Le Chic En Rose

Bacharach is a gorgeous picture-perfect medieval town nestling on the banks of the Rhine River in the stunning Rhine Gorge region.

We took the early ferry up from our base in Mainz (see here) arriving in Bacharach late morning. On our first visit there in 2011 we had lunch in one of the restaurants tucked alongside the medieval town walls overlooking the railway tracks but on this day all seemed rather quiet and nothing appeared to be open.

We wandered beneath the arches of the ancient 14th century walls and set off down the cobbled streets leading to the town square. Bacharach was as pretty as we remembered – charming old half-timbered buildings with dates inscribed on the facades going back to the 1500s and in the case of the Altes Haus (Old House) to 1368.

We stopped to buy some souvenirs at one of the little gift shops and had a pleasant chat with the owner who came from the southern German region of Swabia.

It soon became clear why most of the cafes and restaurants were closed – this was a Monday and the day off for most of the traders. We could have set off to take the climb up to Stahleck Castle perched strategically on the hill overlooking the town and river. Nowadays the castle houses the local youth hostel and we had had a pleasant lunch back in 2011 in the courtyard cafe there.

However we decided that the pub in the town centre would surely open up and it duly did right on midday. Good old-fashioned home cooking and a couple of drinks warmed us up (it was still unseasonably cold). After our hearty lunch we had a pleasant stroll along the little brook (presumably a tributary of the Rhine) that flows through the town before heading back to the quay to catch the steam ship down to Bingen.

I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking!

 

 

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