The Middle Rhine gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with historic villages, castles, and vineyards set in spectacular scenery.
In his wars on Germany, Louis XIV destroyed most of the castles along the Rhine River. Only the Marksburg castle was left intact.
The villages along the Middle Rhine are very picturesque, and each his its ancient protective castle sitting on a hilltop, overlooking the village.
This castle is privately owned, and it’s possible to stay here. You should know in advance that it has no electricity.
This castle has been modernized with new windows but, again, there’s no electricity. As we passed it, one of the ship’s staff members mentioned that this is his summer home, but he works too much to spend time here.
With feudal castles along the Rhine, goods needed to be moved from one village to another. The landowners charged a tax for ships to pass by their villages. Robber barons also built castles without local or national permission and illegally collected taxes from passing ships. This is a legal tax collection office, built on an island in the middle of the river.
This is the Lorelei Rock–about 450 feet high. The most dangerous currents on the Rhine flow past this rock/island. It is said that the beautiful Lorelei sat on the rock and sang a song so irresistible that no one could resist its pull. No sailor who tried to reach Lorelei ever returned.
When we cruised the Middle Rhine in 2015, it was a cool, cloudy day. We sat on the upper deck of the ship wearing jeans and jackets, with deck blankets over our legs. Today, it was so hot that no one (not a single person) sat on the outside decks. We all enjoyed the scenery from behind the large windows in the ship’s air conditioned lounge.
