Le reve report

2011-11-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

Good news from Yacht works.

The Nanni (our get home engine) took on water through the exhaust. Apparently when it was installed the air lock was not high enough and sea water found its way in through the exhaust and ended up in the oil pan. this caused the oil level to increase to the point where some of the oil was entering the compression side of the cylinders and caused the engine to smoke terribly. Also the engine would continue to run (on the oil) for a short time after the ignition was turned off. Yacht-works discovered the problem and will correct it. The good news is that the analyses of the oil came back and it showed no significant wear of the engine.

Home but still blogging

2011-09-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

We are home but still reflecting on our trip.

Also I wanted to put a little explanation on as to how to leave a comment, as several people have told me they are having a problem leaving a comment.

If you click on "comment" on any particular blog a page will come up where you can leave a comment. Before sending the comment click the "Name/URL " box below the comment you have just left.
A box will show up where your can leave your name.

Type in your name and click on "post comment"

I hope this helps for those who want to leave a comment.

An other trip comes to a close.

2011-09-21T17:28:00.001-07:00

We are home!!!!
It is good to be home, however the trip that took us over the Rhine, Main, Main Danube canal, Danube, Danube Black Sea canal. Black sea, Bosporus,Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, and into the Aegean Sea is one we will look back on and have fond memories of. We locked through a total of 70 locks which took us 406 meter above sea level and back down again.

The different people and cultures we met has enriched our lives. Before and during our trip we heard horror stories about crossing boarders, especially in the former east block countries. Our experience is quite different in that most everyone we met was friendly and helpful.
The Aegean sea where le rêve is resting on the hard right now is an absolutely wonderful cruising destination. It is always a bit questionable, and nerve wracking, if we can find a good and secure place to leave Le rêve when we go home. We could not be more pleased to have found Didim Marina to keep her, and Yachtworks to look after her.

Some interesting statistics.
The total trip from the time we started till we reached our end destination took 90 days of which 60 days we were boating. The total distance covered was approximately 2300 nm ( 4250 km ) 38 nm (70 km) per day. Total engine hours for the trip was 385 hours or just over 6 hours per day of running.
Le rêve performed exceptional at 3.2 miles per gallon or 1.8 gallon per hour on average. Keep in mind that we did have the current in our favor for most of the trip. The Rhine was the exception where we had the current against us however this was only about 150 nm. Sometime we encountered a very strong current. the strongest we saw was a current that pushed us along at 12.9 kn SOG at 1600 RPM Average was more like 8 knots at 1600 RPM.

In closing I want to say that sometime I wonder why I take the time to keep this blog. But I know there are many people following along, and that more than makes the afford of keeping the blog worth while.
We thank you for your interest and comments and say good bye till the next leg when we will once again continue the "lerevereport".

Home via Istanbul

2011-09-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

We traveled from Didim (the marina) to Izmir, a 2 hour car ride. In Izmir we boarded a plain to Istanbul. We had one overnight in Istanbul before we continue to Toronto via Kiev.

We arrived in Istanbul mid afternoon so that gave us just enough time to go to a couple of the attractions, the Grand bazaar and the spice market.

I have never seen so much stuff in my life. You name it and you can find it. And it goes on and on and on....

Not only is the market very interesting the trip (by taxi) to and from was something else as well.
I believe all taxi drivers are former race car drivers. Part of the reason they drive like maniacs is that they get paid by the km not by time. So the faster they can get you to your destination the sooner they can pick up some one else.
Some of the roads we traveled were two lanes without the lines painted on the road and they made a three lane road out of it.

Ont thing you see at the market is some one walking around with a tray with tea on it. (Turk's really like their tea.)
So when we wanted a picture of the tea delivery man, they were all to glad to pose.

Next thing they insisted WE sit down and have their tea. The guys offering the tea were rug salesman and of course they were hoping to sell us a rug. Real Turkeys rugs are beautiful, good quality, and plenty of shops selling them.

The spice market also was very interesting. you can't think of a spice or it is offered for sale. The minute you walked into the building ( which was large) the aroma meets you.

Didim marina and Yachtworks

2011-09-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Didim Marina is a brand new marina. It opened in 2010 and has room for 580 boats in the water of which 41 can be over 30 meter.
We were told that you don't want to go there because there is no infrastructure and it is away from everywhere. Yes it is a couple of mile away from town, but for 1.75 Turkish lira ( aprox. .75 euro cents) you can hop on a shuttle bus which comes around every 10 or 15 minutes. Further more the marina has on site a very large and beautiful swimming pool, a restaurant, a cafe, beach access, exercise facilities, a sauna, a steam room, hotel rooms, and a chandlery. This super facility cost 70 million Euros to build.

A super yacht is taking on some diesel fuel. This boat had to be over 150 feet long

An other large yacht from Malta is moored.

The larger boats have their own storage garages along the dock.

Le rȇve is moored with boats of it's own size, proudly displaying the solar panels.
They have worked 100%. We can now stay at anchor indefinitely and not worry about draining the batteries.

The service in the marina is top notch. Right from the minute you enter the marina you are guided into and assisted with the lines by one of two pilot boats. These are 15 ft hard bottom inflatables with a 60 hp outboard. When you want to leave your dock for a cruise they again are there to give a helping hand.

And while you are docked all you have to do is call for the shuttle service on VHF 72 and VOILÁ you are whisked away to where ever it is you want to go within the marina.

I introduced you a couple of postings ago to Yachtworks.

Let me introduce you to Can Sürekli. Can and his partner Yosuf Civelekoǧlu started yachtworks about ten years ago. Can has been on board several times and addressed some of the regular maintenance issues as well as some additional work we wanted to get done. Can and his partners are both sailors and they " have been there, done that". I must say I am very impressed. We have had other very good and professional work done on the boat by different individuals but seldom do you find a company who can address every issue you could run into and have the in house expertise and facilities needed to get the job done.

Le rêve is being lifted out of the water with on of the two travel lifts they have here.

This one is capable of lifting 70 ton Le rêve is ony 25 ton so not a problem.

This is the other one capable of lifting 400 ton. The tires on it must be close to 10 feet tall if not taller.

Here is Can ( pronounced "John")

and his technician

checking the main bearing.

First indication is that it is still OK. But Can wants to check the manufacturers specification to see if the movement (which is very minimal) is with in the acceptable limits.

1000 square meter of under cover yardworks facility.

Just a over view of the yard area of Didim marina.

Square meter for hard standing of boats 45000

Total (cemented) square meter of yard 60000

Enough room for storing 600 boats out of the water.

A shave and a hair cut "two bits"

2011-09-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

In Turkey getting a shave and a hair cut is a real treat. They go all the way!!!

Harold sounded a bit apprehensive when they got the torch going to get rid of unwanted hair in the ears.

A couple of final snips and, voila, we looked and felt like a million dollars.

Yacht works

2011-09-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

yachtWORKS.

Your peace of mind at sea.
Our service provider for Le rȇve in Didim Marina.

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

2011-09-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

D-MARINA in DIDIM is where we will leave the boat

We thought we had a big boat until we got to DIDIM.

A view of the Aegean sea from the deck of the pool at Didim Marina.

Le rȇve (back row second from left) at rest in D-Marina

An other view from the pool.

Visiting Ephesus

2011-09-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

Joanne in front of the shrine of the virgin Mary. According to archeologist and theologians Mary left Jerusalem after the crucifixion for two reasons. 1/ she was grieve stricken and 2/ it was not safe for her, or other Christians for that matter,to be in Jerusalem at that time.

According to the gospel of John. Jesus before dying on the cross entrusted to him the care of his mother when he said "here is your mother" and from that time on John took her to his own. Jesus's followers were persecuted in Jerusalem as you can read in the acts of the apostles.

Steven was stoned in the year 37 AD

James was beheaded in the year 42 AD

You further can read how the world was divided between them for the preaching of the gospel. John was given Asia Minor. Mary was given to his care and with the persecution he probably took her with him to Asia Minor (Ephesus)

From the house of Mary ( the shrine which is build on the original foundation of the house) we went to the ruins of Ephesus.

It takes two and a half hours to walk through the ruins and it is quite a sight.

Kusadasi

2011-09-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

KUSADASI

A city with approx. 60.000 inhabitant's.

Large cruise boats line the main dock. Everyone who comes here want to go and see the ruins of Ephesus, as this ancient and important city is less than 20 km from Kusadasi.

One more anchorage

2011-09-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

One more beautiful anchorage.

And there are caves with HOT SPRINGS !!!!!

It was a very peaceful anchorage with just one other sail boat anchoring out.
Just after we took the dingy over and checked out the caves three tour boats came over and anchored out in front of the hot springs.

All of a sudden we are surrounded by LOTS of "Turkeys"

Anchoring out

2011-09-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Where the "Burgees" fly!!!!
AGLCA in TURKEY!!!!!!

A Wonderful breakfast at a wonderful anchorage!!!!

If you look close you can see Joanne taking her early morning swim.

Sun sets at anchor.

In the morning we went out to search for a store to buy some bread. We could not find a store but ran into a delivery boat which was on the way to a nearby resort and lo and behold they had two baskets with lots of fresh baked bread. We asked if we could buy some but we could not however they gave us two loaves and we had a wonderful breakfast at anchor

When it was time to move on we came across these three men in their fishing boat. A typical small fishing boat in the Med.

A tour of Bozcaada Island

2011-09-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

We took a sun set tour of the Island and saw lots of interesting sights as we toured.

A nice home on the sea side of Bozcaada.

A contrast of the big beautiful home is this lady milking the goat.

What can I say about this picture!!!!!

And here we are at the west side of the Island to see the sun set.
And what a beautiful sun set it was.

Bozcaada Island

2011-09-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

On the Island of Bozcaada Joanne poses in one of the gates of the fort.

The locals have their fishing boats tied up here, and there are lots of them!!!

Tour of Bozcaada

2011-09-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Our trip home from Troy

2011-09-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

On our way home from Troy the driver stopped at a field of tomatoes and we could pick as many as we wanted. The field was his uncles so he said!?!?
The tomatoes were very good.

A little further down the road we stopped at a field of peppers just as big and beautiful as the tomatoes and again we could pick till our heart was contend. Again it was his uncles field!!?!???

Look at those peppers. Yummy Yummy Yummy And Harold and Kathi knew just how to prepare them.

Canakkale

2011-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Our first Med Mooring.

I was a bit comprehensive about it but it actually works very wel and is a good way to dock (moor)

Sammy our tour guide took us to Troy.

This is the Trojan horse.

Helen of troy!!!!!

The "Odeon"

From Marmara Island to Canakkale

2011-09-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

From our anchorage in Marmara Island in the sea of Marmara we went to Canakkale.

On the way we saw many boats both cargo and cruise liners. The cruise liner was almost 1000 ft long.

This (Canakkale) is where we checked in which was the most difficult of all our countries to check in. We used an agent who me to four different government offices which took over two hours.

Istanbul

2011-09-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Where the burgie's fly........

As we approached the Bophorus we snap a shot with the AGLCA burgie proudly flapping in the wind

The famous "Blue Mosque" in Istanbul.

Crossing the Black Sea

2011-09-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Aug 30 we left Constanta behind us and crossed the Black sea.
The Black Sea is not huge but with dimensions like 600 X 200 nautical mile still a considerable body of water to cross.
The weather promises to be good for the crossing but even so we installed the storm windows and hauled out the life raft and put it in the cockpit ready to launch in the unlikely event that we had to abandon ship.

It was not long and we had a pod of dolphins welcome us the the black sea.

They stayed with us for quite a while and these three put on quite a performance.

The crossing was 180 nm and took 25.5 hours.

We left at 09.30 and before we knew it, daylight faded and we witnessed a beautiful sun set.

All through the crossing we saw at least one large ship, and sometime two or three. But when we came closer to Istanbul we saw 15 other ship's on the AIS screen beside our self within 9 nm .

The entrance to the Bosphorus and only 14 nm to go before we are in Istanbul.

Constanta

2011-08-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

At dock in "Tomis" marina in Constanta on the Black sea.

We are waiting for a few days to cross the Black sea to Istanbul Turkey for the sea to be a bit more friendly.

Steven Dorin ( the fellow on the right) collected our locking fees at the last lock and offered his service to tour us around Constanta.
We took him up on his offer and he not only showed us around Constanta but told us a lot of history about Constanta and Romania.

One of our stops was the local shoe repair shop for Harold to have some work done on his sandal.

This is how to truly experience the culture.

Checking into Romania

2011-08-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

We checked into Romania in Cernavoda. This is also where we left the Danube and entered the "Danube Black Sea Canal" which is 64 km long with a lock on both ends. We were at the canal ready to go through the first lock at 15.00 hr but could not lock through till the next morning 07.00 hr. So we anchored out and had a nice swim.

The monument on the left is approximately half way along the 64 km long canal.
It is to commemorate the building of the canal by the communist regime in power in Romania at that time.

The Canal was notorious as the site of labor camps in 1950s Communist Romania when, at any given time, several tens of thousands political prisoners worked on its excavation. The total number of people used as a workforce for the entire period is unknown, as is the number of people who died in the construction. Work was completed in 1984-1987, more than three decades after camps were disestablished.

It is not visible from this angle but part of the bottom of the monument was missing. We were told later the Gypsies had stolen some of the panels.

The last part of the Danube

2011-08-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

We checked out of Bulgaria in Silistra. Right after we leave the dock we were in Romania and this is our last country along the Danube where we have to check into.

We saw wild horses grazing along the river bank as well as a gypsies family doing their laundry.

Early in the morning

2011-08-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

We got into a routine of leaving early in the morning and after a couple of hours we stop to have a peaceful breakfast at anchor.

At anchor in Bulgaria

2011-08-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

We anchor out almost every night in Bulgaria as we can not find too many marinas.
While at anchor in this particular place we met this fisherman who caught this large cat fish

He demonstrated his "fish call" devise which makes a "Whoop....Whoop" sound.

No matter how hard I try I can not make it work for me.

Belogradchik Bulgaria

2011-08-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

In "Vidin" we checked into Bulgaria.

These are the rock formation in this area and are nominated for the "new" 7 wonders of the world.

entering Bulgaria

2011-08-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

Bulgaria on starboard and Romania on port side.

Lots of interesting photo opportunity as we travel down the Danube.

The "Iron Gate" locks

2011-08-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Entering the Iron Gate locks.
These are the second last and the biggest locks in the Danube.

We entered with two commercial boats (both double wide)

Once in the lock the gate, which came up from the bottom, is closed.

When the water is let out of the first chamber a gate in front of the lock drops down and we had to move into the second chamber.

When all the boats are moved into the second chamber the gate closes behind us and we are lowered the rest of the way.

The gates are operated with huge hydraulic cylinders.

The "Iron Gate"

2011-08-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Approaching the "Iron Gate" we came through a very picturesque section of the Danube.

Narrow passages and steep cliffs.

The almost strait walls obviously continued to go straight down as the depth finder showed over 200 feet of water under the boat at times.

Docked in Donji Milanovac

2011-08-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Once we reached Donji Milanovac we are lucky and can tie up to the barge that serves as the town dock. often the cruise boats use this and we would not be able to tie up here but we were informed that there would be no cruise boats stopping today.

Once we were docked we called "Goran" the only taxi driver in town who spoke English. We had heard about Goran from a Swedish couple we had met in Belgrade.
Goran drove us around to see the surrounding country side and what a wonderful tour we had.

Our first stop.

A farmer and his wife collecting the hay that was dry and ready to be stored for winter use.

At our second stop we met someone who just bought a piggy and he was taking him home on his scooter.
If you look close you can see the piggy's nose sticking out of the bag.

Goran took us to a friend of his "Dragoslov" who had just fired up the still and was making the local drink "Rakija" which is made from plumbs. And if you want a buzz this stuff REALLY works and you don't need to much either!!!!

Harold is bold and samples the finished product.

Next we tour Dragoslov's 10 hectare farm and see his cow who had twin's

Dragoslov also had some pigs.

And he explained to us how they make "charcoal" in this brick build oven.

To finish off the tour Goran took us to his home where we met his wife "Bilgaana" who served refreshments and coffee on their veranda.
What a tour we had. THANK YOU GORAN!!!!!

On our way to Doji Milanovac

2011-08-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

We lifted anchor in "Veliko Gradište" and wanted to get to "Donji Milanovac". The terrain we passed through is again very different from the previous day. Very rugged and narrow passages at times. When the lock and dam were build down river it filled the valleys between the mountain and the result is that in places we see over 150 feet deep water under our keel.

Serbia and Romania

2011-08-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

About 5 hours after we left Belgrade we came to where Romania's boarder was on our port side. Serbia was still on our starboard side and will be for one more day. The picture above is one of the first Romanian villages and is close to Banatska Palanka.

Shortly after we arrived at our anchorage (just off shore of Veliko Gradište) We took a dip in the Danube

Our anchorage as seen from the stern of Le rêve

And from the bow.

A week in Belgrade

2011-08-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

We watched these fisherman go by our boat every morning and evening.

They are using a "Gill" net about 5 to 6 feet square and jig it up and down in about 45 feet of water in the hopes that a fish will swim into the net.

By the looks of the fellow in the second picture they have pretty good success as he has a net full of fish.

We have been looking for warm weather.
Well guess what!!!! it is 37 deg as you can tell by the thermometer.

By the way this is in the back of the cockpit IN THE SHADE!!!!

What do you do when it is that warm!?!?
One thing is to get the dingy on the dock and, lift up the one side with the davit and work under the dingy in the shade.

By the way I discovered this new cleaning product which is unbelievable!!!! For all you boat owners out there it is a Italian made product called "Ma-Fra" and they have some for hull, inflatables, fenders, and seats. It really is unbelievable!!! And 90 % biodegradable.

Joanne wanted me to add this picture!?!?

Bill was so excited about his new cleaning products he had to show the police how good it really was. He had just been up for a short time, as you can tell he had not even got dressed yet!!!!

The two police were doing a routine check because the night before we had a storm.
The lady police spoke English quite well and we found out she was born in Canada but went back to Serbia with her parents when she was 3 years old.

Different people have asked if we are on track with our trip. Here is a little of where we have come from and where we plan to go.
We are in Belgrade Serbia and have come a total of 1800 km so far. We transited 66 locks which was time consuming. Tomorrow we will fly to Germany far a week to visit Christie, Andy, and Bo. Hopefully the German air traffic controllers will not go ahead with their threatened strike for tomorrow morning. once we get back on the 16th we will leave the next day and have 870 km left to go on the Danube and than 65 km on the canal that is a short cut to the Black sea. We still have 2 locks on the Danube and two on the Danube Black sea canal. One of the two on the Danube is called the " Iron Gates" and lets us down 35 meters. This area of the Danube is supposed to be quite spectacular so we look forward to go through that. It also has many shallow spots so lets hope it does not get to dry in the next couple of weeks.
Once on the Black sea we will cross it in one stretch to Istanbul ( 350 km) than we have to cross the sea of Marmaris (275 km) and than we plan to go 360 km south in the Aegean sea to Kusadasi Turkey where we plan to leave the boat. So all together we still have just over 1900 km to go.

Docked in Belgrade

2011-08-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

Anyone traveling the Danube and passing through Belgrade MUST stop at VODENICA.

Vodenica is a restaurant on the Save river just off the Danube. They are known for their fish specialties. The restaurant is run by George and his Father and is a great place to dock.

While we were in the restaurant this couple noticed that we were from Canada and that our home port is Midland.
Lidija has a brother living in Ajax and he has a boat in Midland!!!
Small world eh!
They came on board and we had a good time a nice visit

Belgrade by night.

On rout to Belgrade

2011-08-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

I thought this was an interesting picture. There must be a lot of vegetables growing in this area especially carrots, as we saw people with a tumbler full of carrots.
The device (I call it a tumbler) was a large cylinder full of holes. They would back it into the water and rotate it to wash the carrots.

The Castle is the "Petrovaradin" in Novi Sad Serbia. The flag is obviously the Serbian flag.

As we get closer to Belgrade the right side of the river has steep sand stone cliffs.

The "Blue Danube"

2011-08-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

There is a song about the "beautiful Blue Danube" Well we experienced the Danube to be more "Brown" than "Blue" I am sure with all the rain we had in the last week it added to the water being more brown from all the run off.
However I think this picture reflects the sky in the water and it looks pretty nice and blue!
So we can still sing about the "Schöne Blaue Donau"

Every boater in North America knows what "red on right returning" means.

That would indicate ( in these two pictures) that we would be going UP stream.... However this rule is just the opposite in Europa and red is on the left when going up stream ( returning)

Checking into Serbia

2011-07-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

20 km down stream we had to tie up to a rusty old boat and were taken into the customs buildings on shore. Checking into Serbia took a little longer as they needed much information and paperwork in triplicate was produced. Also we had to buy a 30 day visa for 55 Euros. Again we had to go through customs and then to the police. Even though they were very friendly it took quite a while.
Customs is what took all the time. the police just looked at the passports, stamped it and asked if we had any children on board. When all the paper work was done the police went with me to the boat and I asked the customs officer to come with me as well as I wanted to give him something. When we arrived at the boat the police officer pointed to the flag and mumbled something in his native tongue ( he did not speak English or German) The customs officer informed me we were flying the wrong courtesy flag. The Croatian flag, and the Serbian flag look very similar and I had put up the wrong one. This was a NO NO.... the war might be over but the Serbian's and the Croatians still have no fuzzy feeling for each other, that was quite clear.
We gave both of them a pint of maple syrup and they were very happy.

Serbia and Croatia share the boarder for the next 140 km but we intend to stay on the Serbian side so we don't have to go through customs on the Croatian side. After that we are only in Serbian territory for about 230 km. Serbia then shares it's boarder with Romania for about 250 km. Again we will stay on the Serbian side. After that Romania and Bulgaria share the border. We will have to decide where to check in at that point.

Leaving Europe

2011-07-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

The boarder between Hungary and Serbia. This is were we officially checked out of the EU as Serbia is not a member country.

The procedures for checking out were pretty simple and strait forward. At Mohács ( the last town in Hungary on the Danube) we were called on the VHF and told to dock on the yellow pontoon. Once there I had to go in to the building with the ship's papers and passports. after seeing customs and police we could continue on our way. The procedure took no more than 30 minutes.

More Canadians on the Danube

2011-07-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

Two Canadian boaters on the Danube. Ken, Cloe and their friend Henry were on our boat for happy hour. They came from Turkey and are going UP stream. We shared information and we learned a lot from them about the area where we are going.

We explored the area of Baja Hungary by hopping on the local bus and went 45 km in land.
In the picture on the right we are wsiting our turn to get on the bus. Hungarian people are not very tall as you can see.

From Budapest to Baja (still Hungary)

2011-07-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

Time to move on......
We are leaving the beautiful city of Budapest and move further down stream. Our destination Baja. Again we leave under cloudy skies and it's not long or the rain starts. We have had rain of and on for the last 9 days now. However between the rain we enjoy some clear skies and even some sun as was the case this day.
The Danube is wide and deep, average 7 to 800 feet wide and anywhere from 25 to 30 feet deep.

Because the river is so wide the current is not quite as strong. However we still can make 9 to 10 kt easy.
Today we want to travel quite a distance (170 km) and we get to our destination just as a storm is looming ahead. We just made it before the rain, thunder and lightning as well as high winds. "Baja" is on a side arm about 3 or 4 km off the Danube. We tied up to a collection of barges and old work boats just before the wind and the rain was at it's worst.

The roast had been in the slow cooker all day and dinner was ready to enjoy. It was not long before the storm had passed and we noticed a perfect rainbow out the port side window.
We untied the boat and made our way to the marina in down town Baja.
We noticed right away a boat with a Canadian flag and low and behold..... other Canadian boaters.

Budapest by night

2011-07-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

The highlight of our tour.

Budapest by night with our own privet tour guide "Norbi"

Their "statue of liberty"

Budapest large coversd market

2011-07-27T05:07:00.000-07:00

The market place in down town Budapest.

Hungarian sausage anyone???

The "chain link" suspended bridge connecting Buda and Pest

Visiters in Budapest

2011-07-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

We were delighted to welcome on board Norbi and Kelley Hegedűs and their two children Sam and Lily

Sam turned out to be an excellent captain!!

We had the good fortune to go back with Norbi and Kelley to their home for dinner.

Budapest.

2011-07-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

One of the first things we learned is that Budapest is actually a twin city made up from "Buda" ( the picture on the top left) on the west side of the Danube, and "Pest" ( the picture on the middle right) on the east side of the Danube.
In the late 1800 a bridge ( the bottom picture ) was build and the two separate cities became one "Budapest"
Hungary's population is around 10 million and 20% live in Budapest.

We really enjoyed strolling through and discovering this truly amazing city with it's grand buildings everywhere you look

On rout to Budapest

2011-07-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

Slovakia on our left, and Hungary on our right. Here we are looking into the Hungarian side of the Danube and have a very good look of the "Cathedral of Esztergom" It boost of having the largest alter in the world. We did not stop here to investigate and take their word for it.

On our way to Budapest

2011-07-25T00:34:00.000-07:00

It has rained a lot and the river is full of "floatsome" At times I would look out to the Danube from where we were docked and there would be large trees blocking the way in or out of the harbor. I had to push this tree away from in front of the boat before we could leave the dock.

Once back on the Danube we only had to go a short distance to where the 37km long "Gabčikovo" canal was build. A dam was build and the Danube continues on through a lock which is almost all ways out of service so all traffic takes the canal. I believe the canal was build because the Danube is very narrow at this point and would be difficult to navigate for the large commercial ship's.

The closer you get to the lock ( the lock in the canal is at the opposite end from the lock in the Danube) which is located near the end of the canal the higher the sides (dikes) become. At the entrance of the lock you actually are boating at the level of the top of the trees beside the canal. The lock is a 20 meter drop.

statues of Bratislava

2011-07-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

We will remember Bratislava for it's life size bronze statues. One of the statues is a worker crawling out of a man hole.
The one on the left is the actual statue and the one on the right is an enterprising "street artist" who is copying the actual statue.

Bratislava Slovakia

2011-07-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

Le rêve at rest in Bratislava at "Marina Dodo. We will not forget the people in Marina Dodo!!!

Looking down the Danube from the castle grounds.

Bratislava yacht harbour

2011-07-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

In the "Dodo Zsoldos" marina we are welcomed with open arms. and Alo is traded for Alo and we try some of their local snaps "Becherovka". People here are so friendly it will be hard to leave.

Eliska and I!!!

Eliska and her doughter Andrea and her son Robert and the two of us.

Eliska is going back to the kitchen to prepare the freshly caught fish.

From Vienna to Bratislave

2011-07-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Just a few km past Vienna we passed through the 15th lock in the Danube. Only three more to go to the Black sea.

Our cruise from Vienna to Bratislava was with overcast skies and rain off and on.

This lock was challenging in that it was extremely windy and there was a double tow in the lock with us. We had to tie up almost beside the tug that was hooked up to the double.

The rest of the trip to Bratislava was fast and furious!!! We left Vienna at 10 am and we arrived in Bratislava at 2.30 pm.

I thought the Danube was fast before Vienna but it seems to get faster all the time. We traveled 61 km in 4.5 hours and had to go through one lock. We turned 1600 RPM and never saw speeds less than 11.5 kn. many times we clocked over 12 kn and a couple of times I saw 12.9 kn on the screen. I did not know the boat would go this fast!!!

Vienna

2011-07-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

some pictures of Vienna.
We biked into Vienna and toured the sights by foot.
It was nice to visit, but after a day we both had enough.

One of the streets with the"high end" stores. Its not unusual to see two security guards in front of one store

Dürnstein in the Wachau region

2011-07-18T01:29:00.000-07:00

WE biked from our marina in Spiz to Dürnstein the most visited village in the Wachau area.
The region is a small wine producing area with "Grüner veltliner" (a white wine) being the most common. About 10 % of their production is a red wine from the "Blauburger" variety.
By the time we returned to the boat we had biked over 30km.Not that far but considering the temp. was over 30 deg we were tuckered out by the time we got back. So a refreshing swim in the Danube was very nice.

Besides wine there are also a lot of "marillen" (apricots) as well.
The locals drink a "snaps" made from Marillen.

Some stores have a sign " everything Marillen" and sure enough they have Marillen soap, cream, shampoo, jam, cake,and not to forget Snaps and Liqueur.
The man in the picture told us that they had an exceptional good crop this year.

Past Melk on to Spitz

2011-07-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

Once through the lock at Melk and on our way to Spiz the scenery gets very interesting. We start to see more vineyards and realize the people we talked to at the lock were right and we should stop and explore this region.

From Linz to Melk

2011-07-18T00:56:00.000-07:00


We left from Linz early (early for us) and did not know how far we would get that day. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery no less gorgeous than the weather. Because of the very fast current we traveled 100 km and got to the 4th locks by 3.30. ( 7 hours) here we had to wait for the lock for about 40 minutes and while waiting we talked to some local people who told us we were entering the "Wachau" area and we should stop and visit Krems and Dürnstein. The above picture is as we exit the 4th lock in Melk and we were going to stop here. However after 2 hours looking for a suitable place to dock we gave up and continued on to Spitz and found a small marina where we could just get into after plowing through some mud.

This boat going up stream shows by it's prop wash how he has to labor to get up stream. I sure would not want to do the Danube going up stream!!! Where the Danube is relatively narrow we experienced a 6 to 7 kt current. The water bounces off the side and bottom of the river and the current pushed us every which way at over 12 kn. It was difficult to navigate and one had to keep a watchful eye all the time. Other places the Danube is 6 to 700 meter wide and a gentle but significant current keeps us moving down stream at a reasonable fast pace.

Around LINZ

2011-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Countryside overlooking the city of Linz

Ottensheim Castle

The lock at Ottensheim

2011-07-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

The City of Linz is just 5 km past the lock at Ottensheim

We had to wait our turn. There were a couple of large commercial ships in the lock

Schlögen Austria

2011-07-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

About 15 km past the Austrian border there is what's called the "Schlögen Schlinge" A 180 degree bend in the Danube. We stayed in the marina (you can just see it in the left of the picture) and walked up the mountain to the look out over this part of the river.
It was an overcast day which is not good for great pictures however it was good in that the 1.5 km hike which seemed to be straight up was a little more bearable.

A typical Austrian building along the river's bank

By boat is not the only way to see the Danube

This little fellow was tired
and hitched a ride.

Austria

2011-07-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

It is interesting how different each country is.

We are now in Austria and the Danube wanders through the Austrian alps.

Very picturesque.

A typical Austrian house on the banks of the Danube.

sights of Passau

2011-07-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

The big cathedral with the largest pipe organ in the world!!!!!

Just some sights of Passau.

Only Michal Nelson will understand why I took this picture!!!!1 Why did this remind me of you Mike?????

And this reminded me of our grandson Bo!!!!!

Helping hand from "BIG BROTHER"

2011-07-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Just after the police told us to move and we went on our way we met the "VIKING LEGEND"

After Joanne told me she did not feel like going back on the dingy I thought I would try to contact the captain of this cruise boat and ask him for a favor.

He granted us the favor and we could tie up along side of him.
However after we returned to the boat for a rest from our sight seeing GUESS WHAT!!!! the same two police were standing on the top of the cruise boat waiting for us to come back to the boat.
They waved a finger and told us we could not moore along side of the cruise boat. I told him we had permission from the captain bit alas no matter what it was not allowed by the city. They then wanted to board the boat and check out our paper work. I told them "no problem" Once on board I told them they were welcome to see all the paper work, however we were boarded before and everything was checked out. Upon showing them the business card from the police who boarded us on the Rhine he said " Ooh I know him!!! and everything was OK. Except he very politely asked to see my pleasure boat operators license as he wanted to see what it looked like.
After showing them the boat they shook our hand and wished us a good journey.

The "VIKING LEGEND"

2011-07-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

No Joanne did not abandon ship and continued on the "Viking Legend"

However she did inform me that there was no way she was going to go back on the dingy in these fast flowing, turbulent water.

Aproaching Passau

2011-07-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

The Danube is running fast especially where she is narrow.
We are glad to be going down stream and not up stream.

We are approaching the last city in Germany "Passau"

And what a nice place to visit. Here we are coming to the lock just before Passau. You can see the city in the back ground

We had a hard time to find a place to dock but finally this would do. The last place along the wall in Passau. Very nice place to dock right across a castle.

This is the "lower" part

And this is the "Upper" part of the castle

And again the same pictures as night is falling.

We had a very nice and peaceful night here on the wall in Passau HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!
In the morning a police boat came by and told us that the wall we had chosen to dock on was only for passenger boats.
We could still have our breakfast but then we had to skedaddle.
What to do next!?!?!? we still wanted to visit more of the city!!!!!
So we took off for the first lock and would take the dingy back.

However it would have been quite a long way with the dingy. What to do??????
(see the next blog)

Danube locks

2011-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

The locks on the Danube are "BIG and WIDE"

Two commercial ships can fit in beside each other and many have floating bollards.

Approach to the Danube

2011-07-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

As we approached the Danube we right away noticed that the banks become steeper and higher with many castle.

Our first stop on the Danube KELHEIM.
We met a very interesting couple on a very nugget Dutch build SMELNE boat. Harold and Silvia Paul. A couple of years ago they took their boat "Gypsy Life" to Labrador via Greenland and Iceland. They overwintered in their boat in Labrador and were frozen in the ice for 6 months.
We stayed an extra day in Kelheim and had dinner with Silvia and Herold.

The last lock on the MDK

2011-07-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is the one we were looking for!!!!!
The last of 34 locks on the Main Danube Canal. After passing through this lock we had to go a short distance and we were in The DANUBE!!!

Commercial traffic

2011-07-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

This ship from Sliedrecht Holland is one of the biggest single we have seen on the rivers at 135 meters overall.

He is loaded with soya and headed for Hungary.

One problem!!! he is loaded so heavy that his draft is to deep to transit some part of the Danube.

If the water level in the Danube doesn't rise in the next few days he will have to off load some of his load before he can continue.
There is a good chance that it rose a little last night as a storm came through with lots of rain.

We had a nice chat with the captain and he gave us some "heads up" about the Danube and the various countries we have to transit.

MDK summit

2011-07-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of the summit of the canal

Main Danube Canal Locks

2011-07-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

The Main Danube Canal lifts vessels from an altitude of 231 m above sea level at Bamberg to an altitude of 406 m above sea level at Hilpolstein through a series of 11 locks. The last 3 locks are 24.6 m each (80.7 feet) The distance between the last two locks is only 4 km. Going up the chamber is filled in 18 minute's causing the water to be very turbulent.

Fortunately these locks have floating bollard that rise with the boat.

When going down the water from the lock chamber is stored in large holding tanks which are build parallel to the lock. This water is used when locking up thus preserving water in the canal.

Here you have a look down stream from the top of a 24 m lock

Closing off the Nürenberg

2011-07-07T00:17:00.000-07:00

We ended the day by having dinner at a Greek restaurant.
You know it is a real Greek restaurant when they provide you with the bill and a shot glass full of OUZO

Joanne could hardly ride her bike back to the boat. I said "you only had one sip" She said " no I didn't I had TWO!!!!!

Nürnberg Documentation center and court house

2011-07-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

We did not realize till now that Bavaria and in particular Nürnberg was the birth place of the National social party created by Hitler. This exposition is open to the public since 2001 and is housed in the unfinished congress hall that was started but not finished because of the second world war.
Here in Nürenberg's southern district an area of no less than 11 square km was dedicated as the Nazi Rally grounds. The Congress Hall which was designed to seat 50.000 people was just one of many grand buildings.
Nürnberg was to become the World capital.

The exhibition provides information about the causes, contexts and consequences of the National Socialist reign of terror.
I commend the German people for this exhibition to show visitors how we should be on guard for political leaders like Hitler.

The second picture is of the Nürnberg court house where the famous Nürnberg trials took place.
USA, Great Briton, Russia and France presided over the trials. Nürnberg was finally chosen as THE place to have the proceedings because this was the birth place of the National Socialistic party.

Nürnberg

2011-07-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice tour of Nürenberg.
The pict on the right is of the "alt stat" with st Lawrence Church in the distance.

We took a guided tour trough the inner city.
We learned that Nürnberg is in Northern Bavaria.
Originally Nürnberg was spelled a little different but the meaning was "Rock Mountain" and a large castle with no less than 120 towers was build on this mountain by Keizer Ludwich a Franconian. There are still 60 of the 120 towers standing and being preserved.

Unfortunately we have no pictures of the castle.
Just because of the sheer size of the castle it was difficult to get a good picture from the train in which we toured the city and we did not go in the castle. you can only do so much in one day!

The pict. on the right is of the Germanic artifacts museum with over 1 million pieces on exhibit. One would need a week just to see some of it!!!!

It is tiring visiting big city's as this group of kindergarten kids would tell you. But ahhh how nice to sit down and have an ice cream cone!!!!!

Interested and helpful

2011-07-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 5th we arrived in Nürnberg. One thing about Le rêve is, she does not fit in many marinas on the Main and the DMK. Usually there is a good spot at the lock wall as is the case here. Nürnberg lock is actually a ways past the city. There is a beautiful paved, wide, walking/biking path that goes to the outlying areas of Nürnberg. Many people came by and we talked to various parties. The first question always is " are you from Canada???" The second is " Did you come across with the boat???"
Yesterday two parties came by who recognized the home port (Midland) on the boat. One had lived in Meaford and the other in Wiarton. Both had come back to Germany for personal reasons but loved Canada and could not stop talking about it. The picture above is from Linda and Max Zellner. Max lived in Wiarton and worked in Owensound. After talking a while we told them we wanted to tour the city but did not know the best way to get to Nürenberg's inner city. Max said" come with me and I will show you where to get on the street car which brings you right to the "Stad Mitte" So off we went.
Today we will tour Nürnberg.

Our own solar plant

2011-07-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

A picture of Le rêve docked in Nürnberg on the top of the lock.
It appears that lots of high power towers are needed to carry all the electricity away from Le rêve's power plant!!!!!!

Catching the last of the days rays by raising the davit and turning the panels to the setting sun

Solar power

2011-07-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Besides many wind generators there is lots of solar power in Germany.

Here are but a few examples of that.
The picture on the bottom is of a roof with 340 panels on it.

I was told that Germany has a problem dealing with all the solar power produced through their present network and after seeing all the panels I believe it.

340 panels on one roof is quite something however we have come across roofs that are much much larger than this one. Just that this one was close enough to the water that we could get a picture.

The locks in the MDK

2011-07-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

The MDK is only 19 years old. It opened in 1992 and made shipping from Holland all the way to the Black sea possible. The locks are different from the Main locks, and most other locks for that matter in that the doors don't swing open like barn doors but rather go straight up and down and one has to pass under them to enter the lock on the up stream way.

The locks on the Main are on average 4 meter while some of the MDK locks are as much as 60 feet. The lock in this picture is in Kriegenbrunn and is the biggest lift we experienced so far on the MDK. The water rises very quickly and is purculated in from the bottom so as to not make a big current in the lock but rather let you up gently.

Regardless of how the water rose the admiral was in total control of handling the lines.

More MDK

2011-07-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here are two examples of how the canal was build around hills and through valleys.

The MDK ( Main Donau Kanal)

2011-07-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

The MDK is very interesting to transit. Many varying landscapes. Not at all what you would think a canal would look like. Traditionally a canal is a straight ditch dug to connect one body of water to the next. Not so with the MDK.
Engineers have used the landscape to the best of their ability choosing the most level area to use for the canal. We encountered areas where the MDK ran around hills and through valleys. Sometimes we saw the land slope up from the one side of the canal while they build dikes on the opposite side of the canal and the land sloped down. the result was that many villages were much lower than the water we transited.

Also at times the canal took us through valleys and dikes were build on both side of the canal. Sometimes with roads running under the canal.

End of the Main

2011-07-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 3de and we have reached the end of the navigable part of the Main.

The picture on the right shows the Main continuing on to the left and the MDK (Main Donau Kanal) continuing on the the right.

The Main was an interesting river, however we are glad we reached the end. With 34 locks to navigate we were glad for the extra help we had on board. Thanks Geert.
Sunday it was darn cold (15 deg) we had to run the heater in order to stay warm.
Fortunately today as I post this it is wonderful. 28 deg. and I am on the back deck while posting this.

The last picture shows the industrial harbor of Bamberg the end of the Main. We visited Bamberg by bike on Monday morning before continuing on the MDK. The quality of the pictures show how dull and dreary the day was. Just can't take good pictures if the light is not right.

Leaving Würzburg

2011-07-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

Le reve with castles in the back ground

Würzburg

2011-07-01T00:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday June 30 we arrived in Würzburg. This is km 252. We have to go to km 385 so only 133 km left on the Main before we are in the "Main- Donau-Kanal"

Würzburg by night

"Festing Marienberg" on the left and the "Käppele" below.

The Kappele is of the "Franziskaner" order

A butler's work is never done!!!

2011-06-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

The " Alt Stad" of Lohr am Main

2011-06-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

The "BUTLER"

2011-06-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

Our "Butler" Gerald (Geert) is going up town for some groceries.

Lohr

2011-06-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

It is a little difficult to find a marina where we fit in as most marinas can only accommodate boats around 30 feet.
Some have one longer wall for bigger boats as was the case here in Lohr.

We had a couple of days of really hot weather and I took a dive in the water. At first it felt cool but it was not to bad once I got used to it. As a matter of fact it was quite refreshing.

Swans and Ducks

2011-06-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

New life

A sure sign of spring

Wertheim

2011-06-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Shortly after our arrival in Wertheim this young man is getting his "Arabian water pipe" ready

I often have seen them in stores and wanted to find out what they are all about.
So after a full explanation I took a test. Mmm this time he has Cherry flavored tobacco in his pipe.

No it's not what you think and does not give you a high. It is just the way the Arabian's like to smoke by drawing the smoke though a water filled container. If I was a smoker I might want to do it this way!?!?

In exchange for a bottle of "Alo" anything is possible!!!

Erlenbach

2011-06-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

Small village's with "Fachwerk" houses

Countryside with grain fields which are already turning colour and soon to be harvested.

And as usually in Germany old castles on the hills.

Old Germany on the Main

2011-06-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

The first 85 Km up the Main are not the prettiest. Lots of industry, just like on most of the Rhine.

But after Aschaffenburg (km 85) the scenery changes and industry gives way to pretty villages and beautiful and large old buildings.

From Offenbach to Wertheim

2011-06-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

Monday June 27th and we left from Offenbach under clear sky's and with 30 deg. weather.
This is one of the few times that we could navigate from the bridge.

Erlenbach

2011-06-27T23:01:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Erlenbach yesterday. Erlenbach is just over 100 km up the Main which is about 1/3 of the way to Bamberg where we have to take the Main Danube canal . we came through 9 locks and have 25 more to go before reaching Bamberg.

We received a nice comment yesterday from "Anneke". Someone Joanne knew from Holland before immigrating to Canada. We would like to get in contact with her but she left no e-mail address or telephone number to contact her. So Anneke please send this to us on the blog. We have the choice to publish or not to publish so we will not publish your contact information to keep this Private.

Anneke stuur ons aub je e-mail address en of jou telephone nummer. Wij zullen deze niet publizeren voor privѐ redenen.

Our internet connection here is not very good so it will take a long time to post pictures. Hopefully we have better connection at our next stop.

Frankfurt the financial center of Germany and the EU

2011-06-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

One of the things we learned on the tour is that Frankfurt is the financial center for Germany and even for the EU as the European central bank is located in this city.

These two towers (even though you can not see that they are separate towers from the angle the picture was taken) are called (credit and debit) this is where the EU central bank is located.

On the right the Frankfurt opera house with it's many carvings and statues.

Important visitors in Frankfurt

2011-06-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

The tour we took allowed us to get off and on the bus at strategic stops. This stop was close to the Center of town were the government buildings are located.
Everything was barricaded off and it seemed like all the German police were there to guard the area in front of the buildings.

After asking a few questions we understood the reason for this high security. The ministers of internal affairs of Germany were getting together in the town hall for a meeting.

Here are just a few of the many delegates.

Frankfurt from the bus

2011-06-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

We boarded a guided bus tour of Frankfurt and took in the sights from the top of this double-decker. The weather had been "off and on" but we enjoyed a good day with no rain.

Here we are crossing one of the bridges over the Main and it is quite different viewing the Main from the bridge rather than going under the bridge on the Le reve.

Frankfurt walking tour

2011-06-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here we are in one of the busy streets of Frankfurt with the main rail station in the back ground. We soon got tired of walking around and after having a quick lunch at one of the booth's we looked for a guided tour on one of the double decker buses.

Frankfurt am Main

2011-06-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

We are back......
I know it has been a while since our last posting. That is because we went to Holland with our friend Geert Kleinbleumink. While in Holland we visited our friend Ken who was on his boat in Weesp.
Weesp is close to Schiphol (Amsterdam air port) and as my sister and her husband were coming back from a trip to Canada we showed up unexpectedly to give them a ride back home.

Today (Sunday 26th) we are back on the boat and will be going further up the Main tomorrow. But first I would like to post a few more pictures of our tour of Frankfurt am Main which we took last Tuesday June 21st.
We took the subway to the heart of the city and toured this large financial center of Germany. As soon as we got off the subway we looked for a suitable place to have our morning coffee break. And here we are in front of the main station (rail/subway) of Frankfurt.

Some more Castles

2011-06-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Castles on this section of the Rhine (Koblenz to Bingen) are plenty full.

Sometime you see two or more from one vantage point.

More Rhine

2011-06-20T05:01:00.000-07:00

The traffic on the Rhine can be very heavy at times with with sometime two coupled together. These can be as long as 180 meters long. (over 500 ft) this is not long as compared to the traffic on the Mississippi but considering the much narrower Rhine with fast current it is quite a length.

Here we met a cruise boat, most likely coming from the Danube.
You see some vineyards in the back ground.

The vineyards on this part of the Rhine are nothing compared to what we saw on the Moselle last year.

Transiting the loreley

2011-06-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

One of the sharp narrow bends in the loreley. We are following a cruise boat.

The black board with the white lights (three on top of each other) in the right of the photo lets up stream traffic know what is coming down stream.

The Maiden of the Loreley

2011-06-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

July 18th we set out to go through the treacherous section of the Loreley. But..... not before I talked nice to the Maiden who supposedly has caused so many ship wrecks. She promised to be good to me and indeed she was as the traffic was not very heavy and the current much better than I had expected. The later because a couple month drought in Europe.

St Goar

2011-06-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (June 18) we arrived in St Goar. The last stop before going through the "Loreley" The narrowest and fastest flowing section of the Rhine. Legend has it that there is a beautiful maiden on the rocks singing to the sailors transiting this part of the Rhine. With her beauty she messmerizes the sailors and they end up crashing on the rocky shore this part of the Rhine is known for.
Hopefully we will be able to keep our eyes on the peeled for the nav. aids and not be distracted so we end up being a victim of the "Loreley maiden"

We took the bus up the mountain to have a birds eye view of the Loreley.

Three boats transiting one of the three bends of the Lorreley. the third boat is on the bottom of the picture and you can barely see him

Here the long double boat on the top of the picture is waiting for the pleasure boat and an other boat coming down.

You can tell by the prop wash that it takes a lot of power to go through this section of the Rhine.

A view down river from the top of the mountain.