On the second day, the tour travels to the Bislicher Insel island on the Lower Rhine river. The romantic floodplains contain rare plants and animals. Wild Arctic geese arrive in October and overwinter here, and great white egrets also find refuge in the water landscape. For visitors wanting to find out more about beavers, there’s a guided excursion to the sand and gravel banks, where they can hunker down and observe these small rodents, or at least discover their tracks.
The tour continues to the gardens of Kloster Kamp monastery in Kamp-Lintfort. Visitors can enjoy a walk around the monastery, through the baroque terraced garden and a flower and vegetable garden. In the fragrant herb garden, kitchen and medicinal herbs are grown, and Friday is herb day. As well as information and guided tours, visitors are also given the opportunity to taste the different herbs on this day. Anyone wanting something more substantial for lunch can make their way to the Lippeschlösschen restaurant in Wesel. The NRW culinary ambassador for the Lower Rhine region, Ullrich Langhoff, treats his guests to special dishes typical of the region here.
After taking time out in the monastery garden and enjoying a hearty lunch, tour participants are taken on a journey through time. Follow the traces of the Romans in the largest open-air archaeological museum in Germany, the Xanten archaeological park with the Roman town of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The town walls and their gates, hostels, the port temple and the amphitheatre have been rebuilt to scale. The arena, where gladiator and animal fights were once held, is now used as a unique backdrop for rock concerts, operas and musicals. For night owls, there are guided tours in darkness from September to March. Tour groups are guided through the park and into the dark arches of the amphitheatre by the light of Roman lanterns.
www.metropoleruhr.de | www.kloster-kamp.eu | www.apx.lvr.de