Discover Koblenz: Old Town, Rhine Promenade & Deutsches Eck

The views from the river side are spectacular. The cable car offers an additional attraction and leads to the fortress on the hill. There is something for everyone here so just walk and explore.

Reading about Koblenz, we were expecting a different town image. We did not see any old buildings. The town center is small. We read this town suffered a lot of damage during the war. Did not see anything that was worth the visit other than the area point where Rhine and Mosel rivers meet and full of those touristy boats like the Viking and such. The cable car only takes across the water up to the fortress but you still need to pay extra to get into the museum. At least we visited this town and checked off our list.

The favourite part of trip to beautiful Koblenz was the Cable car ride crossing the Rhine to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, what a view of the city and The Duetsche Eck with the largest equestrian monument of Emperor William 1. The fortress steeped in history is outstanding & monumental in size and it's so well worth a visit. It is possible to purchase a combination ticket for a River cruise with Cable car ride & entry to the Fortress for 29€. It makes for a great days experience in historick Koblenz.my only regret was I rushed the Fortress vusit because I had booked an afternoon Cruise The old Town was very quaint & so easy to walk around. Lovely shops make it a very pleasant place to spend time. The modern shopping area is beside the old Town. Thete are so many beautiful buildings to admire & churches to visit. If you tire of walking around there are no shortage of lovely coffee shops throughout the city. I stayed in Hotel Morjan beside the Rhine & it was wonderful to watch the river Rhine barge boats & cruise boats pass by well into the evening time.. I loved it so much that I extended my stay & I have booked a return journey in 2023. It won't disappoint. I was a solo traveller & I felt very safe in the City as I walked everywhere.

Having reached the top, the late afternoon breeze, calming serenity, scenic landscape and the medieval city all came into focus. Leaning over the fortress wall, the view was superb. Welcome to Koblenz, Germany. The cable car that spans the Rhine River going from one side to the historic Ehrenbreitstein Fortress on the other rises 367 feet high and travels almost 3,000 feet to reach the fortress, about a half mile across the Rhine River. The width of the Rhine at that point is 940 feet. The cable car’s speed is only 10 mph so allows for steady and non-rushed photo taking. It is touted as the busiest cable car in the world since it can transport up to 7,600 passengers per hour. Crowded tourist and party boats along with other river traffic navigated below us while the Ehrenbreitstein fortress that we were headed toward gained additional sharpness the closer we came. Ehrenbreitstein Fortress Perched on a rocky cliff 387 feet above the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, the fortress is steeped in history. It was built between 1817 and 1828 on the ruins of an older fort that French forces had destroyed. Although the fortress features numerous exhibits and museums on site, we are here for the open air evening jazz festival; therefore, the buildings housing exhibits, etc. were closed. We did, however, see the Memorial of the German Army that is dedicated to fallen soldiers of WW1 and 2. Ehrenbert Conradine commissioned the fortress’s construction in the year 1000 and the name ‘Ehrenbertstein’ gradually became ‘Ehrenbreitstein’ over time. In the 11th century, according to my tourist information, the fortress passed into the ownership of the Trier Archbishop Poppo, whose successors expanded the site over decades. In the 15th century under Archbishop Richard von Greiffenclau’s “watch”, the fortress was secured against artillery through further construction. French troops besieged the fortress in 1797 and after being starved out, were forced to turn it back over in 1799 to the church. In 1801 the fortress was blown up, although I could not locate any online documentation to verify this alleged statement. After the Congress of Vienna met in 1815, the Electorate of Trier passed the ruins and remains onto the Kingdom of Prussia. King Friedrich Wilhelm III ordered the expansion of Koblenz into a fortified city, making the fortress one of the largest fortifications in all Europe. The fortress and the area surrounding it were incorporated into Koblenz in 1937. Inside the stately stone walls, it seemed a different time. The history came alive. Exploring the fortress grounds on foot, we meandered around corners and through tunnels trying to prevent a turned ankle while clumsily walking over uneven cobblestone pavers. Dusk gently settled over the massive fortress while we enjoyed live jazz music and sipped on Aperol spritzers, a favorite German summertime adult beverage. The last cable car left for the “mainland” at 10 p.m. so we made our exit about 30 minutes prior. Departing the cable car at the rear of St. Castor Basilica, we passed by the magnificent church but, of course, it was closed so we couldn’t peak inside. Its duo spires swirled toward the sky and it was impossible to miss. The basilica is the oldest church in Koblenz, founded in 836 AD, and was the location of the signing of the historic Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD. According to my information, the site had been used for religious purposes as far back as the first century, and later by the Romans who built a church on the site that stood until about 700 AD. Much of the existing church today dates from the 12th century. Pope John Paul II raised it to the status of a “basilica minor” in 1991. We caught a glimpse of the end of a wedding on the grounds as we exited the cable car and made our way to the German Corner. Deutsches Eck - German Corner At the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle rivers is the German Corner where the larger-than-life equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I rises notably. In 1216 this area where the two rivers joined was established by “Teutonic Order” and the historic site given the name of Deutsches Eck, which translates to German Corner in English. Kaiser Wilhelm I is credited with bringing about the unification of Germany. His grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, chose the German Corner as the spot for creating a memorial to his grandfather. The corner in its present form was created in 1891 and the famous memorial inaugurated in August 1897. Artillery shelling in WW2 practically destroyed the city of Koblenz and did destroy the statue in March 1945. The remains of the then riderless pedestal became a memorial to German unity in 1953 and housed a German flag until 1993. The memorial was reconstructed and completed in 1993. The pedestal and statue rise an incredible 121 feet of which 46 feet of it is the actual statue. The German Corner and the Kaiser Wilhelm I statue have been part of the UNESCO “Upper Middle Rhine Valley” world heritage site since 2002. It is a nod to the city’s dramatic location and past. Behind the statue – yet only a short distance away – are three concrete sections of the Berlin Wall. According to a storyboard on site, “the wall segments commemorate all those who were arrested, persecuted imprisoned, expropriated and psychologically broken in the 40 years of SED [Socialist Unity Party of Germany] dictatorship. These victims include around 200,000 political prisoners, 150,000 children in special institutions and corrective training centers, thousands of people who were expropriated and displaced, and those who applied to emigrate to the West. They include persecuted schoolchildren, Christians discriminated against and unknown numbers of children forced into adoption. We must also remember those who bravely opposed the wall, division and dictatorship, and paid the price of bodily and psychological harm. We thank them for their contribution to freedom and democracy.” The following day we took the bus downtown in an attempt to wander the Old Town of Koblenz. Following a map in German was challenging to say the least. Twice we caught the wrong bus and twice had to walk back across the bridge. Still, this medieval town brimming with well-preserved history was begging to be explored. We did not give up. Somehow, we stumbled upon the Electoral Palace, close to the banks of the Rhine, after our second trek across the bridge. The palace was completed in 1786 as a residence with its rooms offering unsurpassed views of the river and the Rhine Valley. A well-manicured lawn filled the space in front. Today, the building is used by the city and mostly closed to the public. Somewhere and some time later, we happened upon the government building that was the former Prussian District President’s headquarters and electoral offices. The storyboard out front (yes, it was in both English and German!) explained the site was originally built as a home for priests and orphans from 1723 to 1729. It originally consisted of two courtyards and a garden as well as a horse stable with a coach house. Later on, it housed a prison and poorhouse, but in 1781 Elector Wenzeslaus had the building rebuilt for his administration. The electoral administration consisted of a court chamber, pension office, government offices and legal authorities’ offices among others. During the French occupation in 1794, the building was the seat of the High Court of Justice. In August 1901 the building burnt to the ground although it’s still apparently unknown how the fire started. The following year, once the rubble and ruins had been removed, a new Governmental Office was constructed in the Romanesque style and completed in 1906. Today, it houses government IT offices and “In-Service Support”. The storyboard goes on to say that this building is of particular architectural importance as buildings of that size and style dating to that era are now obscure in Germany. There are three large statues affixed to the main front of the building, but no information on them. During our walk, I came upon numerous statues in small park areas that were lighthearted and fun to see. Someone had a sense of humor! The Historic Center According to my visitor information, Koblenz has always been a popular place. “This is where emperors, kings and princes built their residences, and where many artists have sought inspiration from the unique landscape.” Despite the entire city virtually destroyed in WW2, many of its historic buildings were restored and saved. With a list of historic sites to see, we tried to navigate the narrow chaotic streets while studying our German map. Helga at our hotel warned us that it would be difficult finding our way with the map as Koblenz streets are circular and not arranged in a square grid. As we wove through the chattering crowd of indiscernible languages, I ultimately glimpsed sight of a statue in an open square. Unfortunately, its description was only in German. Nice statue though. The open square, however, was definitely postcard worthy with its old world architecture, wide curved wooden doors, the unknown statue and uneven cobblestone streets. And, come to discover, it was the main square of Old Town! Our aimless wanderings had paid off! Outdoor cafes brimming with customers were scattered amongst classic four- to five-story buildings that appeared to be apartments. The arched windows mostly featured coordinating colored paint trim matching other details of the structures. The buildings were all adjoined to each other and in different colors. This history-wrapped square was very charming. We passed under the curved arch into another smaller square (Jesuitenplatz). What appeared to our left was a vanilla stucco’d building with a copperish gold hued arch. Once through that arch, we were facing the town hall, aka Rathaus. The photo I had printed out earlier and brought with confirmed this was the Rathaus. The two adjoining town hall structures were once a Jesuit cloister with a grammar school. My information doesn’t differentiate between which is building one or two; however, building two was constructed between 1582 and 1670, while the town hall building one saw construction between 1694 and 1701. It has been the town hall since 1895. “The difference between the late Renaissance and early Baroque façade designs is clearly visible,” states my brochure. Can you tell the difference? The Spitting Boy Fountain Back out in the Rathaus square, opposite the town hall arch, was a lone fountain with the statue of a boy atop. This is the well-known humorous fountain, designed in 1941, and known as ‘naughty boy of Koblenz’ or ‘spitting boy’. The back story for the name is interesting. In German, the fountain is called Kowelenzer Schangel. “The term ‘Schangel’ denotes a native citizen of Koblenz, but is a derogatory name to describe the little boys born to Koblenz women by French men during the many French occupations through the ages.” A poet penned the lyrics for Koblenz’s town song that has the words “watch out for the spitting boy” in it. So, the man who designed the fountain dedicated it to the poet. After a minute or so of gazing at the statue, he all of a sudden starts spitting water out of his mouth. It was hilarious and caught me off guard as I was not expecting it. There was so much more to see in Koblenz, but with the bus snafu’s and limited map directions, we missed a lot I’m afraid. What we did see though was unique in this medieval history-wrapped town.

This was one of the most enjoyable towns we visited in Germany primarily because we were able to do it in the morning when the throngs of tourists was at low ebb. Make sure to take in the charming park at the confluence of the two rivers. It offers some wonderfully picturesque photos. A walking tour with a good guide, offers an opportunity to appreciate the history of the city.