room was a secret passage disguised as a regular wall panel. Our guide asked everyone to guess where the secret lever was ... and nobody noticed an inconspicuous metal button on the carpet. This was one of the more enjoyable castle tours we've taken.



But my favorite part of the Reichsburg was its panoramic view of Cochem amidst its endless vineyards and the lively boat traffic along its stretch of the Mosel. We probably spent nearby two hours at the castle, before taking the steep path back into town for lunch.



For our first meal in Cochem we went to the historic Ratskeller, which by definition was the cellar of the 18th Century Rathaus. I had no idea why the outdoor patio was entirely full while this romantic wine cellar from the 1700's was near empty. To me the ambiance of the vaulted cellar was exactly our main reason for lunching here.



Soup of the day turned out to be a rich and creamy soup of champignon mushrooms. Everyday I was hoping to see some Boletus or Chanterelle mushrooms on restaurant menus in this autumn season, but the good stuff still turned out rather uncommon. This bowl though was a fairly good substitute.



My wife surprised me with a sudden craving for some hearty bratwursts. These came in two varieties, both crispily grilled and meaty, though I still liked my vegetarian dish better ...



I must have been missing our wonderful time in the Black Forest ... and missing my usual intake of veggies since arriving in Germany ... that I thoroughly enjoyed this vegetable Flammkuche. And it was very well prepared with a rich sour cream, crunchy edges and some simple and fresh vegetables. To me this type of peasant dishes is German food at its best -- nothing fancy, just simple and rustic flavors.

Bill for Two Persons

Soup of the Day	3.5 Euros
Vegetable Flammkuche	8.5 Euros
Bratwurst Plate	11.5 Euros
Glass Riesling x 2	5.0 Euros
TOTAL before tips	28.5 Euros (CAD$39.9)

Another great lunch spot we came across was also housed in a historic building, the 17th Century timber-frame house of Zom Stueffje, just a little uphill from the Market Square.



The interior of exposed wooden frames and an eccentric collection of curios probably hadn't changed much over the past century or so. The clientelle all seemed to be Germans couples in their 60's or older, but it hardly mattered to us. We knew we're in for some nice traditional dishes.



And the food was great ... in fact my wife's smoked trout fillets were among the best fish we had in Germany. The flesh was flavorfully smoked, buttery and not at all salty. While the portion wasn't huge, at less than 10 Euros this was still an excellent deal.



My fillet of salmon was a much bigger dish that came with a green salad and potatoes on the side. The meat was a little dry and the sauce was too salty, but then I wasn't expecting French elaborateness in a rustic German Landrestaurant. Though, I would have loved to order a second plate of smoked trout.

Bill for Two Persons

Soup of the Day	3.2 Euros
Smoked Trout	9.9 Euros
Salmon Filet	15.8 Euros
Federweisser	3.0 Euros
Glass Riesling	3.4 Euros
TOTAL before tips	35.3 Euros (CAD$49.4)

After working up a huge appetite with a day-hike to Burg Eltz, we head for our most anticipated restaurant in Cochem, one highly recommended by the locals. Located a 15 minute walk away from the Old Town on Endertstraße is the little Mosellandhotel im Enderttal and its restaurant Zum Onkel Willi.



We knew we're in the right place when we saw on the menu ... fresh Chanterelle mushrooms! I would have loved to start with a cream of Chanterelle, but this schnitzel with a rich sauce was enough to satisfy my taste for these seasonal wild fungi. I probably scooped up every drop of the sauce with the potato cakes.



My wife ordered this Barbary duck breast in a sauce of orange and peppercorns. Ignoring the curious sides of broccoli and steamed rice -- I guess the locals somehow associate exotic meats with the orient -- the duck breast actually tasted quite decent with the peppercorns. But it's still no match for the Chanterelle ... that sauce alone was enough to keep me happy for the day.

Bill for Two Persons

Tomato Soup	4.5 Euros
Barbary Duck Breast	17.8 Euros
Schnitzel with Chanterelle	15.5 Euros
Glass Federweisser x 2	5.6 Euros
Glass Riesling	3.0 Euros
TOTAL before tips	46.4 Euros (CAD$64.7)

In my view Cochem is an excellent base for exploring the rest of the picturesque Mosel Valley. It's well-connected by trains to Trier or Traben-Trarbach, ferries to Beilstein or Bernkastel-Kues, and of course the hiking trail to majestic Burg Eltz is just a couple stations north at Moselkern. Three nights was just enough, and I could have easily found enough things to do for a week's stay.

Two Cities in One Day-Trip - Luxembourg City and Trier

This was one of the longest days of our 24-day journey, starting in the early morning from Strasbourg in the Alsace and ending the day 300km away at Cochem on the Mosel. We made the middle part into a day-trip of two beautiful city cores designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Luxembourg City and Trier.



Getting from Strasbourg to Luxembourg would have been an easy 2 hour journey ... except SNCF recently cancelled its sole morning train between the two cities! So we woke up an hour early to catch a 06:47 regional train from Strasbourg to Metz, then transferred to a TGV to arrive at Luxembourg three hours later. There we started our 4 hour stopover in Luxembourg City, after picking up a Mille Feuille in the locally celebrated pâtisserie of Oberweis.



Luxembourg has always intrigued me as one of Europe's greatest fortresses, and it is this military heritage that earned its World Heritage distinction. While its massive ramparts had been mostly dismantled in the late 1800's, its vast underground network of tunnels remains with the natural defense of a 30 metre cliff from the valley floor. This would be the focus of our self-guided tour, starting from the top of the promontory and winding our way to its very bottom.



A quick ride on Bus #14 took us from the train station to the top of the promontory known locally as the Bock. Even in today's peacetime it offers great panoramic shots of the lower town and the valley to the east. It's easy to imagine the fearsome artillery launching from this massive rock of honeycombed bunkers during wars.



For over a millennium this has been the city's cradle and shield, a natural fortification augmented with ingenious military design to form a near impenetrable line of defense. Beneath the surface lurks an 18th Century system of underground galleries of cannons and barracks, with some 20 km of tunnels dug through sheer rocks.



Our mission on this day was to simply find a path to the lower town ... and even that turned into a bit of exploration. At the end we followed the advice of the ticket sales lady at the casemate's entrance, followed the steep vehicular road (Montee de Clausen) down the hill, turned left and left again through a convoluted path to the bottom of the casemates. There we emerged between the rocks and stone bridges into the valley floor.



We reached the Grund, a lower town of charming narrow streets snaking down its steep slopes to the bottom of the valley, surrounded by the stalwart casemates and the gabled roofs of the Old Town above. Clear signage directed us along a suggested route through the remnants of the city wall and past the elegant St Jean du Grund with its pointed spire.



This picturesque neighborhood of 18th Century houses beneath a cliff-top town reminded me fondly of Quebec City -- both sharing similar aesthetic qualities of a romantic old town divided by sheer cliffs into an upper quarter and a lower quarter. Quebec City is a little cuter and more intimate in my view while Luxembourg City is undoubtedly much grander, both in terms of its scale and its historical context.



Fortunately we didn't have to hike all the way back up ... there's a bus stop at the bottom with a half-hourly bus (#23) whisking visitors back to the train station. 2 Euros is relatively reasonable for the bus fare ... this is one of the world's most affluent nations after all.



We took a local train in the early afternoon to our next destination of Trier, just 40km away from Luxembourg on the German side of the border. At this time the Luxembourgish national rail (CFL) offered unbelievably cheap round-trip tickets to Trier, known as the Tagesrückfahrkarte, for prices even cheaper than the single fare. To this date we still have our unused ticket stubs for that return trip.



In my opinion Trier is just one of those tremendously underrated destinations among foreign tourists. As a former capital of the Western Roman Empire it's got beautiful Roman ruins, an amphitheatre that used to seat 20,000, the world's largest surviving Roman building in the Constantine Basilica, the oldest and one of the most prestigious cathedrals in Germany, and it's the capital of the Mosel wine region. What's not to like?



Just a 10 minute walk from the train station is the rugged Porta Nigra, the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. A climb up the tower offers a glimpse into the robustness of 1800-year-old Roman engineering, as well as the light and shadows of ancient columns for some elegant portraits.



My best reason for climbing the Porta Nigra was the panoramic views practically in all directions. The picture above was taken in the southern direction looking down Simeonstraße towards the St. Gangolf church on Hauptmarkt and the Romanesque-cross-Gothic spires of the Cathedral.



But the Porta Nigra was only one of hundreds of city gates across the Roman Empire. There's another building here that was peerless in importance across the Empire -- Emperor Constantine's ginormous throne hall, the largest single room in the world to survive from the age of antiquity. The Romans installed their splendid marble niches and heated double floors to impress the visiting Germanic tribes, only to have it later converted for various functions by the people they were supposed to subjugate. It's used even today, currently by a protestant congregation in town.



The premier ecclesiastical venue in town though is the Trier Cathedral, itself an expansion of yet another Roman structure from the 4th Century. Partially destroyed and rebuilt again and again during the Dark and Middle Ages, it remains the oldest cathedral in Germany.



The current state is a curious mishmash of Romanesque baptistery and naves with a Gothic roof, along with an 18th Century Baroque chapel designed for one purpose only ...



... to house one of Germany's most famous Catholic relics, the purported seamless robe of Jesus ... or one of many in the world making the same claim. Whether one believes in Trier's claim or not, there's no denying the artistry of the extravagant marble sculptures.



Next to the Cathedral there's the smaller Church of Our Lady, the oldest Gothic church in Germany and another one of the many buildings protected under the World Heritage umbrella. Other heritage buildings include a Roman amphitheatre, ruins of the imperial baths and a Roman bridge across the Mosel, though we didn't have enough time on a half-day trip.



With some time left we decided to visit an authentic Weinstube for a light dinner and sample some of the region's famous white wine. We followed local advice and sat down among the old wine presses at Kesselstatt, an informal wine bar conveniently located right next to the Cathedral.



The format was self-serve and prices were cheaper than reasonable for such a prime location -- cheese platters from 6.9 Euros, Schinken and Wurst platters from 7.5 Euros, local Rieslings and Spätburgunders from 4 Euros per 0.2L or 12 Euros a bottle. If I'm not mistaken they also serve hot dishes in the evening hours, though we arrived a little early for that.



To start we ordered the classic German split pea soup with sliced sausages, followed by this platter of Wild Boar Schinken. It's a little leaner and deeper in flavor compared to the typical German dry-cured ham, though it was so salty that I had to wash it down with some Riesling.



The best dish of the day turned out to be this simple plate of smoked salmon -- moist, fresh and served with a green salad. On this trip I'm finding that the German appetite is continually moving further away from the typical repertoire of preserved vegetables and shifting towards fresh ones, which certainly fits my own preference.

Bill for Two Persons

Pea Soup with Sausages	5.2 Euros
Smoked Salmon Salad	9.8 Euros
Wild Boar Schinken	9.9 Euros
Riesling 0.4 L	8.4 Euros
TOTAL before tips	33.3 Euros (CAD$46.6)

Trier was such a pleasant small city that I wouldn't have minded staying for the night, but we had to keep with our schedule and begin the next segment of our journey. By sunset we're already en route to one of our most anticipated destinations of our trip, the incredibly charming town of Cochem where we'll be staying in a winery for the next 3 nights.

Strasbourg - Musée Alsacien, the Notre-Dame and Duck Gizzards

This has always been one of Europe's great historic cities, best known for arguably the world's greatest Gothic cathedral as well as a picturesque medieval quarter. It's also somewhat underrated as a tourist destination, due partly to its distance from Paris and partly to its awkwardness as a traditionally German-speaking city within France. Strasbourg is, after all, Straße-Bourg -- the town of many roads.



In fact this was where the nations of France and Germany were born, some 1200 years ago when the Oaths of Strasbourg split Charlemagne's empire along the Rhine. Sitting on the French side of the Rhine directly opposite the mystical Black Forest on German soil, Strasbourg has achieved over the millennium a brilliant amalgamation of cultural heritage, architecture and culinary traditions. Think French mastery of culinary techniques combined with hearty German portions.



But it's also been the frontline of conflicts -- over the past 150 years Strasbourg has changed hands 4 times between Germany and France. Somehow the city's historic core of Grande Île escaped miraculously undamaged, enough to become the first city centre in the world to be protected a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its entirety. That's a chapter that most tourists miss as they stroll amongst these adorably cartoonish medieval houses.



Today's Strasbourg is the European poster-child on international cooperation. The European Parliament meets here half the year (and jacks up hotel prices in the process), the European Court of Human Rights oversees issues such as religious freedom, and the University of Strasbourg has emerged as one of Europe's premier learning institutions. It's an international metropolis with great regional flair, as any visitor to the delightful Petite-France district can attest.



This is a district of 16th Century timber-frame houses, claustrophobically clumped together between cobblestone paths and cradled by a system of still-navigable old canals. At its centre is the Maison des Tanneurs and an amusing swing bridge that opens up every time a cruise boat passes through.



I must say that we were a little underwhelmed as we arrived at Petite-France -- while the scenic quarter does possess some charming street corners and pleasant canals, as a whole we simply found the medieval centre of Colmar, and the fortified rural villages of Riquewihr and Ribeauville, to be much more complete and aesthetically pleasing representations of traditional Alsatian communities. There are other landmarks that speak more uniquely of Strasbourg IMHO.



One such landmark is the Maison Kammerzell, an incredibly extravagant half-timber Gothic building that somehow survived centuries of fires, plagues and warfare since Year 1427. Beneath these intricate wooden carvings used to be a medieval shopping mall shared by multiple merchant families under the shadow of the great cathedral. Even today it's still prime real estate, charging upwards of 130 Euros per night as a 3-star hotel and restaurant. I would have been tempted to book here, if we didn't have to catch an early train the next morning.



Next to the Kammerzell is everyone's favorite sight in Strasbourg, the magnificent Cathédrale Notre-Dame with its skyscraping single spire and towering arches of pink sandstones. This was once the tallest building in the world, and even today remains the tallest building surviving from the Middle Ages.



Look at this brilliant grandeur of high Gothic architecture -- no wonder Goethe called it the most sublime and beautiful cathedral in the world! You simply can't stand in the midst of its colossal columns and soaring vaults and not feel awestruck.



To me it simply felt right -- the illusion of space created the tranquility of a temple of spiritual worship and sanctity, shielding from the relatively small groups of guided tourists armed with cameras and phones. Out of the many World-Heritage-listed cathedrals we visited on this 24-day journey -- Cologne, Aachen, Trier, Bruges and Strasbourg -- this was by far my favorite.



There are other captivating details such as a superbly preserved Romanesque crypt dating 1000 years back, a famous astronomical clock that calculates equinoxes and planetary positions, and our favorite of all, this exquisite organ case from the late Middle Ages. We considered climbing the 332 steps up the spire to the viewing platform, but decided to conserve our energy for our afternoon walks to the rest of the Grande Île.



We took a pleasant stroll on the southern edge of the city's historic core, enjoying the charming 18th Century cityscape along the banks of the Ill River. While people had told me that Strasbourg was small enough to be navigable on foot, I personally found the trusty trams to be a lifesaver for those trips between the sights around Grande Île and our hotel closer to the Gare. 4.1 Euros for a 24 hour pass was definitely an excellent deal.



Strasbourg also hosts one of my favorite small museums anywhere in Europe -- the Musée Alsacien.



What really impressed me wasn't so much the exhibits, but how the museum preserved several historic houses and integrated them with a maze of wooden balustrades and hidden passages. The result is an atmospheric quadrangle of overgrown vine around a cobblestone courtyard, complete with exposed medieval timberframes for that rustic Alsatian flair. This was by far my favorite photospot for portrait shoots, and the best part was, visitors were so few that we had the place mostly to ourselves for the majority of our visit.



And then there's the fascinating collection, mostly objects of folk art, furniture and artifacts of folk religious practices in rural Alsace. It took us more than an hour just to quickly breeze through the winding route of four storeys, and we could have taken much longer if we didn't want to return to our hotel for the luxury of an afternoon nap in the middle of our sightseeing. But before we headed back to the hotel, we made sure to drop by our choice of restaurant to reserve a table for dinner.



I've been waiting to write this review -- this was our favorite dinner over our 24 day journey through 6 countries. The food was exemplary, prices were reasonable, the servers were friendly, and it's centrally located in an 18th Century cobblestone square just 200m from the Cathedral. This was our best discovery in Strasbourg, a little informal restaurant called La Table du Gayot.



I knew we've found the right place when my wife's eyes lit up at all the "de Canard" dishes on the menu ... foie gras, terrines, gizzards and breasts. On this night she would indulge on an exclusive feast of nothing but ducks, starting with this heavenly rich foie gras. This was just as excellent as the foie gras we had a few days earlier at L'un des Sens in Colmar, with as generous a portion, for 2/3 of the price. And this was only the start.



The next appetizer would get even better ... a confit of duck gizzards that was at once succulent, flavorsome, soft to the bite and yet retaining that characteristic chewiness of gizzards. The healthy heap pictured above was only an appetizer portion for a measly 8.5 Euros. If you're as into ducks as my wife, consider ordering the main dish portion for around 13 Euros.



Main dish for my wife was this perfectly sauteed duck breast served with pearl onions and ratatouille. According to her this was the best duck breast she's ever had ... and this is coming from someone who orders duck at restaurants any chance she gets. Enough said.



In my opinion though an even better dish was my pork cheek confit in red wine with the regional variation of Spätzle. The pork cheeks were just impossibly tender ... enough to disintegrate in the mouth with even the softest bite. Still I'm not sure if this was my favorite dish -- everything was so perfectly prepared that I probably had three favorite dishes.

Bill for Two Persons

Foie Gras	10 Euros
Duck Gizzards	8.5 Euros
Magret de Canard	18 Euros
Joues de Porc	15 Euros
Pinot Gris 1/4 Litre	9 Euros
Carola Bleu 1/2 Litre	3 Euros
TOTAL before tips	63.5 Euros (CAD$88.9)

This meal was certainly worth every Euro Cent. And since the restaurant was practically steps from the Cathedral, on our way back we had another chance to stop for some spectacular night scenery. This would be our only evening in Strasbourg, and we took our sweet time to savor it all.



This was also our last night in Alsace and in France, as the next morning we would take the 06:47 train to Metz en route to our day trip in Luxembourg. Tomorrow would be the start of the next segment of our journey, a slow tour of Germany's Mosel Valley.