Hochmuth Adventures 2023: Rhine River Cruise

Day 8 - Breisach - Saturday, September, 30, 2023

Our last touring day. Got to sleep in. There was a 9:00 talk by our cruise director, Bart, on the Fall of the Berlin Wall. He was very knowledgeable and informative about the history and highlights of places we sailed by during the course of our trip. We didn't leave on our walking tour of Breisach until 10:00. We met our guide in front of the boat and made our way into the small village of Breisach. Breisach has about 16,000 people and two old towns. This village was under the rule of many different groups over the years - ie. the Romans, the Bishop of Basil, the Austrians, Burgundy and the French, before it became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. This is an agricultural region known for asparagus, strawberries, corn (used for biofuel), apples, pears etc. in order to get to the first old town we had to go up 150+ steps - it was not for the faint of heart. We saw an ancient well to get water to the village. Then we saw a community garden which overlooked the village and the Stephensmunster Romanesque - Gothic Church. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures there. After the church we made our way to the town square for some beer and bratwurst. We walked around the village some more - got to get our 10,000 steps in - before returning to the ship to get packed up. At 4:30 we were entertained(?) in the lounge by Anita and Maik who played the swiss cow bells. It was amazing how adept they were at this. Then there was a farewell reception with champagne. One last scrumptious meal and it was time for bed as we have a busy travel day tomorrow.