2020 - Day 16: Koblenz and Drachenfelsbahn

The summation of today is twin towns, trains and tantrums.

We started today with our delayed exploration of Koblenz after yesterday’s walk took longer than expected. The city of Koblenz is twinned with Norwich, who as most of you would know is the home of Norwich City, our football team. As such Matt had been trying to locate a road sign he had seen online with the twinning details. He eventually found a photo on someone’s walking tour blog and from that managed to ascertain a rough location and so this was our first point of call today. Thankfully we were successful although the sign had seen better days from the photos seen online.

Koblenz, twinned with many places including Norwich!

After that we had decided to explore the Aldstadt (old town) with two points of interest that had been recommended by a friend, and that we thought the kids would like. The first was a statue of a spitting boy, Schängelbrunnen; this prankster periodically spits on unsuspecting tourists from his fountain perch on Willi-Hörter-Platz. The kids loved it with several "one more's" and despite Matt’s protests they ended up pretty wet from running through the spray but thankfully it dried off quickly in the hot muggy weather.

Fun at the Schängelbrunnen.

The next stop was the Augenroller (Eye Roller). The Augenroller is a face mounted below the clock in Saint Florin's market whose eyes roll back and forth as the pendulum moves. Reputed to represent Johan Lutter, a 16th century robber, he reenacts his final moments before (and some say after) his head was removed in a sentence of death by sticking out his tongue and waggling it every half hour. We arrived with perfect timing with only 5 minutes to go until a half hour mark and an opportunity to see him stick out his tongue but unfortunately he doesn’t keep perfect time with his clock anymore so whilst we saw him stick his tongue out, he does so incredibly quickly and on this occasion at 12:29 and so we have no photographic evidence of the event. As Forrest wisely said though, “Nevermind, we have the memories instead.”.

The Augenroller just after he had stuck out his tongue at 12:29!

A promised hot chocolate and cake lunch later and we were back on the road. Today is where our plans have massively changed whilst we have been away due to new Covid-19 restrictions. No longer can we stop in Belgium as per our first plan or Netherlands as per our second plan and so today we are getting as close to the Belgium border as possible in Aachen, ready for the long drive to the Eurotunnel tomorrow. So when I found a rack railway located almost exactly halfway between Koblenz and Aachen it made for a perfect stop off.

The railcars at Bergstation.

The Drachenfelsbahn (Dragon Rock Railway) is a rack railway situated in the Siebengebirge (Seven Hills) area of the North Rhine-Westphalia region. It first started operating in 1883 using steam locomotives to travel between Königswinter and the summit of the Drachenfels mountain on a single track with a passing loop in the middle station. Today it operates with electric railcars managing an elevation gain of approx. 220 metres with inclines of up to 20 %. We had decided to explore Koblenz this morning rather than allow extra time here to visit the Schloss Drachenburg and so just bought the return train ticket option and started by taking the rack railway up to the top station to enjoy the views.

Panorama view from the Drachenfelsplateau.

Forrest enjoying the view.

Burgruine Drachenfels (Castle ruins).

We then headed down the Mittelstation (Middle Station) where I had read there was a stone dragon in it’s Drachenhöhle you could visit. We struggled to find it before realising that it wasn’t an attraction in it’s own right but part of a triple attraction ticket to the Nibelungenhalle, Drachenhöhle and Reptilienzoo. Now we hadn’t planned to spend long here hence the idea of just quickly visiting the Drachenhöhle but with the kids expecting to see it and also knowing the reptile zoo would be quite small (although large for a private collection) and therefore quick we decided to go ahead and purchase the entrance ticket. We bypassed the Nibelungenhalle (not knowing anything about Richard Wagner or Der Ring des Nibelungen) and headed straight into the short tunnel section that leads to the stone dragon. The kids loved this and were very excited when we finally reached the statue.

The railcars departing Mittelstation.

The dragon in its Drachenhöhle.

We then wandered round the reptile zoo which was entertaining for the kids and adults alike.

A selection of reptile photos.

Paloma and a snake sticking their tongues out at each other.

All was going so well until on exiting the zoo Forrest realised that he had not got his camera out to take photos of the dragon or reptiles and cue major melt-down! He would not be consoled and insisted that we went back in again. With the parking ticket time running down we just did not have time to do this so, after an initial over the shoulder fireman’s carry which I am not quite sure how I managed, we walked down the hill back to town with a (in his own words) “grumpy and silly” Forrest.

Restored steam locomotive at Talstation.

Daddy and Paloma selfie while Mama deals with Forrest.

The plan was to have dinner in Königswinter but we did not feel we could manage this with Forrest in his current mood so headed back to the car with the idea of driving on and having a snack tea at the hotel. However, he started to calm down and then Paloma rescued the situation by finding him a piece of pumice like stone in the carpark (it's the simple things with kids!) which cheered him up no end. So with dinner back on we headed into town and Forrest further perked up when he realised there was a tram route that went right past the restaurant that he could photograph.

Forrest photographing the trams.

A final hours drive to Aachen and we are all set for the non-stop trip back to the UK tomorrow...

Blogged by Amber.