1st day in Germany
 

Arriving in Frankfurt at 7:20 am in the morning and driving to St. Goar and will stay at Hotel Hauser. Any great suggestions for meals (want a great first meal!!) for the first day and activities. I don't want to kill ourselves due to jet lag but don't want to waist an entire day. I thought about during a boat trip and the castle tour in St. Goar. Will be there Oct. 4, 2003.

abp:
Have stayed in St.Goar and Bacharach in the past. There are 3 or 4 worthy restaurants among the two block long main drag--cannot recall names just now, but menus are posted outside for review.
St. Goar is a castle RUIN, and the tour is self-guided, with a printed english explanation available for about 50 cents.
If you have not previously been there, PLEASE take the short trip to Bacharach (either by boat or rail or car). Walk the medieval city walls and eat at the beautiful half-timbered restaurant on the main square, 500 years old! This would be a lovely, short first day (or second) excursion for you. Try the Neue Suesse or Federweisse--first sweet wines of the harvest (more like sweet hard cider, with only a little alcohol) and Zwiebelkuchen (savory onion tart with or without bacon). This is the absolutely BEST time to see this area of Germany--wine festivals every week...the Rhine in Flames (two weeks of fireworks shot off from the castles high above the Rhine River). You'll greatly enjoy yourselves!!! How I wish I were going!

We plan on taking the boat ride to Bacharach and take the train back to St. Goar. How long did it take you to see the ruins in St. Goar...from the post people have said one hour to three hour. Also there is a wine festival in Boppard that weekend. We will try to make it...depends on the jet lag.

The hotel in Bacharach that "rach" refers to is the Altkoelnischerhof. Good food at reasonable prices. We always stay there either our first night or our last night in Germany.

We had an excellent meal with awesome Rhein view at the Hotel Landsknecht, about a mile north of "downtown" Sankt Goar. Their owner, Frau Nickenig, is the past German White Wine Queen, and their local product is very good--sweet, with a kind of effervesence.

The Bacharach restaurant refered to above also was very good--drawing a brain cramp on the name--Altes Haus or something like that.

St. Goar's Rheinfels Castle has an upscale restaurant with awesome view over the Rhein. It's a splurge, but on a clear day may be worth it to you.

abp:
Touring the Sankt Goar Burgruine took me about an hour! Take a flashlight and sturdy shoes (some steep steps to climb down and not a lot of light in some places). There is a steep uphill walk to get to the ruins, about 20-25 minutes from the train station in town. The views over the river are terrific from this vantage point.
Don't miss the wine festival in Boppard-it will be a highlight. Generally, one pays a small fee to enter the "wine village". You purchase a small one deciliter glass and go from stall to stall, selecting the wines that you would like to sample. Food stalls and entertainment are also ongoing. Usually at the beginning of the event there is a parade with the crowned wine king and queen of the year.
I don't know how you are travelling about in Germany or how long you are staying, but two fabulous castles in the general vicinity are Markdorf (the only fully preserved castle along the Rhine not bombed or raided in previous conflicts and Burg Eltz along the Mosel River (change trains at Koblenz). The one hour walk up to Burg Eltz is through fairy-tale forest with streams babbling away. The tour here is only is German though, unless you have a group of 8-10 requesting English.

We planned on visiting the Burg Eltz. Where is the Markdorf? We have rented a car.

There is no Markdorf to my knowledge.

Probably Marksburg in Braubach - a very good one to visit:

www.roadstoruins.com/marksburg.htm

abp:
Of course, Russ is right. 'Marksburg' is correct, in the town of Braubach a bit more north and across the Rhein...I can't recall if it is near the Lahn River, which runs EAST of the Rhein, while the Mosel runs WEST of the Rhein.

abp:
three excellent sites to look at, all available in english:
www.braubach.de
www.marksburg.de and
www.burgeltz.de Lovely photos!

Thanks for the information. The plan is to go to the wine festival on Saturday and visit the ruins. On Sunday do the boat ride and other castles.