Saturday, 12th July – Frankfurt to Cologne

After a great nights sleep we headed off towards Cologne. Again skipping all the highways and opting for a journey that would take us along the Rhein.

The first surprise of the day was an incredible lookout on the top of a hill. We enjoyed the view overlooking a beautiful town with silhouettes of two churches against a forest backdrop. It looked perfect on an early foggy morning.

We both have a fondness for checking out supermarkets in foreign countries. It’s always interesting to see what sort of things they sell, what products they have and just how different it is from home. We stopped in at a couple on the way down from the lookout.

The drive along the Rhein was spectacular. We stopped at Leutesdorf for a coffee and lunch. Leutesdorf looks across the Rhein to the historical town of Andernach (known for the world’s tallest cold water Geyser that erupts every two hours).

One of the best things about taking the no highway route is the surprising things you just couldn’t plan to see. We drove through a town called Linz and had to stop to walk through and check it out. It is an incredibly old town – first mentioned in an official document in 874 and called “Lincesce”. We saw a building that was posted as being built in 1560 AD. A resilient little town, it has been destroyed a number of times in different wars and restored each time. Today the old buildings are just a backdrop to a normal modern life.

Another amazing thing we saw on the road to Cologne were the ruins of the Ludendorff Bridge. For those interested in Modern History, it played a big role in World War II.One of the quirkiest things we saw today was a cute little church in the middle of the road.After an amazing day we arrived at our accommodation, had an early dinner and crashed out.