I was exciting to see the city as it was used as a major staging point for the invasion of France during WWI. However, the city struck me as not very lively, and it only has a population of 100,000 people or so. There is a castle in the city proper, but the day we were there it was closed. The most memorable thing about Koblenz was our taxi driver, an elderly German man who went on vacation every year to the United States. To do what, might you ask? Feed his addiction for American Nascar events. I kid you not.
At any rate we got a room at a hotel where an Indian man had a joint Italian-Indian restaurant. Sarah had cheese pizza and I had spicy curry with rice. The food was all around pretty good, so I guess if you can pull that sort of thing off, more power to you.
Anyway, we weren't inspired to do much in Koblenz because things seemed relatively quiet, so we went to bed and woke up the next day for our Rhine boat ride. This was a lot of fun; the boat has a restaurant on it so there are plenty of food options and good beer. The downside of the boat ride is that while the first 3-4 hours were great, and we got to see plenty of castles and small German towns along the Rhine, the trip to Mainz was a long one and we were on the boat 6-7 hours total. That is longer than you want to be on a boat, especially when you keep eating and drinking beer. So anyone looking to replicate the Rhine boat tour experience should plan a 3 hour ride, or about half the distance from Koblenz to Mainz.
Mainz was a very fun city and much more lively, and we stayed there for a couple of days. It is a tourist city, but for German tourists. Thus we really only ran into one obnoxious group of Americans. Incidentally, we ran into those Americans at this fantastic German brewery / restaurant, the Eisgrub-Bräu. They serve two beer types: light and dark, and they put them in enormous towers on the table (assuming you order it). The food is great. I saw them bring out something for the table behind us. I didn't know what it was, but I knew that I wanted it. It turns out it is called schweinshaxe, and it is fried pork knuckle, served with saur kraut. So good.
Mainz is also home to the Gutenberg Museum (Gutenberg, born in 1398, invented the printing press). The museum had a very impressive display of ancient books and texts. Lots of bibles, some of them over a thousand years old. There were also sections for other cultures; a Chinese section had ancient Chinese documents that were thousands of years old. It really feels like looking into history when you see things like that.
We stayed in a small bed and breakfast hotel that was situated right at the heart of the city. It was actually situated adjacent to St. Martin's Cathedral, a fantastic 1000 year old Roman Catholic building. On the other side of the Cathedral is the town farmer's market (at least when we were there, in early June) so we had some great lunches. Finally, as one would expect in a tourist city, there was plenty of shopping, restaurants, and taverns in Mainz. Definitely an enjoyable place to visit; 2-3 days is perfect and relaxing.
