10 Days, Enchanting Moselle

Amsterdam: A good time! That’s what you’ll have in this beautiful capital of the Netherlands, which feels at once like a 17-century city and a bustling modern metropolis. Famous for its canals and extraordinary museums, Amsterdam is also an intimate city with strangely alluring streets and squares.

Explore this magical town of half-timbered houses.

BONN – Beethoven’s Birthplace

Two thousand years have left their mark in Bonn, tracing its development from a Roman camp into the settlement known as “Villa Basilica,” and on through the Baroque era’s Electoral Palace, which today houses the University.

Much of its history, ancient and modern, can be read in Bonn’s cityscape. In the north, for instance, traces of the Romans can still be found, and in the south, providing a modern contrast, soars “Lean Eugene” – the high-rise Parliamentary Office Building and symbol of high politics.

As a 2000-year-old city situated in the heart of Europe, Bonn offers its guests a wealth of sights. Especially worth seeing are the Basilica in the heart of the city, the venerable Münster in which kings were crowned between 1314-46; the two-storied church of Schwarzrheindorf; and Baroque Poppelsdorf Palace.

Bonn is renowned as the city of music. Ludwig van Beethoven first saw the light of day here in 1770. Paying homage to the great composer are Bonn’s international Beethoven Festivals. His birthplace, with museum, is a must attraction. It is one of the characteristic Baroque town houses from the Electoral era.

With the National Art and Exhibition Hall and the new Art Museum, as well as numerous other collections, Bonn boasts a museum scene that is second to none.

But the City of Beethoven has even more to offer, such as the lovely Rhine riverbank promenade leading past the Beethovenhalle (concert hall), the old Customs House and Villa Hammerschmidt – all the way to Bad Godesberg, the diplomatic quarter. From here one has a splendid view of the fabled Siebengebirge with Drachenfels, Drachenburg and Petersberg. Bonn – Your destination on the Rhine.

A quaint medieval town along the Moselle River.

The commercial and cultural center for the Ruhr region on the Rhine River, Duseldorff is also the site of the Felderhof Cave where Neanderthal man was found in 1856.

Woods, Lakes and meadows make up a majority of Koblenz, and its famous sites draw visitors from all over to view the stunning beauty.

Germany’s oldest city and a monument to history: Trier. Founded in 16 B.C as “Augusta Treverorum”, it dramatically blossomed into “Roma Secunda”, a second Rome. Nowhere else in Germany is the Roman past as impressively visible as in this former imperial residence. The Porta Nigra, the Amphitheater, the Imperial Baths, and the Constantine Basilica – all of them UNESCO cultural heritage sites – impressively demonstrate the Roman way of life.

The city on the Mosel River also features stone witnesses to past eras including the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Cathedral, the medieval marketplace, and the palace of the Prince Electors are other historic elements of a dynamic community that lives its past in the present.

Trier is an excellent place to travel back in time – for instance with the tour “2000 Steps – 2000 Years” and the “Roman Meal” based on an original recipe from Apicius. Even back then, the Romans washed it down with a tasty wine grown on the banks of the Mosel.