Rhine & Moselle – Cologne to Cologne MS Geoffrey Chaucer departing 30 Apr 2024

Cologne, a 2,000-year-old city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany, is the region’s cultural hub. A landmark of High Gothic architecture set amid reconstructed old town, the twin-spired Cologne Cathedral is also known for its gilded medieval reliquary and sweeping river views. The adjacent Museum Ludwig showcases 20th-century art, including many masterpieces by Picasso, and the Romano-Germanic Museum houses Roman antiquities.

Cochem is the seat of and the biggest town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With just over 5,000 inhabitants, Cochem falls just behind Kusel, in the Kusel district, as Germany’s second smallest district seat. Since 7 June 2009, it has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem.

Trier is a southwestern German city in the Moselle wine region, near the Luxembourg border. Founded by the Romans, it contains several well-preserved Roman structures like the Porta Nigra gate, the ruins of Roman baths, an amphitheater just outside the center and a stone bridge over the Moselle River. The Archaeological Museum displays Roman artifacts. Among Trier’s many Catholic churches is Trier Cathedral.

Bernkastel-Kues is a town on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a well-known winegrowing centre.

Koblenz, spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and of the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its name originates from the Latin cōnfluentēs, meaning ” confluence”

Boppard, formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.

Explore the historic cities of the mighty Rhine and the quintessential half-timbered wine villages of the serene Moselle, its banks lined with ancient ruined castles and impossibly steep terraced vineyards. Following embarkation in Cologne, we meander south on the Rhine to Rudesheim, visiting the old town of Koblenz and then to Boppard, known as ‘the Pearl of the Rhine’ en route. Cruising through the Rhine Gorge, we experience spectacular scenery, emerald vineyards and a landscape studded with houses and picturesque villages.

Our journey then takes us upstream and then along the Moselle river calling in the delightful town of Cochem and the romantic twin village of Traben-Trarbach. At our furthest port of call, Bernkastel, we also visit Trier, the oldest city in Germany, famous for its Roman amphitheatre, baths and the imposing Porta Nigra, the huge fortified gate that formed the eastern border of the Roman Empire.

Cruising back downstream, we have time to relax and absorb the stunning scenery along the Moselle valley, rejoining the Rhine and heading north, to Cologne. Here we take a guided city tour seeing the stunning cathedral with the most intricate stained glass in Europe.

All in all a spectacular and relaxing cruise in some of the finest landscape that Germany has to offer, appreciated from a most privileged vantage point.

Rüdesheim am Rhein is a town in the Rhine Valley, Germany. It’s known for winemaking, especially of Riesling wines. In the center, Drosselgasse is a lane lined with shops, taverns and restaurants. Nearby, Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet is a museum of automated musical instruments. Medieval Brömserburg Castle is home to the Rheingau Wine Museum, exhibiting wine paraphernalia from ancient times to the present.

Cologne, a 2,000-year-old city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany, is the region’s cultural hub. A landmark of High Gothic architecture set amid reconstructed old town, the twin-spired Cologne Cathedral is also known for its gilded medieval reliquary and sweeping river views. The adjacent Museum Ludwig showcases 20th-century art, including many masterpieces by Picasso, and the Romano-Germanic Museum houses Roman antiquities.

Cologne, a 2,000-year-old city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany, is the region’s cultural hub. A landmark of High Gothic architecture set amid reconstructed old town, the twin-spired Cologne Cathedral is also known for its gilded medieval reliquary and sweeping river views. The adjacent Museum Ludwig showcases 20th-century art, including many masterpieces by Picasso, and the Romano-Germanic Museum houses Roman antiquities.