Bamberg Sunday 7 September

Lovely weather again so we are in for another great day as we enjoy the leisurely cruise along the final stretch of the Main (pronounced mine) River. Late breakfast and then ewent to an in fo session on how the lovks work and the history of their making. thankfully it was only half an hour but it was interesting. Then at 10.30 they have a Bavarian elevenses of bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato salad, pretzels, some disgusting spam slice and another pork sausage with cheese. You would think that many of the passengers hadn't seen food for a week! I just wanted to try the sauerkraut and pretzel, neither to my liking. Time for some reading before lunch and then as we had moored near some little village I went for a walk.

Time to board and we head for Bamberg where we have to get on coaches for a 30 minute ride to take us closer to the city. We are taken on a guided walk but I have managed to leave my phone behind so am now relying on Julie's photos. Bamberg is world heritage listed since 1983. There are heaps of breweries and it is well known for its smokey beer which apparently has a bacon after taste! The area known as Little Venice was pretty.

I think it is the black house in the last photo that is the only one currently for sale at a price tag of about 2 million Euro. All the others are owned by the original fisherman families so it is most unusable for a property to come up for sale. The cathedral was surprisingly sparsely adorned compared to all the others we have seen.

I loved the adjoining buildings that were very Shakespearian. The flower boxes were lovely.

The rose garden was pretty too. Shame there weren't more roses flowering as we were a bit late in the season.

Time to wander back down into the Main area. Lots of cafes and the like that street very busy. Shops aren't open here on Sundays so the restaurants, cafes and bars do a roaring trade.

We have free time to have a wander but asnothing other than cafes are open we head to an outdoor Cafe and watch the world go by.

Julie orders one of the smokey beers and although reticent to try it, has a sip, then another sip and voila, she is a convert! I'm happy to have a white wine as I don't like any beer of any type.

Time to head back to our meeting point where we then have a good 10 minute walk to our coaches which take us back to the boat.

It's now about 6pm and we are set to head off. We go to our briefing on tomorrow's itinerary and then to dinner. Entree was calamari which was lovely, but once again they are tiny served on a big plate. Main was roast Turkey which was really nice.

With dinner finished at are advised that it is a blood moon so head up on to deck to view. Unfortunately my photo doesn't capture it at all well but it really was an eclipse of the moon and quite spectacular. Time to head back to the cabin and settle in for the night.