Würzburg, 28-29 June

Still in Würzburg waiting to meet our friends from Swakomund days on Sunday. After spending half the day doing washing at the laundramat and trying to find an a post office for some important Carl business, we took a 20 minute walk up the hill to the Marienberg Fortress. 

At the Marienberg Fortress we came across this sculpture, a memorial to the uprising of the Bavarian farmers.  Eight thousand farmers died. This was in 1525 and was known as the Bauerkrieg. The sculpture shows the how the roots   This symbolises, according Carl, the stumping of uprising, but the roots are stil there.

In one of the many courtyards of the Marienberg Fortress. The Marienberg Fortress was started around 1200 on the site of a Bronze Age (1000 BC) Refuge. It was a consecration of Virgin Mary church in 700 AD, the Fortess era stared in 1200. From 1253-1719 was the seat of the Prince Bishops. The only time the Fortress was conquered was by Gustav II Adolf in 1631 during the 30 year war. (Note that Gustav Adolf was the SWEDISH king) Thereafter it was expanded into a Baroque castle with Royal Gardens. We have not found out exactly how Gustav conquered the fortress.

Another courtyard of this magnificent, enormous Fortress.

Our sundowners in Würzburg on the Alte Mainbrücke.

This is a popular place where many people meet to take a glass of local wine.

Look here. What a pleasure to have Bernd and Gerhild Schneider visiting. A real blast from the past. It was so nice to have a long chat and catch up on 27 years.

They brought a bottle of Rotekäppchen to celebrate this occasion.

Thanks Bernd and Gerhild for a wonderful lunch at the Juliusspital Weinstube and a lovely Sunday afternoon.

The library in Würzburg also known as Falkenhaus, formerly the house of a merchant.

No need for tourist information when we have Bernd and Gerhild showing us around.

Lohr am Main- Würzburg, 27 June

The colour of the pink- red sandstone bridges and buildings is too beautiful. Specially in the early morning light. 

Here we are passing the old Lohr bridge early in the morning.

What is the first thing we see? A heron just waiting to be photographed. Leslie had  been wanting to take a photo of a heron in close range, this one was just waiting for us.

Even earlier in the morning I saw a Kingfisher. No one believes me.

We have seen so many herons all the way from Northern Germany. They disappeared for a while on the Mittelandskanal but appeared again on the Rhine. Now on the Main we see them all the time. Not only herons but different kinds of ducks and geese. It is quite fun to watch how the families of geese cope with the wake from the boat. Some of the brave ones actually surf on the wake, others take off and some of the stupid ones crash into the rocks!

Why so quiet and calm? There are vineyards along the left side (going in our direction) of the Main. The wine from the region is produced from the Sylvaner grape.

Karlsburg. Good name for a burg. 

Karlstadt an even better name for a stadt 

A ruin on the opposite bank of Karlstadt.

In the Würzburg Schleuse. The Alte Mainbrücke in the background. 

At the Golden Ganz next to the Schleuse. When we were schleusing up we saw the Golden Ganz as we were coming up in the Schleuse.  Why not go back and have our first thirst quencher at the GG.

We are still not sure if we are going to buy Horstel and Angela outfits. Carl thinks that Leslie will fit well in a Angela dress.

Leslie is adamant, I don't want the outfit the waitress very kindly let us photograph. I am missing a few attributes.

Spot Carl behind the high water marks in Würzburg. 

At the Alte Mainbrücke people gather in the early evening to have a glass of wine. In the background is the Marienberg fortress. Only once stormed and conquered. Guess by who? Gustav II Adolf in 1631 in the 30 year war. How this was possible is a mystery to me but I will find out. 

Our Marina is at the doorstep of Marina Hafenbar.  Excellent food. How about grilled mackerel? And disco till 0500 in the morning. Perfect Place. 

The Hafenbar appears to be a very popular place amongst the local population. They come in groups, young and old, and play disco music all night. We read that Würzburg has the youngest population in Germany, the average age in 2008 was 41. Judging by most of the guests and the music they play at the Hafenbar, the average age is now about 50.

Miltenberg to Lohr 26 June

Schleuse, schleuse, schleuse. Had 5 schleuse to get through today so left the marina at about 7 am. 

We  are starting to get the knack of it. We follow a Dutch couple and get in and out of the locks with them. The technique is very simple but requires a well trimmed crew. So we are. 

Red sandstone rock. 

As we travel up the Main we see open rock faces like these.

It must have been old quarries.  

Red sandstone rock

The colour is magnificent. Same colour as on the house we had in Sala. I am sure to remember that the colour was called Rothenfels. 

All along the beautiful and peaceful river Main there are towns and villages,some very beautiful, some with industries, some with old castles now in ruins overlooking and some just ordinary. It would be wonderful to be able to stop in at every place because the one place is more quaint than the next! Difficult to take photos which do justice to these places. Here we have Wertheim and a ruin.

Attire for cold early morning lock control. New fashion? Yes it is high fashion on Main.

Ruins along the way, the Kollenburg ruin...

another ruin, can't remember the name..

Wertheim and ruin

another..

and this one is Rothenfels.

Leaving the last Schleuse for the day, having done  Freudenberg, Faulbach, Eichel, Lengfurt and Rothenfels. (Rothenfels translates to Red Rock)

We have now done 16 of the 34 locks before we get to Bamberg, where the Main flows into the Main-Danube Canal. 

One more town which impressed us but we cannot remember why.

Arrived in the town of Lohr at about 4 pm. Had no idea of what to find but it turned out to have the most wonderful Altstadt. This is the  Hauptstrasse.

Tudor style houses in Altstadt, Fränkische Fachwerkhäuser, in German. You find these houses in all the towns and just want to photograph all of them. 

Germany won 1-0 over USA so the town was buzzing with happy people. 

A street in Lohr.

Lohr Marina 

Aschaffenburg-Miltenberg, 25 June

Left Aschaffenburg early this morning in the rain with the prospect of 4 locks before reaching Miltenberg. We soon found ourselves behind one of those long tourist boats so we could follow it up the river and go through the locks together. The locks are 4 metres high and 300 metres long. They do not allow small boats to go through the locks alone and that is why it is better to follow one of the tourist boats or a barge. Going through locks slows down our progress, but we pass through beautiful landscape and cute villages around every corner. And the Main rivers has many "corners", it winds itself almost in a circle! 

Passed a ship building enterprise on the way with vineyards in the background. Notice the barges on the slip.

Entering Miltenburg, yet another beautiful town

View of the surroundings with the marina in the foreground.

View of Miltenberg, sandstone is the dominant building stone. A beautiful pink stone which is mined in the local quarries. Very competent rock which allows production of very big building blocks.

Testing the local hotel Riessen... and beer/wine

And the rest of the street.

The bridge over the Main. We were a bit tired after the hard days work so we have not managed to delve into the history of Miltenberg, but it appears to have a rich and interesting past, judging from the beautiful buildings.

The marina

Frankfurt Griesheim - Aschaffenburg, 24 June

In Griesheim we debated about going to Babo Kebap eller Doyum Kebap for dinner. The city center of Griesheim was only one block away from the jetty so it was very convenient to have Kaden Schiffsausruster, the supermarket, baker, ice- cream parlour and key maker close by. As it turned out neither Babo or Doyum got our business but REWE supermarket provided the supplies and we had SchweinHaxe for supper.

Hermann told us that Frankfurt is the centre for banks and financial institutions while Düsseldorf is dominated by insurance companies. Frankfurt is called "Mainhattan". The skyline and building activity is impressive. The rulers of today are building their temples...

We were in Frankfurt 4 years ago on the way back from Cape Town. We  stood on the banks of the Main and wondered if we really would be passing through on our own boat!

Towns along the Main, a very quiet and pretty river. Four locks which we had handle ourselves, until we arrived in Aschaffenburg.

The castle in Aschaffenburg, Johannisburg Palace. Originally a medieval castle, built from 1605 to 1614 and up until 1803 the second residence of the Mainz electoral bishops.

We had never heard of Aschaffenburg before, but what a wonderful, interesting place. We need to freshen up our knowledge of this part of Germany, that is Bayern.

The Sonnenuhr, 6 m high, with the "real" time.

Horstel und...

Angela

The Stiftsbasilika, Church of Peter and Alexander.

The square in front of the church.

Since Rüdesheim, wine has often been served in these wine glasses.

Johannisburg Palace.

..from another angle.

Home for pigeons in the city centre.

The marina,Motorboot und wasserski Aschaffenburg.

Schönbusch Palace and park, a 3 km walk from town.

Pompeiianum

Inspired by the excavations in Pompeii, king Ludwig I built a idealised Roman villa 1840, not for himself but as a place where art lovers could make a study of ancient culture. Wine from Pompeeiianum, as other wines produced in Franken, are typically in rounded bottles.