Moselle

And you kind of wonder if historically this was one town on one side of the bridge and one town on the other side and that they became kind of connected once the bridges became really reliable.

Yeah, and the river in Germany, in Trier, is called the Mosel, or I think, right? Doesn't that sound familiar? Mosel.

And it has loads of villages along it, some of which are much more touristy than others, but there is a castle here, a castle there, you know, climb ahead, go up to the top of this... you know, hillside and go to that fort, you know, and they're all along this river.

And it's a really beautiful region.

In 1842-43, as editor of the Rheinische Zeitung, I found myself embarrassed at first when I had to take part in discussions concerning so-called material interests.

The proceedings of the Rhine Diet, in connection with forest thefts and the extreme subdivision of landed property, the official controversy about the condition of the Mosel peasants into which Herr von Schaper, at that time president of the Rhine Province, entered with the Rheinische Zeitung, finally the debates on free trade and protection, gave me the first impulse to take up the study of economic questions.

At the same time a weak quasi-philosophic echo of French socialism and communism made itself heard in the Rheinische Zeitung.

In those days when the good intentions to go ahead greatly outweighed knowledge of facts, I declared myself against such botching, but had to admit at once in a controversy with the Allgemeine Augsburger Zeitung that my previous studies did not allow me to hazard an independent judgment as to the merits of the French schools.

On the one flank was the Catholic Duchy of Bavaria and the bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg.

On the other flank were the ecclesiastical electorates on the Rhine and the Moselle, the bishoprics of Worms, Speyer and Strasbourg, the Austrian lands in Schwabia and Alsace, and the long line of the Spanish frontier in Franche-Comté and the Netherlands, garrisoned by the troops of the first military monarchy in Europe.

What wonder if men so endangered were in haste to cut the knot which threatened to strangle them, and to meet the enemy by flying in his face rather than by awaiting the onslaught which they believed to be inevitable.

Under the influence of this feeling the princes of these southern regions for the most part adopted a religion very different from the courtly Lutheranism of the north.

Richelieu had no thought of constituting any new organisation in Germany.

He was already aiming at the left bank of the Rhine.

The Elector of Trier, fearing Gustavus, and doubtful of the power of Spain to protect him, had called in the French, and had established them in his new fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, which looked down from its height upon the low-lying buildings of Coblenz, and guarded the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle.

The Duke of Lorraine had joined Spain, and had intrigued with Gaston.

But is because everything's handpicked.

This is similar to a lot of the stuff in Germany, like the Mosel area.

where the aspect is the key.

And anytime you've got steep slopes, everything has to be handpicked.

Today, we are talking about a recent river cruise that I did aboard the Emerald Astra, which is a brand new ship on the Rhine.

And the Moselle.

And we touched on four different countries, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Holland.

And really, every bend in the river was a new thrill.

On the first day, our instructor poured two unidentified white wines.

I decided that one was an Alsace-style Riesling and the other a German Cabernet-style Riesling from the Moselle or Rhine.

And I was right.

I remembered thinking smugly to myself, piece of cake, or maybe I should say, sip a wine.

We started with Riesling.

Now we were on my favorite territory.

I had been drinking wine from the Moselle, Rheingau and Pfalz areas for years.

We tasted an Australian Riesling and a German Riesling from the Moselle.

I will say this too.

It is perfectly positioned to tie into a Strasbourg trip, but also to tie in if you want to go to Luxembourg or if you want to go over to the Moselle and Germany, which are stunning and much less touristed, but beautiful in its own right.

The scenery in those areas are amazing.

Tip, Luxembourg has the cheapest gas by far in Europe.