Rhine River Valley

		Germany VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

While the Rhine River starts in Switzerland, flows into France and Germany, and empties into the Netherlands, the Rhine River epitomizes tourist Germany. Here are a few of our thoughts as we traveled through the German Rhine River. We divided the Rhine River blog postings into Germany and then France so we could post more photos of this beautiful region.

We arrived in Germany in Frankfurt am Main. The Main is a river that flows into the Rhine and so our journey along the Rhine begins. We picked up our Seat Leone (6 speed manual transmission) at Avis and headed for the Autobahn. Our first stop was Mainz which is a medieval town dating from antiquity, and which is situated on the Rhine River. It was one of the capitals of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1^st century BC. The city is famous as the home of the invention of the movable-type printing press, as the first books printed using movable type were manufactured in Mainz by Gutenberg in the early 1450s.

We followed the Rhine which is stunning - filled with hills and vineyards and obviously the river. Medieval castles and church spires and villages were all along the way on both sides of the river, hugging the hillside precariously as the riverbank makes a quick ascent. We learned that each town and castle used to charge a toll for the water trade traffic by pulling ropes across the river to prevent passage until the toll was paid. Driving through one quaint village, we were detoured up and over the hills. Later we learned it was due to high waters from rain flooding out the roads. We finally arrived at the town of Oberwesel, the last town accessible. [The next town of St Goar was stilled flooded.] We stayed in a medieval castle of 22 upscale rooms. This castle has been around since before the year ~1000. During the 12^th century the Dukes of Schoneburg ruled this area from this castle. It burned down in 1689 and lay in ruins for over 200 years until it was bought and restored by an American named Mr. Rhinelander in the early 1900s. Today the modern luxury hotel is owned once again by the town of Oberwesel. Our room was on the “3^rd” floor (top) but in Europe the ground floor is 0 so it was the 4^th floor to us. It was 65 steep steps up, on top of a steep hill from the parking lot so it was a workout just to get to our room. The castle sits on top of the hill overlooking the “middle” Rhine River. The town of Oberwesel once had a medieval wall surrounding it, and now has some of the wall preserved as well as 16 of its wall towers preserved. We walked down the hill to town to explore, and found no credit cards accepted there and English spoken very little.

Next was the town of Worms. The highlight there was the Catholic Dom St Peter church built in 1171-1230, representing church and state of the High Middle Ages. This is where Martin Luther attended the “Diet of Worms” to explain his beliefs in 1521. Contrary to popular belief, he posted his thesis to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg in 1517, not this church in Worms. Then he was called to Worms to explain why he shouldn’t be excommunicated. Worms is one of the oldest towns in Germany. We walked the Old Town and found the remains of the 4^th century Roman wall around the town. We were stunned by the age and visualizing Roman soldiers walking that wall.

Heidelberg is on the River Neckar which also flows into the Rhine. We stayed at another fabulous hotel in “German Mannerist” style. It is on Haupstrasse, the pedestrian street, and in the dynamic heart of the city. The hotel was built in 1592 and the gold sign over the door is from that date. It now has 37 guest rooms, has gables of brown stone, fluted columns and ornately carved window blocks. Our room faces the main street and the Market Place (Marketplaz) Square so we were able to watch three directions from our window of pedestrians amid the shops, bars & cafes. There were group drinking songs and cheering most of the evening – these Germans know how to party. Unsurprisingly, beer was the most common drink of choice. The church right outside our window chimed at each quarter hour. Surprisingly, it didn’t disturb our sleep, unlike the drinking songs. Heidelberg is one of Germany’s most picturesque towns, with a mix of medieval and Baroque architecture. It was hit hard during the 17^th century wars and rebuilt in the 18^th century with baroque buildings. It is one of the few German cities that wasn’t destroyed in WWII. Like all of these towns, it has narrow cobblestone streets in their “Old Town.” The Heidelberg Castle (ruins) on the hill overlooks the city and has great views. The oldest part was built in 1400 and much was built during the Renaissance period around 1750.

The Rhine Valley is storybook, fairy-tale world for legends and medieval castles. It is filled with the beauty of vineyards, forests, castles, & small villages. We hope the photographs convey part of its charm.