Day Trip to Koblenz

Yesterday we took another day trip about an hour south of Cologne with Will’s coworker, Luis. He is only in Germany for three more weeks and wants to see as much as possible. Our main mission for this weekend was to find a castle and we succeeded!

We first went to a town named Koblenz, which is at the confluence of the Rhine River with the Moselle. The two rivers meet and form a triangle that is similar to “The Point” in Pittsburgh. We felt right at home! We rode in a cable car from one side of river the to the Ehrenbreitstein fortress that overlooks this point. The fortress was constructed by the Prussians in the 1800s to defend the area from French invasion. 

Afterwards, we continued our search for a castle and ended up at Marksburg Castle, which was only about ten minutes away. An English tour was offered in the afternoon and we made it just in time. The castle was built in the 1100s and is the only Rhine castle to have not been destroyed and rebuilt. The tour was really fascinating and the views were beautiful!

More information can be found on both of these places here:

http://www.diefestungehrenbreitstein.de/

http://www.marksburg.de/english/frame.htm

One last interesting story… While we were waiting for the English tour at the castle, a guy came up to Will (who was wearing a Pitt t-shirt) and said that he also went to Pitt, graduating a few years ahead of us. It’s a small world!!

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Pittsburghers in a mini-Pittsburgh

Koblenz

Marksburg Castle

View from Marksburg Castle