Sunday 25th August - Bacharach

After 24 hours on flights, and around airports, it was wonderful to land in Frankfurt this morning around 6:30. Weather was overcast, and has remained that way all day. Temperature has been comfortable, starting at 16, and probably rising to around 20.

With only carry on bags, we cleared customs in no time, and headed toward the trains. Tried to find the DB agency - we have to buy a Swiss 'half fare card' at some point, as Errol has already made two bookings using it, and we haven't bought one yet!! Trip Advisor (TA) had advised it could be done at Frankfurt - no luck today though, so will have to buy it when we get to Munich.

The train trip to Bacharach was uneventful, we had a short stopover in Mainz, and arrived here about 9:30.  Found the hotel easily, but, of course, couldn't check in so early.  Left our bags, and went off to explore.

Bacharach is a beautiful old walled village on the Rhine River, with buildings dating back to the 1300's. It is truly beautiful and is surrounded by hills full of vineyards. Also on the hill behind the village is an old 12th century castle, Burg Stahleck, that is now a youth hostel, and the climb up there is well worth it for the view over the Rhine valley.

Very nicely organized - there is also a wine festival on this weekend, so we had a light lunch by the river, while sampling a few of the local whites. Checked into the hotel about 2, had a much needed shower and rest. Decided not to go too far for dinner (it had started to rain!!), so patronized the hotels restaurant. The only other diners in this Sunday night were a family from Dubbo!! Small world.

Have spent quite some time this afternoon, trying to work out how to add photos to our blog. Crossed fingers and anything else you can think of, we think we finally have it sorted. The only problem is - we have taken so many between us today, it will be hard to choose just a few. For today, I will just add them to the bottom. Tomorrow, will try to add them as I go. Photos done, but currently, in the draft, they look a little out of focus. Hopefully they will look okay once posted. We also hope to be able to reduce the size of the photos, but that is tomorrows conundrum!