Our busy Saturday started with a walking tour of Koblenz, right after breakfast. We covered just the small part of the old city that is nestled between the left bank of the Moselle and the Rhine. The point of land where the two rivers meet holds a huge monument to Frederick I and just across the river, on the North side of the Rhine, is Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, a reconstruction of a fort destroyed by Louis XIV in the late 17th century. As with many of these towns along the Rhine, destruction and rebuilding seems part of their destiny. On return to the ship, we departed in an odd way: we were pointed upriver on the Moselle, so we motored backwards will we could pivot and point upriver on the Rhine.
Over the next seven hours, we passed through the Middle Rhine Valley, filled with castles (mostly reconstructed) and beautiful old towns with imposing churches and large chateaus. The most notable castles were the Stolzenfels Castle as we left Koblenz, the Lahneck Castle as we passed the Lahn River, the Rheinfels Castle near St. Goar, and both the Reichenstein and Rhinestein castles as we neared Rűdesheim, where we docked.
We were delayed for about an hour when one of the passengers got stung by a bee and went into shock. They fixed that part, but then she began vomiting and the crew called for help. An ambulance came, fixed things and we again were underway.
A scheduled excursion began at Rűdesheim, either to a wine tasting or a visit to a musical museum. I did the wine tasting, in a wine cellar: three whites, one dry, one medium and one sweet. I also tried a Pinot Noir, but none really seemed worth buying.