One Day in
Cochem

Cochem, Cond and Ernst


Cochem
Cochem
Cochem Castle
We're across the Mosel in Cond
Cochem Castle
...looking for a place for a late lunch, and still taking shots of Cochem Castle
Cond
Cond
Cochem from Cond
Cochem and the castle from Cond
Rock restraint
Cochem. Note the effort to try and keep the ridge on which the castle is built from falling into the town
Cochem and the ridge
Cochem and the ridge with the cross on it that we'd visited earlier this day
Huge house
The biggest house in Cochem
A seat by the Mosel
Old woman and the river
Cond
Cond
Intricate restaurant storefront
I loved the detail of this restaurant's storefront. The door and the glass
Door close-up
Door close-up. Note the detail in the hinges and woodwork
Church
The church in the center of Cond. Note the earthquake bolts, the S-shaped iron on the sides of the tower. These are very common in stone and brick structures all over Germany, and in Boston too, come to think of it...
Cond street
Sun, blood, wingrowers...If I could understand the lettering, I'd be able to translate this...

Update: 03/08/03

The translation has been done for me, via email, by Alexander Schneiders who lives in Ernst:

"The sun is going to mature the blood of the vine. The wine grower bears all the burden and courage."

The point is well taken in any language

Danke, Alexander!

Our winery
This is where we stayed in Ernst. Weingut-Gästehaus Hermann Reitz. Herr Reitz gave us a wine tasting in the wine cellar of this building. I particularly like the Auslese Riesling - Lieblich which is a sweet white Mosel wine. Our room and the homemade breakfast service were also wonderful
Mosel barge
The Mosel is not an easy river to navigate due to the width, the current, and its twists and turns, yet, somehow these huge ships manage to do just that
Big ship...
These barges move very slowly and carefully up and down the river, with a lot of help from some very sophisticated electronics. Some are so large that they're difficult to capture in one picture
Entire ship
There we go
Tour ship
There are also a number of tour ships, like this one, which you can take up and down the Mosel. Taking one of them is a relaxing way to view the vineyards, the castles, and stop in various towns along the way
Looooong day...
We didn't do that. We opted to explore Cochem up close and personal. We're waiting for a bus back into Cochem, about a 10 minute ride, to have dinner
Huge barge
A coal barge, headed in the other direction. Note how steep the vineyards are on the other side of the river
Evening in Cochem
Back in Cochem, around 7pm. These shots are from the bridge between Cochem and Cond
mich
Me
meine Liebling
Ulla
Huge church
Another church in Cond. Compare the space between what the churches take up and what the houses take up on a very limited strip of land next to the river. That will give you some idea of how important religion was when these buildings were built
Ridge
The ridge with the cross from the bridge
Cochem
Cochem town hall, or Rathaus, from the bridge

'Rat' in German means 'advice' in English. 'Haus' means 'house'. Advice house - Town hall. Alexander is correcting me again. "Town Hall" is the right translation for Rathaus, Alexander, but, don't stop. I'll take all the rat you have to offer on what I've done here. Dann wir gelernen

This poor goat...
This statue is an example of how important wine is to this region. Stealing wine was an offence punishable by death. It didn't matter if you were man or beast or bug. This goat was accused of stealing wine, no doubt by a man, not by a beast or by a bug...
It ain't wine...
It was decided that the goat should be placed in a winepress to determine his guilt or innocence. If wine was squeezed out of the goat, then the goat was guilty of stealing wine. Obviously wine was not squeezed out of the goat, but, this statue stands today in Cochem as a reminder of how important and valuable wine is to this region
Cochem Castle
The castle from the main road through Cochem
Collectibles
Collectibles shop
Tanz mit mich?
We were still looking for a place to eat, and something to do for the evening. This is a shot of another street in Cochem, castle everpresent in the backround, and a place to dance on the right
Courtyard
We kept walking around this wonderful little town, and I kept taking pictures
Contrast
New paint and old stone
Contrast
New copper and old stone
Gate
Cochem was a walled city. You can still find remnants of the original wall everywhere, like this gate
Venus
After a pizza on a terrace overlooking the bridge and the left side of town, we ended our evening here, at Venus, partying with a very cordial group of German and Dutch motorcyclists
zzzzzzzz....
Ahhhhh....Cochem. We walked from there to the cab stand in the courtyard, headed back to Ernst, and called it a day
Photos by:
James A. Girard

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