Bernkastel to Klausen

Pilgrim's Church and Hostel in Klausen

The route from Bernkastel to Klausen was shorter and had less elevation gain than the previous day, 9.5 km, and 400 m. elevation. The forecast was for continuing hot weather. Being from Northern California, we're both a bit spoiled and expect temperate weather in the 70s or 80s with low humidity and no rain for the summer, but of course in Germany, anything is possible. 

Before the hike started, we prepared by buying an extra bottle of water and some chocolate from the Bernkastel supermarket. Maybe the chocolate wasn't so logical, but we knew it would surely cheer us up! The night before, a screw had fallen out of Mr. Mouse's glasses while he was preparing for bed, so we stopped by an optician across the river in Kues to have them repaired. We were lucky it wasn't Sunday, the optician was open, and able to fix the glasses for a few euros.

For the first hour or so, the trail ran along the Mosel out of Kues and was really busy. We passed many vacationers on bikes and e-bikes cruising along, and even a few hikers. During the week, we saw no hikers, but now that the weekend had arrived people were turning out to put a few kilometers behind them. In Zwenich, we crossed the Lieser River, a tributary of the Mosel, and again ended up getting slightly lost, following the river upstream rather than climbing into the vineyards immediately on the other side. Once we realized that we weren't seeing the familiar yellow shell anymore, we turned around and quickly found the trail again.

Hiking through the vineyards, we left the hustle and bustle and noise of the flatlands behind. We were again delighted by the different bat, bird, and bee houses announcing the trail while helping out the local wildlife:

For lunch, we stopped in Monzel, a small village on the hill that was not as touristy as the places in the valley. We asked around to find a place for lunch, and it turned out there were exactly two restaurants in town. We picked one, and while they primarily catered to wine tourists exploring off the beaten path, they were happy to prepare a meal for us. We sat outside under the grape arbor and I had potato with quark and herbs, and a glass of home-pressed grape juice - delicious!

Lunch Spot in Monzel

After lunch, we had another uphill climb, but it leveled off fairly soon, and after a few hours we arrived in Klausen. Klausen is the first village we stayed in that wasn't along the river. It is also a very important pilgrimage destination which is why the Camino runs through it; in fact, there is a pilgrim hostel in Klausen. You can read about the history here.

Our guidebook says that Klausen is a spiritual center for the region. Over  100,000 pilgrims come to Klausen even now, primarily in May and September. To house that number of people requires 5 or 6 hotels, each with a restaurant.  But only one hotel, one hostel, and two other restaurants are open during "normal" times. The other places were shuttered - no menus, no people. Even our hotel looked a little forlorn initially with nobody but the owner's wife around. She guided us upstairs to a pleasant room.

Then we had our usual shower and headed back down to check out the village. Across the street was the Dorfladen (Village Store) and Cafe, which are in the same building as the hostel:

Hostel and Cafe with Sign Advertising Coffee and Cake ("Kaffee und Kuchen")

In the Cafe, we enjoyed tea and cake. While we were enjoying our treats, a stream of hostel guests came in and bought small items or sat down and had cake and coffee too. We suspected that a Catholic retreat was in progress and that the participants were having a break.

Afterward we had a look around the store. On the wall, the owners had a plaque stating that their store actually won a prize for being the best local store. They really did have everything you might need: fruit and veggies, basics for cooking, drugstore basics, etc. With a Dorfladen, you don't need to pile everyone into the car and drive to the next town if you just need a couple of eggs. I suspect they subsidized the store with the income from the cake and coffee, which was clearly much appreciated by the hostel guests.

Refreshed, we strolled over to the church, dedicated to Mary, to check it out. The church is the point where Eiffel Camino (link in German) and the Mosel Camino meet. The Eiffel Camino starts in Andernach on the Rhine River. From Klausen, the Eiffel Camino and the Mosel Camino run together to Trier.

The church tower was beautiful in the afternoon light:

Pilgrimage Church in Klausen

Also impressive on the inside:

Antwerp Main Altar

Side Altar with a Statue of the Archangel Michael

The main altar is a spectacular winged piece made in Antwerp in the 1400s. It depicts various stories of Mary, from the Annunciation where she learned she was pregnant to a scene at the crucifixion, where she watched her son being tortured to death by Roman soldiers. The entire church and monastery -- which at one point had several thousand inhabitants -- was inspired by the founder Eberhard. We saw the room where he locked himself away from the world to meditate on Mary for 15 years or so. From our modern perspective, it's difficult to imagine someone dedicating their life to being locked up in a room and meditating, but during the Middle Ages, someone who dedicated themselves to a spiritual goal such as Eberhard was held in high regard, and inspired the common people, like elite athletes and stars in the entertainment industry do today.

After touring the church, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest. Strangely, around 6 pm a large white bus pulled up in front of our hotel. It wasn't a crowd of Google employees as I first suspected, but rather 30 or 40 tourists. From their dialect, it was clear that they lived nearby. They sat down outside in the seating area before the hotel. Suddenly a waitress and a helper appeared, we smelled delicious food, and the sound of talking and laughing filled the air.

Around 6:45 we headed down to join the party, and were lucky to find a table in the crowd. We both ordered a nice dinner, and when we were halfway finished, the white-bus-crowd paid for their meals and left the way they came, in the white bus. Suddenly it became very quiet again. We celebrated by sharing a "Heiße Liebe" ("hot love" in German), an ice cream specialty with hot raspberries, then retired early as the next day promised to be a long one again.