Hitting the road in Germany

FRANKFURT, Germany — Castle-spotting as we drove up one side and down the other of the famed Rhine River, my husband and I began our discovery of Germany. We were awed by the clifftop locations of centuries-old castles, some abandoned but many now working hotels or wine estates. Grapevines climb long rows of arbors that run up the verdant hillsides from quaint villages at river's edge to hilltop castles.

Our jaunt through Germany was the last leg of a trip that included Amsterdam for the tulips and Stockholm for a wedding. We had no deadlines until we were to leave 10 days later from Cologne, a city about 100 miles northwest of Frankfurt, where we landed.

We picked up our rental car to drive wherever we wished — autobahn, highway or country road. We had learned from visits to Great Britain that driving was our favorite way to get to know the land and the people.

In Frankfurt we walked along the Rhine in the city's historic center, visiting the medieval town square with its 16th century fountain, restored half-timbered houses and the small red-sandstone St. Nicholas Church. And we ambled in the early morning through the cemetery in the heart of Frankfurt. Sun filtered through the trees onto the gravestone-lined paths and monuments, and we were hard-pressed to imagine that the busy metropolis was going about its business just beyond this haven of peace and solemnity.

Following our stay in Frankfurt we decided we would make a loop covering the lower two-thirds of Germany. We drove east toward the Czech Republic, south to the Alps by way of Nuremberg and Munich, west to France to spend a day in the border city of Strasbourg, and then north to Cologne, the cathedral city where we spent our last day and night.

We splurged the rest of our time on the villages and countryside of Bavaria, the Alps, the Bodensee lake region and the Rhineland.

Leaving Frankfurt and eager to test the autobahn, we drove southeast for an hour exhilarated by the sound and sight of expensive European cars whooshing past in the left lane reserved for passing. As in our travels in England, we were impressed with motorists' compliance with the rules of the road: European drivers readily move to the slower lane if being overtaken.

When we saw the spires of a church and the red tile roofs of a surrounding village, we exited the autobahn to discover the countryside. Exploring villages turned out to be our favorite activity — searching out elegant or simple churches, strolling through well-tended churchyards, discovering gardens, meeting people, finding the little-visited, less-known sites that we easily might have missed.