Koblenz - And Some Camino Info

Festung Ehrenbreitstein in Koblenz

We started our pilgrimage in early July, and our plan was to hike for 7 days. To make the trip more comfortable, we arranged the hike with Pura, a German travel agency that specializes -- among other things -- in arranging pilgrimages on the Camino. We had used the same agency when we did a pilgrimage on the Camino del Norte, the northern branch of the Camino Santiago in Spain, in 2007, so we knew they did an excellent job of trip planning. 

The agency booked our hotels, sent us maps and a guide book, arranged for luggage transfer by taxi between hotels. Our booking also included a lift to the trailhead on a day that would have been much too long if we hadn't had a ride. It was really the best of both worlds - we could pick our travel dates, but we had the advantage of the expertise of an agency who'd planned trips for pilgrims for a long time. We even had a number to call in case of dire emergency - but  we fortunately didn't need it. 

After our arrival by train at Koblenz train station we walked a short distance to the hotel. The woman at the reception was especially gracious - she had done a shorter pilgrimage the year before and enjoyed chatting with us about her trip and ours. We left our luggage and bought tickets to the Seilbahn Koblenz, a cable car that takes you to the other side of the Rhine, with amazing views of the Rhine and the Mosel rivers. 

Koblenz is famous for being the place where the Deutsche Eck is located, "where Father Rhine and Mother Mosel meet". The cable car runs from the city to the top of a ridge on the east side of the Rhine. On top of the ridge where the cable car ends is the Festung Ehrenbreitstein, a very large fortress that hosts several museums. Also enjoyable were the plantings in the Festung and, indeed, everywhere in Koblenz:

Koblenz hosted the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural Show) in 2011, and afterwards a volunteer organization formed, the Friends of the Bundesgartenschau, trying to keep up the beautiful plantings:

As a committed gardener, I couldn't help myself but had to take a photo or three...:

Then we retired to the hotel, where Mr. Mouse did some additional research on the next day's route:

As you can see, the hotel was a lovely place, a little older but very clean, with white paint and light furniture, a nice contrast to the old-fashioned chandelier. Each hotel on the trail was different. Our accommodations were perhaps a little soft for a pilgrimage - a comfortable bed, a private bath, and a very excellent breakfast! Many pilgrims take the option of staying in the pilgrimage hostels, for a minimal charge, though not every village has one available. Since the Mosel is really set up for tourists, we had lots of company, wine tourists, mainly, but the hotels took the odd pilgrim. So we enjoyed fabulous food and really good hotels. Below a view of the breakfast room in our hotel in Koblenz- notice the pretty flowers on each table:

Breakfast Room in Koblenz

After breakfast, the suitcase was packed and waiting for pickup. We picked up our a day pack and a small string pack containing water, food, blister plaster, raingear, and money for the bus to take us to the trailhead.