Cruise Planners "On the Road" - River Cruising on AMA Waterways - Paris to Amsterdam on Ama Lyra - November 4-14 2014 - Naples to Paris - Days 6 - Bernkastel, Germany

Day 6 abroad and our first port visit after a great night's sleep -- well, almost... After dancing the night and some of the morning away, breakfast was a push...

Bernkastel (literally Bear Castle) in the heart of Germany's Mosel wine region is our first stop.  The hills on both sides of the river are covered in grape (primarily Reisling) vines many of which still have their leaves, now yellow in the late autumn.  Weather is sunny and clear although for South Floridians, transplanted or otherwise, when you're standing in shadows, you are freezing this time of the year in the Mosel Valley.  

Mosel River Map - we're traveling from right to left...

Truly scenic vista

Seeing grapes makes us thirsty - Wine Tasting Anyone?

Off the bow of Ama Lyra

There is a lot of local tourism in this part of Germany

The vineyards are really steep - lots of work to tend them

 If truth be told, Valerie and I are not generally sweet white wine drinkers.  But as part of our included shore excursion in Bernkastel, we visited the Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler winery -- a family winery producing approximately 200,000 bottles a year.  Our host wine maker, Stefan Pauly, was the perfect host -- informative and humorous -- reminding us why we like the self deprecating Germanic humor.  

As an example Stefan explained why he has to export his wine outside of Germany...  In Germany, cars are king - every two years, the German man needs to buy a new Audi, Mercedes, or Porsche to keep up with his neighbor.  As a result of high car payments, there is little budget left for wine or food.  In fact, Germany is home to the most successful cut rate grocery stores because of this phenomena - Walmart prices were too high and they left Germany in less than a year.   But in France, French people love their food and wine -- they will pay for good food and wine, conversely the French drive older cars and as we were told (and could see for ourselves in Paris) don't keep or treat their cars nicely - the French park by "touch" -- once they hit the car in front or back, they are done.  In Germany, touching your car to another is verbotten!  It was a great story and provides insight into cultural differences here in Europe an American wouldn't typically learn...

So after all the prose, how was the wine tasting?  First you must know that Bernkastel is the home of "Doktor" wine - this appelation earned by curing a local bishop of fever long before our own revolutionary war.  So now that we know that wine has documented healing powers, we were ready to roll....

We were not excited about tasting Reisling going in  - when we walked out, there is one we will buy and keep in our cellar at all times - very reasonably priced, as Stefan noted -- can be bought at Total Wines back in SW Florida - with a unique and very pleasing taste - on both the front and back end.  So old sea dogs can be taught "new wine".

Bernkastel - as we learned during our guided tour - is an exceptionally well preserved city - only one building was destroyed during WWII so most of the buildings are originals from the 1400s.

Speaking of new wine, we also managed to time our visit to the two weeks of the year that Mosel wine makers produce a special wine from this year's grapes.  Barely fermented and around 10% alcohol content - it is a very fresh taste, apparently good for your digestion.  At least that's what Rudi told us as he poured us each a glass this afternoon - in Cochem -  but we'll talk about that in our next installment.

After our afternoon excursion, we retired to our room as we watched the Mosel Valley scenery pass by from our French balcony.  Tonight's dinner?  The Chef's Table - a smaller, more intimate venue on the second deck aft - 24 diners total with a fixed menu each night.  Chef's Table was a dining experience - presented and prepared by the #2 Chef, each course built on the previous until we couldn't eat another bite.  We were lucky enough to be joined for dinner by our Ama Waterways host who regaled us with stories of his youthful adventures -- Rudi Schreiner is an interesting person with vision and drive -- and fortunately for his passengers -- excellent taste in wine and food.  The house wines aboard surpass what we'd expect at home; the President's list wines are top notch.

After dinner, we walked into an incredible guitar solo - tip-toeing to a table, we watched the guitar solo crescendo -- only to be joined by his two musical partners on violins.  Thirty minutes, and one encore later, our musicians had to leave as we were casting off for our next port call, Cochem.  One thing you can say about river cruising, the night rides down the river are quiet and smooth...

Downtown Bernkastel - homes built in the late 1400s