Bernkastel again

We had sooo been looking forwards to coming here again. We have been here twice before, about 18 years ago. The town is as delightfully quaint as then, and the two wine makers we visited are as good - but now there are zillions of tourists everywhere, which took quite a bit of charme away from the experience. And yes, I know,
we're one of them. But somehow you never count yourselves among the hordes of tourists, do you?

 We picked up our boxes of wine this morning and then we were on our way to Bernkastel. We wanted to see the Buddha museum in  Traben-Trabach but nearly got stuck in one of those narrow, winding streets. This is the second time this happened - medieval streets simply weren't planned for anything bigger than horse and carriage. Note to self: Never leave Main Street in a medieval town.

Managed to find parking in Kues on the other side of the river from Bernkastel and then went in search for our favourite wine makers from back then. The first one, Dr Pauly Bergweiler, was right where we remembered. And the little old lady from back then was still in charge of the shop and the wine tasting. And she was still as enhusiastic about it, pouring as new samples as soon as we finished the last one. Only difference is, she didn't keep us company drinking this time!

The other one, Lauerburg, was trickier. We had forgotten their name, but had a pretty good idea where they were. It turned out, they had recently moved shop - but luckily had left a sign in the window where to. Regretfully the previous owners had passed away. They were a lovely couple who had chatted away with us as soon as they realized I spoke German. Now their son was in charge, a gentleman our age, who also happily chatted away and then ended up not only showing us his wine cellar but also carrying our 12 bottles of wine for me while J went to get our RV.

Lunch turned out to be trickier than usual. As usual, it was the vegetarian requirements that was the problem. Bakeries usually are a good bet though, since a cheese sandwich is always to be had.  We then went to an 'Eis Café'/Ice Cream Parlour and had waffles. Yummmm.

And now we're five minuter from Bernkastel at camping Sun Park in Graach. We're sipping our wine looking out over the river.

We still haven't figured out how to get to that museum. Hopefully we can find parking tomorrow - otherwise we'll just go straight to Karthäuserhofberg in the Ruwer area. And then on to Trier.

 The lovely town of Bernkastel

 Markings for high water and the dates.

 The impressive entrance to Pauly Bergweiler

 We tasted nine wines. Only very little in each glass, so don't worry! And my driver spit out most of his.

 Yummy Belgian waffles

 The less imposing entrance to Lauburg - but his wines are every bit as good. And he is one of very few winemakers to have a field in the Doctor vineyard - one of the best vineyards in the world. We bought twelve bottles here, two of which were Bernkasteler Doctors.

Tonight's view