Rhine and Mosel - 2004

The first place we stopped on our German holiday in May/June 2004 was Bingen.

It is much the poorer relation of Rüdesheim on the opposite bank of the Rhine but nevertheless has some interest because it was the home of one of the great female figures of the European Middle Ages - Hildegard von Bingen.

Between 1141 and 1151, Hildegard wrote her literary masterpiece Scivias which is a visionary description of the world and the relationship between God and mankind. She also produced a two-volume tract on natural sciences and the art of healing. But perhaps her greatest and longest lasting achievement was as a composer. She wrote Ordo Virtutum (which is a musical drama and the earliest known morality play) as well as many other works.

Bingen's best known monument is the one you can see in the photograph. It is der Mäuseturm (Mouse Tower), a former customs tower on an island in the Rhine in which, according to grisly legend, Archbishop Hatto of Mainz was devoured alive by mice after having burned all the local beggars during a famine.

Whilst in Bingen we hired bikes and rode along the cycle path to St. Goar (which lies a little downstream from the Loreley).

We passed by der Mäuseturm which you can again see in this picture.

On the hillside opposite Bingen, situated between the communities of Assmanshausen and Rüdesheim is the Niederwalddenkmal.

This is a 12.5 metre high statue which was erected in 1883 to celebrate the unification of Germany following the defeat of France in the war of 1870-1871.

In 1727 a small parlour was opened to the public in a farm in a narrow alley in an old part of Rüdesheim. The alley was lined with beech and lime trees which were very attractive to the local bird population. The little vineyard which served the parlour was therefore named Drosselhof (Drossel being the German word for Thrush). In 1880 the building was converted into an Inn by Johann Müller. The Rüdesheimer Wine soon began to flow by the bucketful and so many visitors came that a second inn, Drosselmüller, became necessary.

By 1930 three inns existed in the narrow alley known as "Drosselgasse" but politics and the War hindered further progress.

With Germany's miraculous economic recovery after the War, many more tourists visited Rüdesheim and nowadays the narrow alley (which is only 144.5 metres long) is visited by more than three million people from all over the world each year, it having acquired the nickname of "Longest Wine bar in the world".

Just before the entrance to the town of St. Goarshausen is the Loreley (or Lorelei), the famous outcrop of rock where, according to legend, a blonde woman (not Pat!) used to sit combing her hair while she lured passing sailors to watery graves with her eerily compelling song (definitely not Pat!!).

Looming above the pretty town of St. Goar is one of the best Rhine Castles, the enormous Burg Rheinfels. Until the French blew it up in 1797 it was one of the most powerful fortresses on the Rhine. It was founded in 1245 by Count Dieter von Katzenelnbogen, who wanted to look after his Rhine toll-collecting racket, and just ten years later withstood a 9,000-man siege by soldiers of the Alliance of Rhenish Towns. It was the only Rhineland castle that the French were unable to take during the war of the Palatinate Succession. In 1796 the castle surrendered to the Napoleonic troops without a shot being fired, and over the next three years the French did their best to demolish it.

Nowadays the medieval outline can still be seen and you can walk through the underground passages of the later battlements. For this purpose it's worth buying a candle and a box of matches at the Castle Museum.

We were lucky enough to visit the Castle when a Rittertournier (Knights' Tournament) was taking place and, as you can see, one of the cheeky chappies was good enough to pose whilst Pat took this photo.

We were able to see swordfights, jugglers, tightrope walkers and knights on horseback as well as sampling "medieval" food. This was basically broth. It was served in large round loaves which took the place of bowls and saved on the washing up because once you'd eaten the broth you then ate the "bowl" as well! (Well, at least I did ... Pat had to give up!)

Koblenz is a city with two rivers: The Rhine and the Mosel (better known to the English as the Moselle).

In the photo you can see the point at which the Mosel flows into the Rhine - the Deutsches Eck. If you look carefully you can see that the two rivers each have a different colour. The Mosel (in the top part of the photo) has a greenish hue and the Rhine a brown one. This follows through into the Wine bottles. Wine produced on the Mosel is sold in green bottles and wine which is produced on the Rhine is sold in brown bottles.

In 1897 a colossal equestrian monument was erected at the Deutsches Eck in honour to Kaiser Wilhelm I. It was destroyed in World War II, but the base was rebuilt and piously dedicated to the unification of Germany. A copy of the statue was re-erected in 1993 in celebration of the achievement of re-unification.

Pat and I continued our holiday by touring the Mosel Valley. On the way to our base at Cochem we visited the very picturesque castle of Burg Eltz which you can see in the photograph here.

There are a number of routes available to get to the castle, but if you simply want to have a good view of the castle without a very long walk before hand, make sure you go via Münstermaifeld and follow the signs for the Park and Ride Car Park ("P+R") as the other car parks leave you with a long way to walk before you get any reasonable view of the castle.

Burg Eltz is very unusual. Rather than being built on a hilltop it is built in a narrow valley floor.

It originated no later than the 12th Century and for 400 years it served as a defensive home for various branches of the Eltz family. Eventually the family had a disagreement with Balduin, the Elector of Trier. This resulted in a two-year siege, during which Burg Truteltz was built by Balduin directly infront of Burg Eltz in order to lob rocks at the castle. After Burg Eltz fell the Eltz family were allowed to continue living in the castle as vassals of Balduin.

Most of what you can now see was built in the 15th Century. The castle escaped destruction by the French in 1689 only because a member of the Eltz family happened to be an officer in the French army.

Cochem lies on the north bank of the Mosel approximately 40 minutes by car from Koblenz. It's main attraction is the Reichsburg high on the hill above.

In the foreground of the photo you can see a large chess set on which Pat and I played two interesting games of chess which each lasted more than an hour. We even got a round of applause at the end of the first game from the watching crowd.

We stayed in a lovely Pension (Pension Dohler) on Valwiger Straße just at the other side of the River from the main centre of Cochem itself.

The photo above shows a view from the Reichsburg.

The lower part of the square tower in the middle of the Reichsburg goes back to 1000 AD. In 1151 the German Emperor seized the castle and in 1294 it was pawned to the Archbishop of Trier by another German King. In 1689 it was totally destroyed by French soldiers under King Louis XIV of France. Thereafter it was a ruin for the next 200 years before being reconstructed in accordance with old plans by Mr Louis Ravene, a rich merchant from Berlin. In 1942 the descendants of Mr Ravene were forced to sell the castle to the German Reich. Since 1978 it has belonged to the town of Cochem.

In the photo you can see the Dining Room. The rich oak-carvings on the walls, doors and furniture show that Mr Ravene had a special liking for wood-carving, which mainly consist of scenes from the Bible. The ceiling is made of wood as well, decorated with poker-work, which means that the patters are burnt in and then painted.

In the Knights' Hall of the Reichsburg is a huge fire place at either side of which stand two creatures which look exactly like this statue on the outside of the building. Do you know what sort of creature it is? You'd certainly be forgiven for thinking it is a frog. But you'd be wrong. It's actually a Lion wearing a Knight's helmet with the visor down.

Also in the Knights' Hall there is a suit of armour belonging to a man who lived in Austria (Castle Ambras in Innsbruck) in the middle ages. He was more than 7ft tall!!

This delightful little chapel above the town of Ediger was built in the 15th Century. It is well-worth a visit simply because of its location. It's hidden in the forest and the front door is only accessible by means of a single-file rock path with a substantial drop on the side.

To visit the chapel, take Bergstraße out of Ediger and follow the signs for the "Heilig Kreuz Kapelle".

Here's Pat negotiating the path around the side of the chapel leading to the front door and then enjoying the view from the front of the chapel.

The chapel is particularly renowned for its stone relief called "Christus in der Kelter" (Christ in the winepress) which you can see here.

The final photograph in this series shows a deer which I spotted one evening as we sat on the balcony of our Pension.