Moselle Camino - The Beginning

The word camino means route in Spanish, and is often associated with the Camino Frances a.k.a. St. James Way, the popular walk to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. However, since the early days of pilgrimage people had to start from somewhere, and so there has been a whole network of trails leading west.

River Moselle springs from the Vosges Mountains in France and empties into river Rhine at Koblenz after 545 km as one of its main left-hand tributaries. The region is well known for their medieval castles and monasteries, their romantic vineyards and their award-winning wines.

The Moselle Camino of today is one of those re-discovered ancient routes. This section of the camino trail network spans over 160 km / 100 mi. and its topography provides about 4.500/14,800 - sometimes painful - meters/feet in elevation. Its journey starts at the confluence of the two rivers in Koblenz, follows the Moselle upstream and leads to the last resting place of Apostle Matthew in Trier. 

The journey begins with a little sightseeing in Koblenz, a city rich with history from early mankind to Celts, Romans and throughout the middle ages, alas heavily destroyed in WWII.

Deutsches Eck - German corner

Let's go!

Fortress Ehrenbreitstein

Emperor William statue

St. Kastor Basilika

Rhine as seen from fortress

Confluence of Moselle and Rhine

Koblenz old city

Trailhead at castle Stolzenfels. The only way is up!

Castle Stolzenfels

Chapel Bleidenberg

Castle Turant

Moselle at Hatzenport

In the village of Hatzenport I found a B&B for a reasonable price given it's high season, and called it a day.