We spent the morning meandering up the scenic Main toward our next destination; Wertheim. The captain and crew skillfully steered the boat in and out of locks as we enjoyed the views. Quaint villages with the inevitable cathedral tower, Caravan parks and castle ruins dotted the verdant landscape. What a gorgeous morning. 
As we approached Wertheim our interest was peaked by the colourful half timbered buildings of this well preserved Medieval town and the remains of a huge castle perched above it.
Wertheim dates back to 1183! Some of the buildings are incorporated into the old town walls. Looking up we could see joining buttresses between some buildings and at the bottom stores or storage but no living quarters. As it turns out yearly flooding has caused the inhabitants to be in constant readiness to move up. Current flood levels are not as bad as they used to be but still serious. Wooden walkways at the upper level and boats are used to get around during the floods. 
Elka took us to a beautifully decorated home with all kinds of symbols on the facade. This last standing Jewish home was dedicated by the mayor of the town in the 1970s. It is now a monument to remind people of the past and not to repeat the horrors. Elka gave us an extremely moving talk about the extermination of the Jews. She called this artistic house a monument with meaningful symbols honouring Christians and Jews and the German love for life. This talk was so passionate that many of us had goose bumps or tears in our eyes. This was the first time but not the last that we would learn from our guides about this dark era in German history. In many towns a "monument" is not necessarily a statue. It is often a building or some other symbolic reminder of the past.
Wertheim is at the confluence of the Tauber and Main Rivers and Elka showed us the flood level of the Tauber as well. This was stunning to see! I couldn't imagine how the town dealt with it year after year! Beautiful gardens and a pottery market were just some of the sights we saw while wandering the streets of this gorgeous town. This morning a glass blower had come on board to give us a demonstration and we passed one of his shops while in town. Wertheim is famous for this.
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| One of the oldest buildings in town with the unique colour restored to the original. |
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| Look at the castle up in the background. |
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| Incredible flood levels of the Tauber River |
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| Two Thorns? |
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| Pottery Market We went back to the boat for lunch and then made our way up to the castle for more amazing views of an idyllic medieval town with red roofs. This castle is also made of red sandstone and it covered a huge area. Like many ruins and historic sites the venue is used for modern purposes. In this case a restaurant and beer garden made the climb worthwhile. |
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| On the way up we met this interesting fellow. He looks like a forester don't you think. He is holding one of his falcons. Falcons are endangered in Germany due to being bought up by Arabs he said. I asked why and he became quite angry and passionate about it. They do not care about life on earth because all they want is to move on to the next world. So they don't respect life on earth. They don't care for the creatures of the forest and buy falcons and keep them for show of wealth and power. The falcons end up dying in the hot Arabian climate. This gentleman is a National Geographic photographer and for 2 Euros we bought one of his most amazing photographs. He uses the money for falcon preservation. |
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| Gun mount? |
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| Huge vault maybe for canon? |
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| That teeny person is Gisele. |
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| Ahhh...how civilized...a biergarten! |
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| The restaurant. |
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| Red Sandstone Ruins seem typical of this area. |
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| I think I see the River Queen. Tonight on board we had another lovely dinner At 4 a.m. we set sail for our next port at Karlstadt and to tour the town of Wurzburg from there. |
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