Wanderers Anonymous: Bacharach and the Disciples of St. Steve

During spring work and before harvest my father would take a hour lunch break. He would come in and have a sandwich or reheat the tacos from the previous night, and sit down in his work clothes, boots left at the door of course, to watch an hour of TV. As it was also lunch time for us girls, we would watch with him. Thirty minutes of Julia Child followed by thirty minutes of Rick Steves.

My father was always impressed with Rick Steves. He would even drop his Julia Child impression to comment on the canals of Amsterdam or tell a quick memory of his college years in the Alps. Mr. Steves would take us through German castles, point out the best place for authentic Italian pizza, and shoot out random facts of London buildings.

I grew up with Rick Steves.

Yet when I arrived in Bacharach, a small town on the Rhein River in Germany, to meet my dear friends Julia and Max, I was still surprised to see that their travel bible had been written by Rick Steves (or Stevo as the couple called him).

Stevo led us on an informative walking tour that allowed us to see corners and sites of the city we may have overlooked. He suggested our hotel (a small bed and breakfast ran by a lovely elderly German woman. She didn't speak a word of English, and despite the flock of gnats at breakfast, the place was impeccably clean and comfortable), restaurants, and explained that the houses that sat five feet from the train tracks had been given money to sound proof their windows.

The town from the river. Yes that is a castle on the hill. It is now a hostel.

Historical post office. The horn is a symbol of post in Germany, and comes from the tradition of the post men blowing a horn as they rode into town to announce the arrival of the post.

Julia and I, with vineyards, an old watch tower, and a crumbling bit of wall from centuries ago.

Bacharach was like a real live Leavenworth. In the off season. We found one pub and one restaurant (Greek) and one cafe that were open. And a few slightly sketchy souvenir shops. We basically had the town to ourselves, which was glorious. A quite weekend off, in the beautiful, and historical Rhein River valley.