Karden

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough. Karden is the end of a beautiful but demanding stage. An hour or two is enough for the collegiate church and the small precinct around it; then you cross the bridge to Treis or sleep here. The page on Treis-Karden tells you more about both parts of the town.

Karden in Ninja numbers

• 35.3 kilometres lie behind you since Koblenz-Stolzenfels, and 121.9 remain to Trier on the Mosel-Camino.
• 5.3 kilometres before Karden is Burg Eltz, which you pass in the middle of the stage.
• 1.1 kilometres takes you over the Mosel bridge to Treis, where the route continues the next morning.
• 279 metres is the height of the Kompesköpfchen, from which you descend to Karden at 83 metres.

Arriving: steeply down to the Moseldom

From Alken you come via Löf, Hatzenport and the Elz valley to Burg Eltz, then climb again. From the Kompesköpfchen at 279 metres the path drops steeply, and at the bottom you stand right by the collegiate church of St. Castor. The whole stage from Alken measures 17.7 kilometres with 390 metres of ascent and 391 metres of descent.

In brief: the place of Castor

Karden was already a roadside village in Roman times. In the fourth century the priest Castor is said to have lived here as a hermit, and at his grave a collegiate foundation grew up that lasted almost a thousand years, until Napoleon dissolved it in 1802. Since 1969 Karden and Treis have together formed the municipality of Treis-Karden. The page on Treis-Karden tells the full story of Castor, the foundation and the Martberg with its Celtic temple precinct.

Around the Moseldom: what to see

Everything lies a few steps from the church.

• Collegiate church of St. Castor: The "Moseldom" is considered the oldest church on the Mosel between Trier and Koblenz; the lower storey of the west tower was finished in 1072. For pilgrims it is worth looking into the south aisle: there St. James stands beside the altar of St. Stephen. The terracotta altar with the Adoration of the Magi is the largest surviving medieval terracotta altar in Germany.
• The collegiate precinct: The canons lived around the church. The tourist information's walk takes about 30 minutes and leads along St.-Castor-Straße with its half-timbering to Lindenplatz and to the tithe house of 1238, today the collegiate museum.

Honestly

• The descent is hard on the knees. From the Kompesköpfchen to Karden it is steep, at the end of a long day.
• No pilgrim hostel. You sleep in guesthouses, inns or holiday flats, and in the wine season they fill up quickly.
• In winter much is closed. Burg Eltz and the collegiate museum are only open in the summer half of the year.

Where pilgrims sleep

There is no pilgrim hostel in Karden. Camino Ninja shows hotels, wine houses and a lodge here, plus the accommodation in Treis on the other side of the Mosel. Call ahead. If you want to split the next long stage, you will find the guesthouse of the Maria Engelport monastery 8.2 kilometres further on; ask beforehand whether it takes pilgrims.

Ninja tips

• Stamp at the station: The tourist information at Karden station, St.-Castor-Straße 87, stamps your pilgrim passport, phone +49 2672 915 7700. On Saturdays it is only open in the morning, on Sundays not at all.
• Look for St. James in the side aisle. He is not the main saint of the Moseldom, but he is there.
• The train as a joker. Trains between Koblenz and Trier stop at Karden station; here you can join, stop or skip a day.

Onward: over the bridge to Treis

The next morning you cross the Mosel bridge to Treis and then walk through the Flaumbach valley to the Maria Engelport monastery, 8.2 kilometres from Karden. It is 14.6 kilometres with 453 metres of ascent to Beilstein, and 27.2 kilometres to Bullay.

Deep dive: A cathedral by the river

A short read, in case you want to learn more about Karden. About two minutes' reading.

The hermit by the river

In the fourth century, so tradition tells, a young priest named Castor settled here. He was not looking for people, but for silence. Others came to him, and after his death his grave became the centre of a community. From it grew a collegiate foundation whose provost, in the Middle Ages, administered a fifth of the archdiocese of Trier.

A church that grew

The church in front of you grew over centuries. The lower storey of the west tower was finished in the year 1072, and choir, transept and nave were added later. People on the Mosel call it the Moseldom, and it is considered the oldest church on the river between Trier and Koblenz. When Napoleon dissolved the foundation in the year 1802, the collegiate church became the parish church of the village.

What Karden gives you

You arrive at a place that grew out of one man's solitude. A pilgrim way is the opposite of a hermit's life, and yet along the way you sometimes look for exactly that: a quiet place at the end of the day. In Karden it stands right on the route.