Day12 – Saturday 16 August 2024
The boat arrived at Mannheim around 06:45.
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Prince Electors Palace
There were two excursions to Heidelberg but we took the third to Bad Durkheim with a wine tasting. The coach got us there too early so the local guide had to extemporise for 25 minutes with a walk through the gardens of what was the Prince Electors Palace. The building now houses a casino.
Crossing the mineral stream
Bad in German means bath, so Bad Durkheim is a spa town. The town has springs which feed a small salt and mineral rich river –including the metallic element caesium - running through it that is said to be good for health and the town houses several sanatoriums using water drawn from the river and springs.
Graduation Tower
Our first visit was to the Graduation Tower where water from the river dribbles through thick bunches of blackthorn twigs. In the process, water evaporates leaving salts on the twigs which can be removed and used.
The Graduation Tower is enormous, over 300 metres long and towers above one. Unfortunately it doesn’t now collect the salts and it recycles water as a demonstration.
After plenty of time to admire the Tower, we crossed a car park to Fitz-Ritter winery. The owner’s wife is American and she greeted us with a reviving Sauvignon Blanc trocken 2023 and an introductory talk. She said they had 35 vineyards with the largest being 8ha and some being very small and they grow seven different varieties. They are the seventh generation of the family to run the winery. She had just returned from the USA and then retired to bed.
The local guide took us down to the cellar for a tasting, starting with a glass of Fitz Ritter Sekt Extra Trocken. An ancestor went to Champagne returning with a winemaker to show them how to make bottle fermented sparkling wine. Sekt being the German name for such wine, as they (and every other sparkling wine producer) said they couldn’t use the word Champagne.
Then we went upstairs to the tasting room for a glass of Fitz Ritter Durkheimer Spielberg Chardonnay 2022. This was oaked (too much oak for my taste) then after a brief walk through the gardens and neighbouring vineyard we returned to the boat for lunch. The boat left Mannheim for Kehl at 14:15.
Apple Strudel
Night - Cruising Rhine towards Kehl
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