2016/05 Europe cruise - Miltenburg |
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Apparently we were stuck behind a slow boat and were being delayed in getting through the canal’s locks. We were headed for Miltenburg but were going to be late, so we docked at Klingenberg, where buses picked us up and whisked us by road to Miltenburg. Or at least that was the plan but we were stuck in traffic for a while.
We were unloaded onto a street with a narrow sidewalk, and as our bus swung out into the traffic our driver forgot about his nearside corner and his passengers had to scatter. Anyone standing next to the No Parking sign would have been crushed. Our program director was in the middle of all this and 
he looked really scared.
Our guide Andi took us for a walk through this pretty town of half-timbered buildings, many of them dating from the 15th century. He said the town is part of Franconia, which is itself part of Bavaria, though the locals do not like to be referred to as Bavarians. This turned out to be true of all the towns we visited in Franconia.
Andi told us stories about witches and Nazis. Denouncing people as witches eventually gave way to denouncing them as subversives under the Nazis. Some of the town’s history isn’t as pretty as its buildings. However, in general, they didn’t like the Nazis, particularly because many of them were Bavarians. In much more recent times, when the neo-Nazis tried to hold a rally in town the parish priest (whose name was Boom!) played the church bells at full volume until they gave up and left.
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Miltenburg |
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We had some free time so we walked up the steep hill behind town to the Castle Mildenburg. Yup that’s how it’s spelt. We didn’t have
enough time to visit the museums, but we had a beautiful view over town and the river. We walked around the town’s walls until we eventually found the Jewish cemetery, just outside.
When we went to pick up our buses there was a delay while Rob found out where the boat had gone. And then the drivers had to agree on how to get to it. They dropped us off at the village of Stadtprozelten with 150 of us milling around by the railway station while Rob found a walking route under the railway track. The boat had docked along a field and the crew was busy putting out a temporary gangway to get us back on board.
One of the nice parts about the cruise was that everyone in the crew seemed prepared to do any job. Even the chef Denes was up on deck helping with the crane.
We were all late for dinner. Some of the guests were faint with hunger. It had been quite a day for program director Rob too.