Summer tour 2024. Day 3: The boy of Koblenz

Our first day in Koblenz was slow. We were going to stay there for 3 nights, and knew we would have the time to do the sightseeing and more. During the first night, many military aircraft were flying over Koblenz, making lots of noise. It was also a kind of disturbing – why so many and for so long time? Maybe I’m just me not used to that kind of activities at night, living in Copenhagen…

Flemming and I had a lazy walk through the old town:

Koblenz is a very old city, known for the fortifications durign the Roman Empire times.

In one of the streets, we came by a chocolate cafe called Cahua, where we learned that they were one of the first manufacturers in Germany that produce chocolate themselves, using pure craftmanship:

Flemming and I had to try their hot chocolate, and it was excellent:

The weather was nice, not too warm and sunny.

An interesting symbol was on all sewage lids across the town:

We joked, “it’s a boy throwing up after drinking too much” :-), referring to the endless amount of bars around the city. Later, close to our “home”, on Willi-Hörter-Platz, we stambled upon a fountain with a statue of a boy, and immediately recognised the figure:

The boy was spitting water on passersby at irregular intervals. The inscription read, he was the symbol of the town. But why? Later we learned the story behind.

During the French period around 1800, a large number of children who were born to French and German parents were named Jean. The popular name later transformed into Schängel, which became a moniker for the residents of the region.

The most famous Schängel is a statue of a little prankster in Koblenz. The base of the fountain contains reliefs of young boys engaged in other naughtiness, like fighting, smoking, and mocking others. We thought it was an interesting and unusual story.

Flemming and I had dinner at home. Bought very nice sparkling wine from the local wineyards:

Later in the evening, we went for a walk. Lots of people were out, enjoying the warm summer night.

Flemming and I stayed in a 3-room apartment in the building on the photo above, on the second floor over the sign “Etoile salon”. Though the bars were full, the atmosphere was nice and peacefull, no loud music and we didn’t see any drunk people. Maybe we didn’t stay long enough 🙂