This trip we would spend another 7 days in Bacharach, making about month since 2011. Yes, you can see most of Bacharach in 2-3 hours, but we find it a pleasant place to stay to explore the Rhine, Mosel and Lahn valleys. We did several new activities and ate at new places.
But of course, we would not stay at a new inn and for the fifth time, we stayed at Irmgard Orth’s small 3 room b&b. She greeted us with a big hug and proudly announced that she is now 86. She grabbed the wife’s smaller suitcase and carried it up 2 flights of stairs.
For dinner we ate at Cafe Bistro Noy which occupies the site of our favorite Cafe Rusticana. We ate at Rusticana several times, enjoying both the food and conversation with the owner Astrid. We ate there during its last month of operation in Oct 2019. The new cafe is run by a 3 or maybe 4 generation Armenian family. They are friendly and speak English well. We tried the Armenian Shaslik, a shisk kabob dish. Very good. On our second visit I had the wild boar bratwurst while Tykewife had the wild boar goulash. Both excellent. I asked if the bratwurst was homemade. They said no, the hunter makes it.
Following a trip to Ruedesheim and the cable car to the Niederwald Monument, we decided to take the KB boat back to Bacharach. Since Rick Steves recommends the section between St. Goar and Bacharach, his followers do not see this section. It had been 10 years since we took the boat and wow ! was this section excellent. Unless you are really pressed for time,I see no reason not to include this section. Although I usually recommend taking the boat from north to south, I think that if there is time, you do the reverse.
For dinner we ate at the Posthof, first time. We ate in the courtyard. Tykewife had Pork Jelly and liked it. I had my usual schnitzel.
Bacharach is dominated by the castle Stahleck. It’s a youth hostel that I stayed in for 2 nights 50 years ago. But there is another castle in the area, above the ‘suburb’ of Steeg. It is the ruin Burg Stahlberg. Most of the Trip Advisor entries for it actually about Stahleck ! Most of the hikes that mention going there are as part of a longer, 12 km hike. No thanks ! Instead I just started walking along the road out of Bacharach to Steeg, about 3-4 km roundtrip. When I got to a couple of forks in the road, I asked people in German which way. Eventually there was a sign pointing to a path in the woods to the castle. It was a short, not too steep path and there it was - a couple of towers, and a few walls, a moat. And except for a young woman eating at a picnic table I was alone. Some good signage telling about the castle history. The young woman asked me which was the shortest way back to town since she thought it was going to rain ( it didn’t ), so i guess she was doing the longer hike. To find the best route to the castle is just look on google maps.