While the Rhine is over 800 miles long, the 36-mile stretch from Mainz to Koblenz is by far the most interesting. And that's what we're exploring. It's no coincidence that the great medieval sights of Europe lay along important trading routes like the Rhine. It took big money to build the structures we travelers would marvel at centuries later.
Since ancient times, the Rhine has been one of the world's busiest rivers and this region's major trading route. Today there's a steady flow of barges with thousand-ton loads, while busy train tracks and highways line both banks — all under the watchful eye of once-mighty castles.
Many of the castles were "robber-baron" castles, extortion stops — built by petty princes and two-bit rulers — back when there were 350 independent little states in what is today Germany.
HISTORY OF RHINE FROM MAINZ TO KOBLENZ:
In the Middle Ages, emperors, popes, and princes all jockeyed for power in Europe. In Germany, the emperor ruled the princes. But in the 11th century, the pope asserted his power over the emperor. After that, the little German princes ran wild and built all these castles. That's why most Rhine castles date from this era. A couple hundred years later, when the emperor began reasserting his control, these castles saw action.
While the castles survived these battles, most were destroyed later by the French because they feared a strong Germany and they felt the Rhine was the logical border between the two countries. In the Romantic Age — the late 1800s — medieval things were in vogue, and many of the ruins were rebuilt. Today the Rhine castles are enjoyed as restaurants, hotels, hostels, and museums.
And travelers cruise the river... just to castle-watch.
THE HAZARDS OF THE RHINE:
The powerful Rhine has long been treacherous to navigate. Boats generally pass on the right. Since downstream ships can't stop or maneuver as freely, upstream boats are expected to do the tricky do-si-do work. Large triangular signals, posted before troublesome blind bends in the river, warn of oncoming ships.
Each triangle covers a segment of the bend — the lowest triangle being nearest. They warn of approaching ships. If the bottom side of a triangle is lit, that sector is empty. But if the left side is lit, there's an oncoming ship in that sector.
The most dangerous bend in the river swings around a rocky bluff called the Loreley. Because of reefs just upstream, many ships never made it safely past the Loreley — and the rocky cliff remains steeped in myth.
Sailors blamed their misfortune on a Fräulein — so wundarbar — whose long blonde hair almost covered her body. This legendary siren flirted and sang her distracting song from this rock.
Rhine River
RIVER Origins
The Rhine River , whose name comes from the Celtic word renos, meaning raging flow, begins at the Rheinwaldhorn Glacier in the Swiss Alps and flows north and east approximately 820 miles (1,320 km). The glacier is located northeast across the mountains from the town of Andermatt.
The Rhine begins as a tumultuous Alpine stream churning through deep gorges, and although the river's flow is moderated somewhat as it passes through the Lake of Constance (Bodensee), the river remains a torrent westward to Basel. Just south of Chur, Switzerland, the Hinter Rhine, flowing northwesternly from the glacier, joins the Voder Rhine streaming from Lake Tuma, to form the Rhine proper at Reichenau. The river then flows north to Lake Constance and west through Schaffhausen to Basel, Switzerland. Near Schaffhausen it plunges 23 m (75 ft) over a spectacular waterfall, the Rheinfall.
At Basel the river turns north and enters the Rhine Graben, a flat-floored rift valley lying between the Vosges Mountains on the west and the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) on the east. Strasbourg, France, a focal point for merging water routes from the Paris Basin, is located at the valley's northern extremity. Along its course from Bingen to Bonn is a beautiful stretch of the Rhine Valley. The river has cut the deep, steepsided Rhine Gorge through the Rhineland Plateau and the Rhenish Slate Mountains.
This picturesque gorge, with terraced vineyards and castle-lined cliffs, has often been called the "heroic Rhine," renowned in history and romantic literature. It is complete with fairy tale castles and vineyards snuggled in the overhanging rock face, known as the Mittelrhein. The river flows past Bonn, Germany and becomes the Lower Rhine and emerges onto the North German Plain before it empties into the North Sea.
At Basel the river turns north and enters the Rhine Graben, a flat-floored rift valley lying between the Vosges Mountains on the west and the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) on the east. Strasbourg, France, a focal point for merging water routes from the Paris Basin, is located at the valley's northern extremity. Along its course from Bingen to Bonn is a beautiful stretch of the Rhine Valley. The river has cut the deep, steepsided Rhine Gorge through the Rhineland Plateau and the Rhenish Slate Mountains.
This picturesque gorge, with terraced vineyards and castle-lined cliffs, has often been called the "heroic Rhine," renowned in history and romantic literature. It is complete with fairy tale castles and vineyards snuggled in the overhanging rock face, known as the Mittelrhein. The river flows past Bonn, Germany and becomes the Lower Rhine and emerges onto the North German Plain before it empties into the North Sea.
The Rhine is navigable from the North Sea to Basel, Switzerland, a distance of some 500 miles (some 800 km). Eighty percent of it's ship-carrying waters pass through Germany. The entire distance can not support ocean going vessels and they must end their journey in Cologne, Germany. From there cargo must go by barges.
Some of the main tributaries are: the Mosselle (Mosel), that runs south west bordering Luxembourg and on into France; the Neckar that flows south east at Manneheim on through Heidelburg, Germany; the Main, flowing east and south from Mainz through Frankfurt, Germany. The principal rivers of Western Europe, including the Seine, Elbe, Ems, Rhône, and Saône, are linked to it by canals. East of Frankfurt is where The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal links the Rhine with the Danube River, providing a transcontinental route from the North Sea to the Black Sea near Odessa, Ukraine.
History
Germanic tribes settled on either side of the lower Rhine. Julius Caesar bridged and crossed it in 53 and 55 BC. The Germanias were formed on the north and the Roman empire to the south and east. When the Western Roman Empire disintegrated around 400 AD, the Rhine was crossed along its entire length by Germanic tribes and formed the central backbone first of the Kingdom of the Franks and then of the Carolingian Empire.
In 870, the Rhine again became the central axis of a political unit; the Holy Roman Empire. Over time, fighting and political events disintegrated this empire along the Rhine. Even with the fighting and changing hands of frontiers, a goal to connect the North Sea to the Black Sea had existed.
In 1832, the first steam boat came from the North Sea all the way to Basel. Mannheim was an established port by 1840, and heavily travelled during the industrial revolution. In 1846 the Ludwig-Donau-Canal was completed after nine years of work, named after King Ludwig I of Bavaria.The Prussian armies in the Franco-German War of 1870-71 took Alsace from France ending France's Rhine frontier. France regained control after World War I and built the fortified defensive system of the Maginot Line from 1927 through 1936. The line joined the French bank of the Rhine from the Swiss border at Lauterbourg. The opposing Siegfried Line was built on the German bank from the Swiss border to near Karlsruhe from 1936 through 1939. World War , trains, and ships caused flooding because of blockades.
After World War II the struggle for possession of the Rhine had been superseded by a trend toward economic and even political union of the rival countries.
Vineyard Agriculture on the Rhine
Most of Germany's vineyards owe their existence to the Rhine River. The Pfalz , on the east facing slopes on the Haardt Mountains is the most southerly of these Rhine wine regions. Next comes the Rheinhessen with it's finest vineyard sites around the Neirstein on the so-called Rheinfront or Rheinterrasse. North of Mainz, the Rhine meets the mass of the Taunus Mountains and is forced west along a short stretch between Weisbaden and Assmannshausen.
At Bingen, the Nahe River flows in and along its banks some of the best south-facing vineyards are located. North of Bonn is the tiny river Ahr, which is a tourist spot with its own vineyards. All of these German regions produce different styles of wine, but in general, Rhine wine is fuller and richer then Mosel wines. As in the Mosel, the primary grape is the Reisling, but other varieties include a a few Weissburgunder (pinot blanc) and some Chardonnay.
At Bingen, the Nahe River flows in and along its banks some of the best south-facing vineyards are located. North of Bonn is the tiny river Ahr, which is a tourist spot with its own vineyards. All of these German regions produce different styles of wine, but in general, Rhine wine is fuller and richer then Mosel wines. As in the Mosel, the primary grape is the Reisling, but other varieties include a a few Weissburgunder (pinot blanc) and some Chardonnay.
Tourism
The castles, a feature of the Rhine landscape, were founded by feudal lords, who built them to protect their lands from marauders. Besides the warlike function for which they were built, think about the back-breaking labor of the feudal serfs, whom must have been forcibly employed in quarring the huge stone blocks and dragging them up the mountain slopes.
Lorelei and other legends
Lorelei and other legends
The mid-Rhine, known for its German legends - one of the best known is the story of the Lorelei. A nymph lived in the Lorelei rock high above the Rhine. She lured fishermen to their destruction with her singing until she was overcome with love and plunged to her own death. A bronze statue of the nymph overlooks the river.
Another famous landmark is the "Drachenfels" castle where Siegfried is reputed to have slain a dragon. The former masters of the castle, the Counts of Drachenfels, had a winged, fire-spitting dragon in their coat of arms. The view from the castle tower is considered one of the most famous on the Rhine.
Along the Rhine, particularly in the narrow gorge connecting Bingen and Koblenz, which has a length of only thirty-five miles, you will have access to more castles than in any other river valley in the world. They stand like sentinels on the cliffs above river side villages, and others stand alone surrounded by vineyards.
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