September Holiday: Monday, 22.09.2025

On Monday, the forecast wasn‘t good and the day did indeed start with rain, but we decided to go for a hike nonetheless and were lucky - by the time we left the hotel it had stopped raining and remained dry until the last few minutes on our way back to the hotel, and our rain geat remained in the rucksacks all day.

Morning view from our room

A nearby smaller town, Traben-Trarbach, can be reached by car along the river, a distance of about 25 km. On foot across the wooded ridge, the distance is less than 7 km. You can guess which option we chose, can‘t you!

Because of the wet and chilly morning, not many people were about in the historical part of Bernkastel, giving me the chance to take a few more pictures:

As is often the case, climbing the sometimes rather steep lanes up the vineyards sooner or later you come past a chapel, and this one was no exception.

From there, onwards and upwards the path lead through vineyards and woods and over the ridge before going downhill into Traben-Trarbach.

Of course, the town is all about wine, making and selling, and the tourism industry has long since picked up on it just like in Bernkastel, but we were surprised to see many abandoned buildings, shuttered shops and boarded up houses.

The church we visited was beautiful, and with its neo-Romanesque features and warm colours ‘spoke’ to me a lot more than the one we‘d visited in Kues.

An angel for my Mum

It being a Monday, most cafés and restaurants were closed. Some winebars were open, but we weren‘t looking for an alcoholic drink that time of day. Eventually, we found a café by the river where we had coffee and very good cake.

Next, we bought tickets for the trip back to Bernkastel by boat. The Mosel at this point meanders in loops and curves, which makes the journey two hours long at a leisurely pace with many stops along the way. 20 minutes of the trip are taken up by going through a lock. The impressive bridge we passed underneath was only finished in 2018.

Our boat, the Moselperle

A little after five we arrived at the hotel, in good time for a rest and changing into regular clothes for dinner, which was again excellent.

The day ended on a cosy note with us watching a rerun of Midsomer Murders.