If there’s anything that Germanic Europe has to offer the traveller, it is a vivid, yet somewhat underplayed, history of culture and folklore that crosses the boundaries of many countries today. I was the lone Indian in a group of

Westerners and a few Sri Lankans doing just that, travelling from Cologne in Germany to Innsbruck in Austria by road in a coach moving at a steady 140 kph on the autobahn.
As we passed over a three-span bridge of circa 1343 vintage, built on the river Mozel which flows into the Rhine, I was wonderstruck. Ships moving across the two rivers is a beautiful, mesmerising sight. Nothing prepared me, however, for the journey along the Rhine.
Rhine means ‘raging flow’ in Celtic (from ‘renos’) and it does indeed ‘rage on’ for 766 miles (1,233 km), winding down from the Swiss Alps through four countries to the north and east, changing its name in each: Switzerland (Rhenus), Germany (Rhein), France (Rhine) and the Netherlands (Rijn). It finally joins the North Sea at Rotterdam, before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.
Recalling that it was once the Northern frontier of the Roman Empire, along with the Danube, makes me realise that a river cruise along major trade routes is the best way to savour the history and beauty of Europe.
Between Bingen Town and Bonn City in Germany, the Middle Rhine flows through the deep Rhine Gorge, created by erosion, leaving the Rhine at its original level, while making the surrounding lands ‘higher’. That is why this area is of immense tourist interest and a cruise is an absolute must.
There’s a choice of dozens of cruises — some last for many days and nights. Most start from the village Boppard (in the Gorge), a state-recognised tourism resort town and a wine-growing centre, north of which the Rhine takes its greatest bend. We took a three-hour day-time cruise from there, crossing the villages of Bad Salzig, Hirzenach, St Goar and St Goarhausen and going on till Oberwesel, on its west bank.
The castles and fortresses (10/11th century vintage) along the route made me sit up and gape. It was a treat to the eyes to see vineyards, lovely villages and parallel railway lines and roads, all along both banks. No wonder it is called ‘Romantic Rhine’ and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As the lifeblood of the region, it nurtures the grapes of countless vineyards and small farms. Vineyards are on slopes 200-300 metres high. The region is the 3rd largest supplier of the world’s Bordeaux white wine. Unlike most places, grapes here are plucked in the summer; kept in deep-freeze and crushed in the winter. Bordeaux wine from the same vineyard will taste different from year to year.
The view on the cruise is just breathtaking. Railway tunnels had been made to look like castles during the war, to avoid being bombed by the Allies, as all Europeans love their castles! Many castles have now become hotels, youth hostels, museums or private residences.
The mid-Rhine is also known for its German legends. The best known is of Lorelei (Lorelay/Loreley), a rock on the eastern bank near St. Goarshausen, at the narrowest, fiercest part of the river. The ballad of Lorelei is of an enchanting eponymous nymph, who, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men to their deaths. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery escorted by knights. En route, she stops at the rock and falls to her death; the rock still retains an echo of her name!
Another poem describes her as a siren sitting on the cliff and combing her golden hair, thus distracting fishermen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks, finally plunging to her own death. A bronze statue of the nymph at the summit overlooks the river.
Coming ashore at Oberwesel, on the Tyrol Road, we crossed the enigmatic Black Forest, Stuttgart, Baden-Baden, the Danube and a range of mountains on the Tyrol Road. The Black Forest is so named due to the thick growth of dark trees leading to its black hue. Interestingly, the eponymous cake is originally from this area. We crossed a well lit, 625 metre long tunnel, the boundary between Baden-Baden and Bavaria regions, in Ulm Town — where Einstein was born. A few hours later, we reached Innsbruck in Austria via the Bavarian Alps.
While most of the world’s great rivers were responsible for much of civilisation’s growth, few, I believe, can be compared to the wonder that is the Rhine.

The writer is a travel enthusiast