The Romantic Rhine

 The Romantic Rhine is an UNESCO site that runs upstream from Koblenz for 160 kilometres.

One of the many other passenger boats on the Rhine, with a similar design to the one that I was on.

The Town Hall in Koblenz

The confluence of two rivers in Koblenz

The tower on top of the hill overlooking Koblenz.

The Maus Castle, the first of 40 along this section.

Some steeply sloping vineyards long the shore.

One of the commercial ships.

And another.

All the villages and towns along the route are pretty.

More shipping.

The Katz Castle on the hill and one of the towers of the walls that surround the town.

A coal carrier

There is a road and a railway running alongside both banks of the river.

A container ship.

Another castle but there were so many, I can't remember the name.

A huge castle complex.

More pretty buildings.

And more.

The famous Loreley, a siren that lured sailors onto the rocks to shipwreck them.

Another picture of the Loreley, its small but its just to the left of the middle bush.

One of the portals to a tunnel, built to look like a castle.

The Seven Sisters being rocks that have to be avoided.

A train full of new cars.

The Neuwelt Statue

One of the towers forming part of the town walls.

Cologne

 Cologne

We arrived at midday and set off for a walking tour of the old city. Our ship moored near the centre.

The railway bridge across the river.

Just before we walked under the railway bridge is the Musical House. It was designed as a temporary structure of waterproof canvas stretched over a frame but it has been in use for more than ten years.

The railway station. The railway bridge points directly at the cathedral but there is a tight turn to the right to reach the station built just metres from the cathedral.

The cathedral from a distance but were were going in a large arc to reach it...

...first visiting Fish Market, site of the old port, and overlooking it St Micheals Church.

On one of the shop fronts is a record of how high the floods can be often in November due to heavy rain or April with the snow melt in the Alps.

The Whale Brewery, one of 12 in the city that brew a particular type of beer, first developed in Cologne called Kölsch.

A view of the side of the famous Cologne cathedral once the largest and tallest building in the world standing at 156metres tall that took 300 years to complete

And the reason that it is here and so important is that it houses the shrine and bodies of the Three Wise Men. The only picture I allowed myself to take within the cathedral.

Dusseldorf

 Dusseldorf

We cruised through Duisburg just before breakfast and then Dusseldorf and I am posting some photos from the river as we cruised through.

One of the bridges across the Rhine. I was still getting used to my new camera and despite the cost, its zoom focus is poor...a Sony ZV1 for anyone that is interested. 

A close up of the bridge.

An iconic church and a light house on the banks. 

Many of the commercial boats had cars parked on the stern such as this one with two cars, the black car is discernible but the other one is obscured.

This is how they lift the boat off the barge to the waterfront.

An iconic tower that we would see several times as we followed the river as it snaked back and forth.

One of the other  boats on the river and I will get the zoom mode on the camera sorted.

A general scene of houses overlooking the river.

                                        

A detail of one of the cars on a barge

Amsterdam

My first outing in Amsterdam was a cruise along the canals.

A general view of the wharf along the Amstel River

A common feature of Amsterdam, two of the 2,500 houseboats along permits for new mooring sites are no longer available. Permits to moor a houseboat change hands at over half a million euros.

One of the many gables with the characteristic wood beam extending from the top of the building.
 

A general view of one of the canals.

An elegant bridge. 

Some of the houses have settled into the soft ground. These are the Dancing Houses, so called as they all have settled at an angle.

The steeple of the west church

The canal opposite Muidenslot, a medieval castle.

A view of the castle.

Inside the castle

The main bedroom.

The main dining room with a floral wreath, used to try to overcome the smell of unwashed bodies

The dining table.

The fireplace in the kitchen.

The fireplace in the parlour.

The parlour.

Danger in the Jungle due to be published 30.6.2022

 Danger in the Jungle due to be published 30.6.2022 

Back cover story

The journey starts in the city of Belém on Brazil’s Atlantic seaboard and traverses thousands of kilometres up the Amazon River through dense jungle to Leticia, to an eco-lodge in the depths of the jungle to experience native village life.

There is the thrill of Carnival to experience in the city of Manaus, cut off by road from the rest of Brazil and only accessible by air or river. Cut off despite having a population of over two million, making it Brazil’s seventh largest city.

Going north, the journey crosses the border into Venezuela – and what a vast difference between Brazilian and Venezuelan culture and society. Colombia used to be known as a basket case, but just as Colombia has addressed her issues, Venezuela has taken over as the basket case of South America, with alleged widespread corruption, unfunded social programmes, economic mismanagement and security forces cracking down hard on any opposition, making the place unattractive as a tourist destination. So why was I going there?