The Romantic Rhine

After Heidleberg, we dropped Corinne and David at their hotel near the Frankfurt airport so they could fly home the next morning, and Shana and I continued north to the part of the Rhine river known as the "Romantic Rhine". The Rhine itself is one of the longest rivers in Europe running from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea, and is a major means of transportation for goods and people. The part of the river we visited (between Mainz and Koblenz) is an area of small German towns, old castles and no bridges, which means there are ferries every few miles that will take you (and your car) across the river.

On our first day, we drove to a small town named Rudesheim where we had really good coffee and pastry for breakfast before boarding a cruise that would take us upriver where we could view the small towns and castles from the river while providing a bit of information about the various sites. The cross-river ferry in the photo above was just north of Rudesheim on its way to Bingen, the next town on the other side. You can see the many vines on the hillside above (they were everwhere), and on the left side of the picture is the Niederwald Monument to the German Empire.

Around the first bend in the river north of Bingen is a castle, but because the castle did not have visibility of possible threats coming from the south, they built a little tower on an island in the middle of the river where a sentry could signal the castle if there was danger. Unlike many of the castles along the way, the tower is in good shape.

Our time on the river was filled with beautiful scenery, charming towns, and many castles in various states of disrepair.

We got off the ferry in Bacharach, one of the cute towns along the river and did a wine tasting of Rhine wines along with lunch there. The wines of the Rhine are mostly white, but we learned at our tasting that some pinot noir grapes are grown there (called spatburgunder in German). Our tasting included 11 (!) wines, which we shared -- best use of a lazy Susan ever.

We got back on the next ferry in Bacharach, and rode up to St. Goarshausen where we left the boat and took the train back to Rudesheim. But, not before grabbing a photo of the river and the town of St. Goar on the other side.

The next day, we retraced our steps back up the Rhine, but this time by car, which was definitely less scenic than the cruise. Arriving in St. Goar, we found yet another yummy bakery for our coffee and pastry breakfast before walking up to Rheinfels Castle, which sits above the town (you can see it accross the river in the picture above).

Rheinfels was originally built in the 13th century, and for five centuries it was the largest castle on the Rhine, the strongest castle in the Holy Roman Empire, as well as a center of culture. It was involved in many wars including the 30 years war (1618-1648), but eventually surrendered (without a fight) to the French Revolutionary Army (1797) who eventually razed it. Note that this was a common theme among the castles along the Rhine.

For years, the ruined castle was used as a source of building stones, so it is much smaller today than at its peak, but it is still impressive with great views of the river.

Perhaps most impressive of the remaining parts of the castle was the giant cellar, which was used as a large pantry. The door at the back of the cellar led to a smaller wine cellar where the good wine was kept (the more things change...).

Those were our adventures on the Romantic Rhine, which is absolutely beautiful and well worth a visit, especially by boat. In fact, one thing we did not do here, but did in the Mosel Valley, was bike between the little towns along the Rhine, which you can do on either side of the river. Oh, well, maybe next time.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana