Kestert

I have slowly been telling you more about my Viking River Cruise here on the blog.  It was a trip of a lifetime and one that my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed.  We took the Rhine Getaway last year and our trip started in Amsterdam and ended in Basel, Switzerland.  Recently I have been telling you about the afternoon we spent cruising the Rhine through the Upper Rhine Gorge.  As we sailed along that afternoon, we passed by a constant stream of small villages and towns.

We had started the morning in Koblenz and then we stopped to tour Marksburg Castle.  The afternoon we spent on the upper deck of the ship and just took in the gorgeous scenery.  And some of the castles along the way.

And most of the villages were small.  Like Kestert, which you see on today’s post.  I had a lot of trouble finding out much of anything about Kestert.  It is known for it’s wine making, and we did see a few old wineries or what used to be wineries along the banks of the Rhine.

I loved the old stone walls that zigged and zagged up the steep slope of the gorge. And it was Spring, so everything was a brilliant green!  The walls were built up all the way to the rocky tops of the gorge in most places.

In addition to wine making, Kestert is somewhat of a tourist and resort town.  I did find that part of a hiking trail goes through here so it is a hiking destination for many travelers.

And it has an old Baroque Style Catholic Church, the St. George Parish Church.  The church was built in 1779 and is noted for a lovely collection of Baroque statues inside.  And oh, there is another ship’s mast, another town name posted on the bank of the Rhine and there are some lovely cottages and homes there.  I love the one on the upper right.  They must have a wonderful view.

Just look at the green behind the village.  I can imagine hiking there would be amazing.

And as we left Kestert, we saw more vineyards, some old and some new on the lower right.  Every available space was utilized.  I really love the terraced look of the old stone walls, compared to the boring straight rows of the newer vines at the bottom.  But as soon as we blinked, we were on to the next little village on our journey down the Rhine that afternoon.

This is not a sponsored post.  
This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. 

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