I'm having some difficulty with finding my photos on the iPad. For some reason, the camera forgot the date, so several days photos have filed themselves under the date 31st December 2012. One of the many delights of an iPad is that it files your photos by date, you have no control over it, and you can't change it.
Another difficulty I had today was that the camera battery ran out unexpectedly. So we were sailing back through the extremely scenic and picturesque Rhine gorge, and I was without a camera! Not that it mattered all that much - it poured with rain, so photographs were nearly impossible anyway. However, I've already posted more than enough castle photographs and information.
Once again we passed the Lorelei, but again I failed to take a decent photo of the statue, only having the phone, as the camera was still charging. However, I managed to crop and sharpen the last one I took, so you can see the statue, which is not very large and is sitting in an extremely inelegant pose!
Like the Siren, the Lorelei sang as sailors passed, and this one distracted them so that they drowned. When somebody made a determined attempt to capture her, she called on Father Rhine to save her, and he sent a huge wave to cover her so she disappeared and was never seen again.
During lunch, we turned out of the Rhine into the Moselle and moored in Koblenz. After lunch we set off on a guided walk which took us first to the cable car over the Rhine, up to the huge Ehrenbreitstein fortress that overlooks Koblenz. This is only one corner of the fortress, but you might care to imagine this bit bristling with cannon, with one cannon poking out of each embrasure.
The other side of the embrasure could house soldiers rather than cannon if it wasn't a time of war. Below is the type of accommodation for soldiers just after the fortress was built in the early 1800s.
Apparently, there would actually have been up to 8 bunk beds in a space of this size. Note that there were no cupboards here - soldiers in this era presumably didn't have any personal possessions. By 1900, each soldier had a cupboard.
Of course, in such a commanding position, on a high promontory overlooking two rivers, there had been some sort of fortification there for over 5000 years, and there were Stone Age tools on display as well as Roman artefacts.
The views from the fortress were superb, even in the rain.
We looked down on the monument to Wilhelm l; it is 37 meters high and this photo gives you good idea of the scale. You can also see a couple of the cable cars that we used to cross the Rhine and get up to the fortress.
The Rhine is the river that runs horizontally across the bottom of the photo. The Moselle is the one that joins it and runs towards the top of my photo. You can also see the oldest bridge in Koblenz (14th century) just behind the boat which is manoeuvring in the middle of the Moselle. Only the arches on the left of the bridge are 700 years old - the part on the right was re-built when the river was canalised.
Just beside the boat which is manoeuvring you may be able see another boat moored on the left bank of the Moselle. That's our boat. We'll be doing the manoeuvring tomorrow morning when we leave, as our boat is currently facing down the Moselle and will have to sail back to the Rhine.
Once down again on the banks of the Rhine, we paused to look briefly at St. Castor's Basilica, which has become quite a symbol of Koblenz.
It was originally founded in 836 and the present building was completed in 1208, though the roof is later. Koblenz was 87% destroyed during the Second World War, and this was one of the buildings which was re-built afterwards. Being so close to the Rhine, this church is often flooded.
We walked on into the town, and paused to admire Jesuit Square, so called because the Baroque building on the left was originally a Jesuit College. It is now used as the City Hall.
The roof apparently has 25 windows in it, and there is a Christmas Market in the square, so the windows are used as the Advent Calendar.
We went through the big grey archway you can see in my photo to see the statue of the spitting boy, which has become the mascot of Koblenz.
You can see my photograph actually captures him spitting - he spits every two minutes. He represents every irreverent boy rebelling against authority, and his image can also be seen on all the manhole covers.
We next visited the church of Our Beloved Lady (Liebfrauenkirche) which was also originally 13th century, with later additions.
This just illustrates the fact that 13th century churches don't have to be as gloomy as Cologne Cathedral. This church was damaged in the war but not destroyed, and now all the glass is modern. The stained glass behind the altar commemorates women who were felt to be important to Christ.
You probably won't be able to see the crucifix by the window on the right of the altar, but the crucifix is modern and the body of Christ is 14th century. The two statues you can see, one of Joseph with the Christ child on the left, and the one of Mary on the right are 13th century.
We walked into the elegant nearby Florinsmarkt; on the building directly ahead there is a very old clock and underneath it is the image of a man's face - probably too small to see in my photo.
The image commemorates a robber baron who was executed in the square in 1536, and apparently told people to erect a monument to him and it would bring luck to the town. On the scaffold he rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out, so the image rolls its eyes in time with the pendulum, and when the clock chimes, the image puts his tongue out.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment