After our morning excursion to Marksburg Castle in Braubach, Germnay on our Viking River Cruise, we came back to our ship, the Viking Ingvi, and had another wonderful lunch on the Aquavit Terrace (I had Pumpkin Soup with Pumpkin Oil Garnish) and relaxed for a bit. Then we headed up to the upper deck to spend the next four hours cruising the Rhine and taking in the scenery, which was to consist of castles, wineries and quaint little villages and towns, like the Village of Spay, the first little village we encountered after leaving Braubach.
This is where we first started seeing a lot of the half-timber houses.
And swans. We had seen them before in Amsterdam in the canals and in Kinderdijk as well. These two were coming in for a landing parallel to our ship.
And we continued to see them frequently as we journeyed on in the days that followed.
Oh, and see that number? They have these km markers all along the Rhine so you know how far you are north of the Rhine Falls in Switzerland. Which was also helpful in determining what some of the little towns were along the way.
Now, back to those half-timber houses. It is a type of construction where the supporting framing timbers are on the outside and the space between them is filled with plaster or other building materials. They can be very colorful and definitely are iconic to this region.
And there were other old houses as well in the little Village of Spay.
And it also appeared there were some vacation homes nestled in among the old half-timbered houses. There wasn’t much I could find on Spay, but it looks like it is a quaint little tourist town. It is not too far from Marksburg Castle.
The castle was still very visible from here, so we were not too far away.
Remember how I told you there was a castle around every little bend on this part of the Rhine? It was like they were placed so that when you could no longer see one, another would become visible in the distance.
Someone would always be watching the travelers on the Rhine, from one castle or the next.
And there appeared to be pubs and restaurants lining the banks of the Rhine.
And a little park with what looked like a ship’s mast all decorated with flags.
I am sure it would be a fun little place to stop and explore.
But it was time for us to head on down the Rhine. And you can see, it was going to be a gorgeous afternoon! Good-bye little Village of Spay and Marksburg Castle!
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program.
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