What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

The roads criss-crossing the Mosel river valley had to be one of the most romantic, scenic and fun drives around the world. In particular, we came in from the west and starting from the town of Trier, the valley opened up and kilometers after kilometers of vineyards could be seen climbing up the steep valley hills, with the harvests shimmering in the golden Autumn sun ray. The gorgeous vista was complimented by the beautiful and petite hamlets of villages on both sides of the Mosel River, often connected via short bridges; the villages stood in pride with its proud churches with soaring spires and in a distance, majestic castles built on strategic lookout points to hunt down potential intruders in the past or more likely nowadays, troops of tourists. Of course, Mosel had been known to produce excellent wines for over a thousand years, in particular, the mouth-watering, sweet-scented and aromatic white wines made from the Riesling grapes was the more well-known.
We drove through the Mosel all the way to Koblenz where the Mosel joined the mighty Rhine River at the confluence of Deutsches Eck and we drove back up again as we could not get enough of the lovely scenery. Just for our own record, we drove pass and spent quality times at these memorable beautiful villages : Bernkastel-Kues (twin-villages straddling the Mosel), Cochem (a majestic hill-top castle with stunning Autumn leaves), Zell (a cheerful drinking cat), Bruttig-Fankel (sleepy twin-villages with cosy Bed and Breakfast Haus), Beilstein (a glass of chilled white wine and afternoon snack stop overlooking the setting sun). Of all the castles which stood watch over the Mosel, we visited two castles of note, the Burg Eltz and Marienburg-Zell. The former was hidden inland and tucked away in the middle of a forest which made for an interesting side-trip from the Mosel for an hour or two; it was well worth the time as the castle was delightfully constructed with a dramatic forest backdrop; and the latter was right there next to the Mosel and we had a grandstand view as the Mosel made a dramatic ox-bow river bend. We felt exhausted as there were so many places worth visiting and vied for our attention and sure the Mosel left us with a fond impression !