Koblenz: a corner of Germany

At the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle, the land forms a neat triangle, and the Latin for "confluence" gave its name to the town that sits there. (Yes, it was also a Roman outpost, just like Klön). 

The triangle itself is called das deutsches Eck (the German corner), and it's presided over by the impressive monument to Wilhelm I that you see above. He was called "der Große" ("the Great," not "the Gross") because of his role in unifying Germany into a single country in 1871. The statue was destroyed in WWII, though, and there was some controversy before it was restored as you see it, according to our local Koblenz guide. But folks must have felt somewhat attached to the old look, and so here it stands today, a definitely dated, though majestic, welcome to the charming town.

Koblenz' Altstadt (old town) is eminently walkable, and we had a pleasant stroll through its narrow streets and picturesque squares after a short ride from our boat's docking place in Braubach (about 10 km upstream). On the left above you can get a nice glimpse of one of the Liebfrauenkirche's towers (St. Mary's Church). We later had time to duck inside and here's a look at the church's impressive decor:

Another handsome church in the Altstadt is the Kastorkirche, or Basilica of St. Castor:

We either didn't have time to look inside this big boy, or perhaps it wasn't open. But there is a really cool monument—of sorts—in the plaza in front of it. First, a little background. As history buffs among

my readers know, many of the lands on either side of the Rhine that we've been sailing past have changed hands between France and Germany many times. At one time, during Napoleon's reign, Koblenz (then spelled Coblenz) was French. And the French governor of the area was so confident that Napoleon's campaign in Russia would be successful that he built the monumental fountain you see on the right. It's now known as the Kastorbrunnen, or St. Castor's fountain.

His inscription reads (in bad French, according to the Wikipedia article linked above): "In 1812 / Memorial to the campaign against the Russians / under the prefecture of Jules Doazan." Of course, anyone who's heard the 1812 Overture knows how the campaign actually turned out. Not only was Napoleon driven out of Russia, but two years later the Russian army drove deep into his empire, at least as far as Koblenz. 

The Russian general, however, had more of a sense of humor than his modern counterparts, it seems. Instead of knocking down the insulting fountain, he just added this inscription (in French, no less):"Seen and approved by us, Russian commander of the city Koblenz, on 1 January 1814." You really can't make this stuff up! And thanks to Christiane, our guide, for pointing out this monument to foibles and sarcasm, par excellence. Otherwise we probably wouldn't have noticed it.

Another attraction near the Basilica is this display of pieces of the Berlin wall, symbols of Germany's latest unification:

Moving back from the 20th century to the 18th, you have this lovely window. The building it decorates is a Guildhall, originally built in 1709, but restored after the war in 1951, according to the inscription:

We spent some of our free time in the St. Mary's church, but also had time to relax in with some tea in the nice Jesuitenplatz (Jesuit Square). This handsome building provides one side of the square. Notice the cute gables on the roof? There are just enough of them that they can be used as a large Advent calendar at Christmastime. Clever, eh?

Here we are in another Koblenz square (this time I neglected to make a note of its name, and can't find it on google maps). The large statue (not the tourist) features scenes from the history of the town:

This clock is in that unidentified square, too. We were told the guy at the bottom sticks out his tongue on the hour, but we didn't have time to wait for the show:

This clock, and the Kastorbrunnen, aren't the only rather droll sites close to the hearts of Koblenz. One of their most famous pieces of public art (which, shockingly, has no Wikipedia page!) is the Schängelbrunnen, a statue of a naughty boy that periodically spits out water at passersby (the linked article will explain what the name means):

You know he's famous, and probably much loved, since you see his likeness all over the Altstadt:

And here's some more whimsy you can see underfoot:

I don't want to leave Koblenz without showing you some of the lovely flowers that were on display. We were so smart to make our vacation at this time of year! We saw flowers like this everywhere, and not just tulips, either.

As much as we saw and learned in Koblenz, that was just the morning! We spent the rest of the day taking in the most scenic section of the Rhine, the stretch dotted with amazing castles. Some of them we saw on our day cruise in 1996, but they're worth seeing again. And some of them were new to us, like Marksburg, right at Braubach. Our travel companions got to tour it up close, while we were seeing Koblenz, but it was pretty impressive just from the sundeck of Alruna:

This is just a teaser. Look for more of these fairy-tale housing projects next time.