Day 8: Baden-Baden to Koblenz going through many German states

Leaving Baden-Baden bright and early in the morning to do another long day with the intent to sleep in on Sunday as the final rally day. We are going to Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) carefully avoiding the corona hotspots. This is the German state bordered by France, Belgium and Luxemburg. First crossing the Rhine River to go to the castle of Bewartstein. Of course.. we had to take an ‘abreviation’ passing through France to buy croissants for breakfast. Bewartstein was one of the rock castles that were part of defenses of the Palatinate during the Middle Ages. It is one of 3 castles where the stairs, passages and rooms are carved out of the rock to form part of the accommodation essential to the defense of the castle. Although the Berwartstein appears more complete when compared to the ruins of neighboring castles, it is only a restoration of the original rock castle. It is the only castle in the Palatinate that was rebuilt and re-inhabited after its demolition. Driving on we pass ‘almost’ Ines and Claudia’s home town.. Erlenbach followed by Einöd (in English: simply nothing,.. desert)??

We also met twice Jenny and her brother who drive the same car as we do, same year, same color, same everything.. and they are real ML320 fan's and very sweet people.

Driving from Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) through the Saarland, we had 2 exchange missions this morning. It all started with a paper clip at the start and it is now our 11th exchange. For the first time somebody simply said 'no' but then we got a beautiful scarf. Each exchange has a specific color requirement.. this one had to be 'blue'.

Our next stop is the Völklingen Ironworks (German: Völklinger Hütte) is located in the German town of Völklingen, Saarland. In 1994, it was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. We all see it for the first time. Very impressive and certainly a place we don't want to work.

We also met twice Jenny and her brother who drive the same car as we do, same year, same color, same everything.. and they are real ML320 fan's and very sweet people!

Now we are guided to a small chapel close to Hemmersdorf with directions to find the landmark marking the German-French border.. took us a little while. But all of the sudden, many, many rally fellows around us with excellent directions and a 'traffic jam' of rally cars on the small road.

From here we go a sightseeing spot to the Saarschleife, also known as the Great Bend in the Saar at Mettlach, is a water gap carved by the Saar River through a quartzite layer and today one of the most well-known tourist attractions of the Saarland.

We finish the day by driving to Koblenz to shorten our last route tomorrow. Driving through the Mosel vineyards in beautiful autumn weather was amazing. Koblenz old town is very picturesque and going to a local pub where we enjoyed Haxen, Spare Ribs and potato pancakes with 'Kölsch' was a superb last dinner for us on the rally.