 |
| Burg Thurant |
The travel agency had arranged for a short transfer by car to the start of our hike at Lasserg, a village on the high plateau of the Eiffel. Saving a few kilometers along the Mosel and then a steep uphill climb made it possible for us to reach to Beilstein in a single day hike. As it turned out, Beilstein was very scenic, so the short departure from walking in exchange for spending the night there was well worth it. From Lasserg on, we followed the Camino, but the agency did not have us stay overnight in of the towns that the guidebook suggested until we reached Klausen.
From Lasserg, the Camino ran through a high plateau for a bit, and we were glad to be among the grain fields during the cool part of the day.
Then we descended to Burg Eltz, one of the most famous German castles - and a rare example of one that was never destroyed. Burg Eltz has been owned by the same family for 30 generations and was depicted on the German 500 Deutsche Mark (DM) bill back before Germany adopted the Euro in 2000.
 |
| Burg Eltz |
We got to the Burg rather early and could not go inside, so we only snapped a few pics - can you imagine the price of upkeep for this place?
Even if you own a forest or three, it can't be easy.
Then we turned around to follow the Camino downhill, and were back to civilization after a few kilometers, guided by the trustworthy shell (though we did find the signage not quite as good as the day before, and almost got lost).
 |
| View of the Mosel |
In Treis, we had a very nice lunch of salad and Flammenkuchen and we refilled our water bottles. Flammenkuchen is a little like pizza, but with different, much thinner dough, and is an Alsationan-Mosellan and South German specialty--Alsace which is now right across the border in France.
As before with Alken and Löf, there was a town on each side of the Mosel, except these two towns are now one administrative unit called Treis-Karden.
After lunch, we had a regrettably long uphill slog to the Hunsrück plateau. Once on the plateau, the trail led past the beautiful Maria Engelport cloister. Along the Camino as we approached the cloister, was a Stations of the Cross sequence that looked quite old:
Maria Engelport is still an active cloister, and inside the church we stood in the back of the church and quietly observed nuns kneeling in prayer. We were struck by the quiet and the beautiful blue garments of the nuns and the sense of peace pervading the place.
A short rest at the cloister prepared us for a long downhill to Beilstein, where we were to spend the night. We arrived after 5 - the day had started late, and the extra 5 or 6 km and extra elevation made a difference. But because it was the middle of the summer, we didn't have to worry - it didn't get dark until after 10 pm. But this day was by far the hottest, and we were pretty wiped out by the time we got to the hotel.
 |
| Beilstein from the Ridge |
We had an exceptionally good dinner in Beilstein - or maybe it just tasted so good because the hike had been so long and hot. But the food was great, and the view of the Mosel as well. And Beilstein -- the Dornröschen (sleeping beauty) of the Mosel--turned out to be as scenic as the guidebook promised. It's a charming town with may houses preserved from the 1600s and the roads so narrow that the cars pretty much can't get in.
From our hotel we had a view of a niche with the Virgin Mary below.
The allergy-proof pillows in that hotel made me especially happy because I'd been sneezing and wheezing and had almost gotten used to sleeping with my jacket as a pillow. So I remember that we slept especially well after the long hike.
