He had come a long way, and what the Roman traveller now saw, so close to his destination, made him forget the exertions of the dusty road: "Hills crowned with green vines, and the lovely rivers as the Moselle carries them down below in a gentle murmur", Ausonius enthused in perfect form about his first encounter with his Moselle.
Later, the poet, a teacher by profession, even dedicated an entire poem to the Moselle.
In 483 classical hexameters, he not only celebrated the beauty of the river and used his language to create at least as many loops, but also the fertility of its banks - especially with regard to the "flavoursome wine" that industrious settlers pressed at the foot of steep slopes. Ausonius knew what he was talking about, as he came from the area around what is now Bordeaux - another region that was already famous for its grape juice back then.
Wine culture has also remained on the Moselle; the southern slopes of its sun-drenched slate terraces are still covered in the wavy patterns of the vines and the inns are decorated with empty, fragrant barrels and gold-painted vines. Of the thirteen German wine-growing regions, it is the oldest. Saar and Ruwer are also among them. Anyone who discovers this land like Ausonius is not only travelling through wine, but also through time.
The most relaxed way once again leads directly along the water, away from the busy roads - especially in summer.
And that's exactly what we intend to do: We want to follow it for a week on a charter yacht, from Merzig on the Saar to the mouth of the Middle Moselle and via the old imperial city of Trier further downstream to Zell. Maybe we'll even find out whether the truth really lies in the wine, as the saying goes...
Our cruise begins at Saar kilometre 44.4, more precisely in the Merzig marina on the left bank. At this point, the river itself has already travelled around 100 kilometres through Germany, passing through Saarbrücken and Saarlouis on the way.
On the French side, la Sarre (or rather: the navigable, parallel Saar-Coal Canal) leads via Sarreguemines up the mountain to the Rhine-Rhône Canal. The route is also part of the famous "Sauerkraut Tour" in the border triangle.
The modern facility in Merzig not only offers full service, catering and 200 berths at floating jetties (a good starting point for trailer boaters), but is also home to Yacht Charter Holiday Tours and his well-kept Linssen fleet
"Silas", a comfortable Grand Sturdy 40.9 AC, will accompany us in the coming week.
After a tough journey from Hamburg, the boat handover and test drive (wonderful after all those hours on the motorway), there is still time for shopping. Then onwards to the inviting "Blasius" in Trierer Straße a really good address if you fancy something savoury.
The harbour has long been in complete darkness and silence when we return on board. On the other bank of the Saar, however, the brightly lit landmark of Merzig shines through the clear night, the chapel on the Kreuzberg. Like a star that you could follow.
The very next morning, just over an hour from Merzig, the first highlight of the journey awaits us. The Saar flows straight towards a ridge of wooded hills. The valley it has carved through the hard quartzite rock over millions of years is known as the Great Saar Loop.
A narrow arc of 180 degreescut deep into the rock. In earlier times, before the Saar was tamed and widened with barrages, it must have been murderously raging down into the valley here.
to the valley.
It is said that the prayers of the river boatmen to their patron saint, St Nicholas, could be heard all the way up to Montclair Castle, which sits enthroned on the mountain saddle between the waters. Although less dramatic today, the passage through the dark gorge is still spectacular.
It's no wonder that the Great Saar Loop is one of the most famous sights in this small federal state and that the stone parapet of the viewing point in the Cloef forest high above is still full of day-trippers today.
Incidentally, there is no prohibition on meeting or compulsory reporting (VHF channel 10) for small vessels at the narrows. The loop has barely disappeared behind the next bend when we come to our first lock.
The Mettlach barrage at kilometre 31.4 has two chambers. Here, however, we have already registered in advance via VHF radio on channel 18 and are asked to wait on the right bank in the upper water of the weir until an excursion steamer has passed upstream.
After that, the small chamber with a usable length of 40 metres is free for us and we descend eleven metres. The 190 metre chamber next door, on the other hand, is reserved for large ships during normal operation. However, you hardly notice that the river has been developed for such long convoys since 2001, it follows its course so naturally.
Goal of the day is Saarburg. Before doing so, we first cross the border into Rhineland-Palatinate, pass the quarry at Taben-Rodt, where the hard quartzite has been mined since 1877, and finally the small (much less spectacular) Saar bend at Serrig. After the barrage of the same name at kilometre 18.5 (UKW 82) and a drop of 14 metres, it takes another hour before the weathered bastions of Saarburg Castle become visible on the left bank. One last stretch before we enter the sheltered harbour of the Saarburg Water Sports Club at kilometre 10.4 on the right bank and head astern to one of the guest moorings.
The small harbour is beautifully surrounded by greenery (www.wassersportclub-saarburg.de), and the path back to the city takes us along the shore. Opposite us, the finely patterned southern slopes of the first vineyards lie in the evening sun. Our guidebook tells us that the Moselle and Saar vineyards, which Ausonius had already enthused about and which will become a familiar panorama for us over the next few days, begin near Saarburg.
Saarburg itself can also lay claim to the term "steep slope". Below the former archiepiscopal castle, whose construction began in the tenth century, the town was built on the hillside under its protection.
Steep steps and paths lead between pointed gables up to the Buttermarkt in the old town centre. The historic square is divided by the Leuk, a stream that forms a small basin here before plunging almost twenty metres between narrow cliffs and flowing into the Saar.
There's no question that there are plenty of cafés and restaurants here. After all, where can you find a real waterfall in the centre of the city? Our tip is the "Zunftstube" and there - unsurprisingly - the Leukbachforelle (www.restaurant-zunftstube.de).
The village's best-known vineyard is the - telling - "Saarburger Rausch", where Saar Riesling is grown on brittle grey slate and the rare volcanic rock diabase. The local wine festival takes place at the beginning of September (www.saarburg.eu).
There is not much left of the Saar, just a few more kilometres, with the lock channel of the Kanzem barrage at kilometre 5.1, before the river flows into the Moselle, which is almost twice as wide here at 200 metres. But we don't stay on the river much longer: Trier awaits us - and Roman history to touch.
As the town has no guest harbour and even the large hotel ships only have improvised moorings, pleasure boat crews have to rely on taxis or local transport. They can then choose between the Konz marina at kilometre 200.8 RU (just under a kilometre below the mouth of the Saar; www. wsc-konz.de) and the Trier-Monaise marina at kilometre 197.3 LU (www. yachthafen-trier.de).
We opt for Konz, and after a round kilometre walk to Konz-Mitte station, the regional train (in this case a Luxembourg train) takes us to Trier in a further quarter of an hour.
Augusta Treverorum - the city of Augustus in the land of the Treveri. This is what the Roman settlers called the new town in honour of their emperor almost exactly two thousand years ago. It was only over the following centuries that the soft dialect of Moselle Franconian honed the name to the one we know today: Trier.
It was no different for Martiaticum, which became Merzig, or Contionacum, today's Konz. But only Trier was destined for a truly great future: around the year 300, around 60,000 people lived within its walls, making the administrative centre of the province of Belgica the largest city north of the Alps.
In late antiquity, it was even temporarily elevated to one of the imperial cities of the Western Roman Empire; even Constantine the Great spent a few years in Trier.
This era is still tangible, present in the monumental buildings of the time that are firmly anchored in the cityscape, such as the Imperial Baths, the Basilica of Constantine and not least the Porta Nigra, the "black gate", whose sandstone walls could bear witness to much.
We enjoy our long late summer day in Trier, stroll across the main market square to the cathedral, listen to its organ, which is as tall as a house with its 5,600 pipes, and marvel at the blood-red light that filters through the high stained-glass windows into the interior of the Church of Our Lady.
Outside, Japanese tourists line up for a selfie. Sun-seeking students populate the green spaces. The very next morning, the weather gods show a different face: heavy rain clouds have rolled in overnight. The heights of the mountains are lost in the grey of the wet and cloudy approaching day.
A change This is good news for the sun-kissed vines, but nothing more - after all, this area is demonstrably the warmest in Germany, so the statistics are clearly in favour of the winegrowers.
Alongside the centuries-old craftsmanship and the reliable sun, the special soil is the third driving force in the wine region's success story - in the truest sense of the word: fine-grained, porous Devonian slate stores the warmth of the day even for cooler nights, provides thespecialmineral character of the wines and enables top-quality products that are appreciated worldwide.
In addition to Riesling, which accounts for around 60 per cent of the area under cultivation, Müller-Thurgau and red grapes such as Dornfelder and Pinot Noir can also be found on the slopes.
With this knowledge, we are well prepared for the town that claims to be the "oldest wine village in Germany": Neumagen-Dhron. We are not alone in the country with this claim.
However, there is at least the discovery of a stone rowing boat loaded with wine barrels, which was created in the early third century as a stylish decoration for the tomb of a local wine merchant. This lends weight to the thesis. Unfortunately, the skies only open up all too rarely, such as at the Detzem lock at kilometre 166.2 on the Moselle, the only barrage of the day.
Here, too, we register in advance by radio (VHF 78), partly because we need the large chamber, as our charter yacht is unfortunately too wide for the modern self-service locks for pleasure craft available at all the barrages.
Again and again, our bow splits the veils of rain that drift across the river, and so our first view of Neumagen-Dhron is completely different to that of our ancient companion Ausonius, who met the Moselle right here at Noviomagus.
At least we get a good spot in the Mittelmosel marina on the right bank at kilometre 152.8. Incidentally, just one harbour basin away is the moored, seaworthy replica of the aforementioned wine ship. The 18-metre-long wooden vessel can be hired for events and rowed just like the original. Two 55 hp diesels help with this...
We walk through puddles in completely inadequate rain jackets from the motorhome parking area into the town before the next shower drives us back on board. Let it drum on the roof, we quickly warm up again in the saloon. And we still have a bottle or two in our "wine load" anyway. The world looks different again the next day: The weather statistics have at least stopped the heavy rain, and with a little good will you can already see the sun again above the much friendlier cloud cover.
The fact that our visit toNeumagen-Dhron It's no big deal, because if there's one thing about the Moselle, it's the wine villages. The next one is already waiting: Bernkastel-Kues, barely twenty kilometres downstream. On both banks, the vineyards now stretch upwards, cyclists and hikers are out and about on the banks and one coach after another passes by on the Bundesstraße 53 next to it.
We have to wait in front of the Wintrich lock (kilometre 141.5; VHF 22) and have to circle around due to the lack of a waiting area. Then the "Antonella" from Zellingen finally comes up from astern and we are allowed to enter behind the motor tanker.
The imposing ruins of the medieval Landshut Castle announce Bernkastel Kues from afar. However, the approach to the town's harbour, which is also home to the Bernkastel boat club's floating dock (www.bootsclub-bernkastel.de), is on the left bank at kilometre 130.6.
From there it goeson footIt's about two kilometres over the bridge to the old town and the historic market, whose old half-timbered façades form such a picturesque ensemble that you even forget about the crowds of tourists pushing their way through the narrow streets.
If you still have time, you can make your way up to the Schützenhaus or all the way to the castle. Incidentally, the brewery in the old town centre proves that it doesn't always have to be wine."Cues railway station". Rails and switches are no longer available here, but freshly tapped beer and great knuckle of pork (www.bahnhof-cues.de).
There are now less than fifty kilometres of the Moselle ahead of us, and only one night separates us from our destination of Zell. We have chosen Traben-Trabach as our last port of call. Under blue skies, we head towards the only lock of the day: Zeltingen at kilometre 123.8 (VHF 20).
The river then makes a wide loop to the north-east, and at the small village of Ürzig we pass a truly gigantic construction site: mighty concrete pillars rise vertically into the sky in a straight line, topped by the filigree latticework of the construction cranes. In a few years' time, a new elevated bridge will span the Moselle right here.
The steel beam construction will be 1700 metres long and, at 158 metres, will rise as high as Cologne Cathedral. On the slopes, white lettering in the bright green of the vines tells travellers which growing region they are passing through,
"Lösnicher Försterlay", "Kinheimer Rosenberg" and then the particularly memorable "Kröver Nacktarsch".
The harbour of Traben-Trarbach is also a good distance away, downstream from the town. At kilometre 103.8 (already within sight of the Enkirch barrage, our last lock tomorrow; VHF 18), the entrance to the long harbour is on the left bank, with Boote Polch's floating dock with guest berths on the left (www.bootepolch.de).
It's more than two and a half kilometres to the striking bridge gate in the middle of the village. But as we have plenty of time and the weather is fantastic, we are just as undeterred by this as we are by the ascent to Grevenburg Castle.
Although only a windowed façade remains, there is a "castle tavern" under the shady treetops. There is simply no better way to end this trip than with a glass of Riesling and a view like this. Ausonius would agree with me. In vino veritas!
