Saturday Hike!

This morning when I got up the weather was fabulous and after having breakfast and talking to A. for a while I decided to go out for a long walk! I have been studying for nearly four years now and have been in Bad Honnef for quite some time, but I've never been to the Drachenfels, an old castle ruin close by.

So I packed my camera and a bottle of water and walked through the backstreets of Bad Honnef towards Rhöndorf, the neighboring town and one of the common starting points for a hike up to the mountain top. It was nice to walk the backstreets with the small houses and cute places. I had never walked this streets, I always stayed on the main roads before, and was amazed what I missed so far!

Anyways, soon I arrived in Rhöndorf and made my way up the Rheinsteig, a quite famous hiking trail that follows the Rhein from Bonn to Wiesbaden and passes through the Upper-Middle-Rhein-Valley, which is part of the UNESCO world heritage.

It was a nice, but often quite steep walk through the woods and vineyards. Every now and then the way gave nice panoramic views onto the Rhein valley and the islands of Grafenwerth and Nonnenwerth. After some time I made it up to the upper terminus of the Drachenfels-railway and the mountaintop restaurant. The restaurant wasn't open due to construction works, but luckily the observation deck was still accessible. 

I took some pictures of the view, had a sip of water and then sat down and enjoyed the sun. There was a slight breeze that had a touch of spring in it and was just perfect. After the walk uphill and the due to the warm sun this warm wind was needed not to get too warm.

After some time I got up and walked the few hundred meters to the ruin of the castle that sits on the highest point of the rock. From there you had an even better panoramic view up and down the Rhein valley. The weather was so good that you could see Cologne in the distance.

The panorama pictures lost some quality while stitching!

I then made my way back down to Rhöndorf. I decided not walk to the backstreets again, but to walk along the Rhein back to Bad Honnef. It was really good, the sun was still up and I could take off my jacket. There were so many people walking the path and I had a real spring feeling. 

Back in Bad Honnef I passed by the shop and got some things for dinner and lunch tomorrow and then made my way back home. On the way I met several people I know from university. This is one thing I really like here: you can't go out at any time of the day without meeting at least one or two people you know!

Anyways, now I am back, had something to eat, wrote my blog, will work on the many pictures I took today and then start cooking. I will make a large portion of bolognese so that I can eat from it today and tomorrow!

~M~