The best way to manage jet lag? Don't take a nap on your arrival morning/day! Just stay up, and go to bed at your normal bedtime for that time zone. After a long travel day getting to Schloss Lieser, dinner and drinks (and a hot shower), we slept in. No alarms. We slept until we naturally woke up.
Which was almost 9 am.
No worries! We had a wine tasting set up for 4 pm, and dinner reservations at the hotel at 7 pm, but other than that, our schedule was open. With all the research we did prior to the trip, we knew there was a local bakery just a short walk away. Perfect for breakfast! We'd grab a bite to eat, then take a stroll into Bernkastel-Kues, about 4 km away.
As a reminder, any links in blue will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. Clicking on a photo will display a larger version of it.
Bernkastel-Kues
But first, breakfast. A two-minute walk brought us to Bäckerei Ostermann, a charming little bakery that had tons of offerings. Be aware, though: they accept cash only. We knew this ahead of time, so we made sure to have plenty of small denomination Euros with us. Top priority for me: warm brötchen! Crusty outside, fluffy inside, a smear of butter....
The German equivalent of heating a fresh flour tortilla over a gas stove and adding a little butter.
Brötchen
I chose one "regular" brötchen and one with tomato and cheese, almost like a caprese. A cup of black coffee and I was a happy camper. Cindy and I took our time, savoring our first full day in Germany. The morning was cool, and mist hung along the tops of the hills. What a sight!
Ready to make that walk into Bernkastel-Kues? Let's go!
Onward to B-K
"Consideration widens the path."
We saw many bicycle riders using this path, both approaching us from B-K and overtaking us from Lieser. Both of us always made sure to stay along the edge of the path and give a smile and wave. I was happy to see the smile and wave returned from the vast majority of the riders, with the occasional "Hallo" or "Guten Morgen" tossed in.
While walking along the path, we saw several barges and even a river cruise vessel glide by. I was surprised that the Mosel was navigable by these vessels. Wow! It just never occurred to me, I guess. At least two different cruise lines passed by. There may have been others, but I didn't notice them.
Riviera Travel cruise line
I've never been in any true "wine country" before this trip, so the miles and miles of vineyards everywhere I looked were a constant source of amazement. I just couldn't wrap my head around where I was yet. I've seen smaller vineyards, but nothing even remotely close to this scale. And it was amazing. Every time I looked.
Endless vineyards
Miles and Miles of Texas
"I saw miles and miles of TexasAll the stars up in the skyI saw miles and miles of TexasGonna live here 'til I die"
Now here's the best part, at least to me. I can already see some of y'all nodding, knowing what's coming next. Yes, I modified the lyrics to fit the scene. If you haven't heard the traditional song yet, click here for one version. At least you'll have the melody as a guide.
Miles and Miles of Vineyards
I saw miles and miles of vineyards
Allll those bright green vines
I saw miles and miles of vineyards
Makinnn' my Mosel wine
Hey, I never said I was a songwriter. My brain just conjures these out of nowhere and plants them firmly in my head. On an endless loop. Maybe Weird Al Yankovic would be proud of these.
Our walk from Lieser to B-K took about 42 minutes from start to finish, with several stops along the way for photos. We weren't in any particular hurry, so why not take the time to soak it all in? This whole area is beautiful! As we learned when researching our itinerary, Bernkastel-Kues is two towns: Bernkastel and Kues. Our route from Lieser brought us to Kues first.
Welcome to Kues
photo by Cindy Newman
Map of B-K
During our time in Germany, we seemed to find either a church or castle on the highest hilltop in each little village or town. Some of these weren't obvious, like those hidden object games. It wasn't obvious until it was. And then it was like "How could we not have seen this earlier?" You'll need to click on the picture below to get your best look.
Do you see the church?
This was on the Bernkastel side of the Mosel, by the way. From our research, Bernkastel had more shops and points of interest, so we crossed the Mosel and began our exploration there. The bridge from Kues to Bernkastel is about 35 to 40 feet above the river. You'll see why this is important shortly, although I'm sure several of y'all are already figuring it out.
Bernkastel from the bridge
Nice! Cool, damp weather. Perfect for sightseeing as far as we're concerned. Wayyy better than the hot and humid that we left at home. Both of us had small backpacks with a light jacket and water bottle. One of our traditions when traveling is to find a Christmas ornament and/or a coffee cup from the local area. Bernkastel is packed with shops of every kind, so I was confident we'd find at least one of the two.
What else do we do when traveling? Yes, you in the back, with your hand raised....
That's right! We try to find at least one geocache in every new country, port or interesting place. On this trip, our goal was at least one cache in Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. While Cindy researched the train system, I scouted for suitable geocaches in each place we planned to be. Just before we left, I downloaded several caches from each area into our GPS.
Our first German cache
Without revealing any spoilers, there's a virtual cache nearby. With so many people around, we prefer finding virtual caches to avoid compromising traditional caches.
As we did in Madeira, we would walk around for a bit and stop for refreshments. Nothing overly large, usually just a beer and maybe a snack. We weren't ready for lunch just yet, but a local beer would be just fine. We ordered a local beer, a Bitburger Pilsner. Tasty!
Prost!
Bitburger Pils
Remember when I mentioned the height of the bridge over the Mosel? As we explored the streets of Bernkastel, we saw many buildings with flood marks by the door. I'm used to seeing these where we live, being so close to the Gulf Coast. But here? This building was right across the narrow street from where we were enjoying our beer.
Flood marks
And check out those dates! Look at the date partially covered by the leaves. It's from the 1600s! Wow. Several of these flood marks (or "high water marks") were above my head. I'm not tall by any stretch, no pun intended, but still....
Our morning started out cool and mostly cloudy, and as the day progressed, it got cloudier and cooler. Cindy decided to put on her jacket, while warm-natured me was perfectly fine without my jacket....so far.
Getting cooler
Cindy discovered a house with an interesting history. Apparently, houses were taxed by the square footage of the first floor, not the whole building. This house brilliantly circumvented the tax scheme by having a small first floor, then magically expanding the upper floors.
Not an optical illusion
Local legend states that Bernkastel is connected to the German word for bear. Clicking that link will take you to Wikipedia's page on Bernkastel, and even has a good picture of the bridge we crossed from Kues.
Bear statue
We did a little more shopping and our cool, cloudy day turned into a light drizzle. The crowded streets became less crowded as everyone sought shelter from the rain. Yep, us too! Restaurant Ratskeller was close by, so we ducked into it to get out of the rain and, why not, have a snack. How about a classic German treat? Apple strudel and hot chocolate. Yes, please!
Apple strudel
Hot chocolate
That was "real" whipped cream with both the strudel and in the hot chocolate, not that artificial, fake whipped cream so prevalent here. And yes, that's vanilla bean ice cream with the strudel. Those little black specks in the ice cream are from actual vanilla beans. With our dinner at Puricelli's this evening, I didn't want to fill up, and this was perfect.
Our wine tasting at Dr. Pauly Bergweiler was set for 4 pm, just a short time after our snack. Time for a little more sightseeing and shopping and then a short walk to the winery. As we entered the building, our host was surprised to see us. "Oh, I thought your tasting was at 5, not 4." She directed us to a small room and promised to start our tasting on time. A German couple joined us in this small room and we had a great conversation with them.
Tasting flight
Notice that this flight progressed from driest to sweetest. Even though I'm generally not a fan of dry white wines, the whole point of being where we were, and doing these tastings, was to explore the Mosel wines. The driest wine was definitely astringent, at least to me. The other couple in our tasting were doing what we were doing: visiting Bernkastel specifically to enjoy the local wines. Being aware that most Germans didn't enjoy "small talk" with strangers, I asked them if our conversation bothered them. "Wine and small talk were made for each other." Great! We had a blast with them.
Our tasting ended about 5:30, and rather than risk being late for dinner, we got a cab back to the hotel. We wanted a little time to freshen up before dinner and this would keep us from having to rush. Once we got back to our room, I described our day in our travel journal and relaxed while Cindy got ready for dinner.
Puricelli is a Michelin-starred restaurant located within Schloss Lieser. I made reservations for Puricelli before we even left home. Given that this was a fine-dining restaurant, I also wanted to know if there was a specific dress code so we could pack the appropriate clothing. The hotel's reply was "We have no specific dress code. We only ask that our guests dress neatly." Well, that helps, a little. They knew we were flying to Germany and would be living out of a suitcase, and their suggestion not to pack "anything special" was the helpful part. Let's head downstairs and see what's cooking.
Amuse bouche
"Beet tar tar" Yes, beets.
Wild tomatoes
Variation of Char
Filet of Beef
A red Mosel wine? Yes!
Dessert
Wow! An incredible feast! Cindy and I were both stuffed, and the wine pairing made our meal even more exceptional. As we finished our dessert, our waiter brought us a final glass of Auslese. "This is with our compliments. You have been enthusiastic guests and we have enjoyed pairing wines with your meal."
Tomorrow would be a long day, with an early start. We had a day trip to Köln (Cologne) planned and we would have to be up by 7 am to make it to our train. Time to call it a day.
Minimum steps: 10155
4.38 miles
Coming up next, our day in Köln, including another culinary first for me.
The previous installments can be found by clicking the links below:
2nd entry: Our Germany Adventure, Day 1: Arrival
Until next time....
carpe cerevisi
That’s how I manage my jet lag too. With an Anti napping movement. Picket lines needed sometimes too.
ReplyDeleteAnd that’s our cruise line for 2028!!! Danube. Baby. Look forward to sailing with you and Cindy
Gee, imagine that. I happened to get a photo of our upcoming cruise line. ;-)
Delete