German Wanderlust (2010–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Rhine - full transcript
Our neighbours in Germany
have Iong had a fascination with walking.
200 years ago,
the famous romantics of German history
were inspired by their adventures
in the great outdoors.
So today, I'm here to walk in the footsteps
of painters, writers and musicians.
To explore the country, and a cultural
movement that encouraged walking for pleasure.
This is my chance to discover
my own sense of Wanderlust.
Hello and welcome to
the banks of the Rhine.
It's a river and a region that encapsulates
so many classic images of Germany.
And it's the perfect place
to start a walking tour of a country
that has a history with hiking
to rival any in the world.
"Wanderlust" is a term
that you hear quite a lot of.
Originally, it's a German word
and it refers to a deep
and almost spiritual love of walking.
Over the years it's become misused
and, funnily enough,
we tend to use it more than the Germans.
But this series aims to explore that deep,
passionate German love of walking.
Over the next four programmes I'll be
journeying to all corners of this country...
to rivers, coasts, mountains and gorges...
..taking the time to explore
some very different Iandscapes
and Iearn about artistic
and creative characters of the past
who fell in Iove with the country's natural
beauty and inspired a Iove of walking.
While l'm here, l want to experience
as much as possible,
but in particular, l want to learn about
the period known as Rhine romantic.
It sounds like some sort of
ghastly soap opera.
But in fact it was a movement that transformed
this place from a transport link and a borderline,
into a place of wondrous beauty and legend.
For 2,000 years the Rhine Valley has
served Europe as a great transport artery.
But more recently its been praised also as a
tourist destination and an area of great beauty.
In the early 1 800s, the combination
of castles, vineyards and views
proved irresistible to artists,
philosophers, writers and musicians.
The Rhine became a symbol of romanticism,
a period that changed attitudes
across the whole of Germany.
It encouraged individualism, a freer
existence, a desire to understand nature,
and, above all, an
appreciation of Iandscape.
And with romanticism to promote it, the
Rhine's popularity has never Iooked back.
Running parallel to the French border,
the Rhine stretches north from the Alps
all the way to Europe's Iargest port
at Rotterdam.
I'll be taking a two-day walk from south
to north along the Upper Middle Rhine.
The route takes me past medieval villages,
through the country's greatest vineyards
and an ever-deepening valley
to a finish at the very
romantic Loreley Rock.
This is Rudesheim, and its your
typical medieval Rhine-side town.
Every week a place like this
will welcome thousands of visitors
and this week they've got
their annual wine festival - Rhine wine.
Mm!
But before I set off,
Iet's take a Iook at my route from the air.
Leaving Rudesheim,
my walk starts with an immediate climb
up onto the wooded plateau that
overlooks the first big bend in the river.
On the other side
I descend to the village of Assmannshausen,
and beyond through the many terraces
of the Iocal vineyards.
This is the start of
the Upper Middle Rhine Valley,
a clear channel used
by ships, trains and cars.
At the end of Day 1,
my walk high along the west bank
reaches the town of Lorch, the ideal place
to sit back and enjoy the warm evening sun.
Day 2, and the river valley gets deeper.
My walk takes me through forest until I reach
the most distinctive of all Rhine castles -
the 700-year old Pfalzgrafenstein.
And from the adjacent village of Kaub,
I'll be taking my walk across the river,
as I hop on a ferry, downstream
to the famous medieval town of Oberwesel.
This walled citadel is a worthy centre
of German romanticism
and the start of the final part of my walk.
High above the deepest
and most twisting section of the valley,
I'll finish opposite a great cliff corner,
the home of Lorelei, a mythical blonde maiden
who has become the Rhine's
greatest romantic Iegend.
But back in Rudesheim,
the thousands of walkers
who follow the modern-day Rhine,
get a helping hand.
Centuries ago,
this section of the Rhine was unnavigable,
so Rudesheim became a stop point
where cargo would get loaded off the boats
and the ships, and onto wagons.
The next 20k of the journey
would have been along rough track road.
But for almost 1,000 years now, mankind
has steadily taken control of this river.
A basic shipping channel
was dug out in the 1 1th century,
confirming the river as a transport Iink,
as well as a political border,
and a famous agricultural area.
I've never seen a vineyard
from this angle before,
and they look so pretty from up here -
the symmetry is gorgeous.
And so, already high above the Rhine,
my German walking adventure begins.
Here's your first little taster
as to what its like walking in Germany.
There's a sign here
pointing out the first port of call,
which is 200 metres away,
in case you get surprised by that.
And look at all the information on here.
Tourist information number that
you can call. Altitude 291 metres.
And this number here
is a grid-referencing number.
Now, that's precise, isn't it.
I like it!
At 291 metres the vista
is quite something...
..but so too is the viewpoint itself.
This is the Niederwald Monument,
featuring the bronze figure of Germania,
the symbol of the nation
I've come to explore.
So where better to find out about the
importance of romanticism to Iocal history.
- Hi, Mathias!
- Hello.
- Rubbish weather!
- Lndeed!
- Good for the grapes, though!
- Yes, good for the grapes!
I need you to teach me a little bit
about the Rhine romantic movement.
I know that it started more than
200 years ago, but how did it start?
It started around 1 800.
It was unquiet times then.
The double revolution.
The lndustrial Revolution started.
The French Revolution.
People were upset
and they tried to escape somewhere.
They had new ideas.
They tried to escape
into nature first of all.
They discovered the origins of everything.
And they tried to escape into history.
Then they looked at the Rhine and thought,
"Wow. This is what we are looking for.
This is nature - rough nature,
wild nature - and this is history."
The ruins from the castles
from the Middle Ages.
- And you've got a lot of castles!
- A lot of castles everywhere.
So it was this escape to nature,
and this, also, escape to fantasy almost?
Mm. That's the origins
of the romantic movement.
And it was people coming from all over the
world to around here, travelling the Rhine.
- A lot of Brits as well.
- A lot of Brits as well.
Lord Byron, for example.
The famous William Turner.
Um, Mary Shelley.
So this area became a destination, not just
a route through to other parts of Europe?
It used to be a route through before.
When the Brits, for example, went to ltaly,
they didn't stop here.
But now with this different point of view,
and the attitude towards landscape
had changed,
suddenly they discovered how
nice it was here, and they stopped.
They began to draw and
to paint and do all that.
So this has changed completely then.
Who were the key German players then?
The first poets to come here
around 200 years ago
were Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim
and then Johann Wolfgang Goethe as well.
And then the painters came after,
they came later.
That was Christian
Georg Schutz, for example.
And William Turner, of course.
And then the musicians and composers,
like Richard Wagner,
who has written his Rhinegold.
Johannes Brahms stayed here in Rudesheim,
for example.
So... they all came here.
But what's remarkable is that all these
German greats predate the country itself.
The statue commemorates
the inauguration of Germany in 1 87 1.
- She's very lovely.
- She is.
But it had been romanticism,
with its shared culture
and its promotion of nationhood,
that helped the disparate German states
come together around one united people.
Time for me to press on northwards,
to seek out more of the inspiring spots
that helped create so much change.
"The river nobly foams and flows,
The charm of this enchanted ground,
And all its thousand turns disclose
Some fresher beauty varying round
Could thy dear eyes in following mine
Still sweeten more these banks of Rhine!"
At this early stage of the walk you get your
first glimpse of two famous Rhine River castles.
The ruins just down there
are the ruins of Ehrenfels castle.
And that good-looking watch-out tower
on its own private island there,
that's Mauseturm.
Mauseturm - or Mice Tower-
stands at Binger Loch,
where the river once turned to rapids
and dangerous shallows.
To this day it acts as a marker post
to shipping heading downstream -
a sign that the most treacherous stretch
of navigation approaches.
Mauseturm has been
many things in its lifetime.
It's been a signalling
station and a tollbooth,
and there's even a legend about
a greedy archbishop
who lived in the tower
and stuffed it full of grain
while everyone around him
was starving to death.
His comeuppance, however,
was to be eaten alive - devoured by mice!
"The castle crag of Drachenfels
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of waters broadly swells
Between the banks that bear the vine."
The twin features of castles and wine
were key the reason why the Rhine Valley was
made a World Heritage Site eight years ago.
The river enjoys a very specific
and Iocalised climate,
allowing vines to flourish -
most notably the famous Riesling grape.
The small village of Assmannshausen
is in the Rheingau area of wine production.
Occupying the banks
ofjust one bend of the river,
it is one of the smallest but one of the most
celebrated of Germany's 1 3 wine regions.
Chairlift has long gone!
The steep, south-facing slopes of the Rhine
are the key to the area's famous crop.
But since the 6th century,
humans have tinkered with the Iand,
creating terraces and paths
to make their vines more accessible.
Ooh, it soaks up the
sunshine something lovely.
I bet the grapes love it!
The vineyard terraces
dominate many sections of the riverbank.
The result is a distinctive tessellation.
Ah, that is too good
a resting spot to resist.
This gazebo is pertectly positioned
for a really good view of Burg Rheinstein,
my third castle.
This stretch of the
Rhine, about 70k's worth,
has got more castles per square foot
than anywhere in the world.
We thought we were pretty good at castles
in the UK,
but l think we possibly
need to revisit that.
When you look at the map...
at least another one... two... three...
within about 4km.
The castles of the Rhine are a romantic's
dream.
800 years ago they were the strongholds
of princes and bishops,
the power-brokers of the 300 small
territories that made up modern Germany.
They were known as robber barons.
In the Middle Ages they taxed and charged all
who brought ships through their territory.
But the age of gunpowder,
Louis XIV and Napoleon
Ieft the majority of
Rhine castles in ruins.
Ruins that the romantics could celebrate,
or turn into the stuff of
indulgent medieval fantasy.
There's my end of Day 1 vision -
the church spire of Lorch.
My route today has followed
where wagons once trundled goods
in order to miss the
worst of the Rhine waters.
Lorch was where cargo could return to
a much easier passage on the river.
And the residents are all very much
reliant on boat transport to this day.
The World Heritage committee
noted the Rhine's Iack of bridges...
a feature which they believe has maintained
Iocal traditions and Iocal communities.
The river's only about
600m or 700m wide here.
So your closest bridge is 45km upstream
or 45km downstream.
You need to be a strong swimmer.
(Train rumbling)
But of course, they do have the railway!
My second morning starts with a bang.
There's something of a climb.
The closer I get to my destination,
the tighter the valley becomes
and the steeper the banks get.
This is the Iongest stretch of
uninterrupted forest on the route.
If man Ieft Germany untouched for a
thousand years, this is how it would Iook.
A densely-packed mixture of beech and oak.
Quite a contrast from the sun-baked vines
of yesterday afternoon.
Here is the place to get away from the throbbing
engines and rattling trains of the valley bottom.
But in the midst of all this wildness, the Iocal
authorities have created a walkers' window.
Now there is a view to ignite the heart
of any romantic German.
That's got to be one of the most famous castles
along the Rhine, in fact, in the Rhine -
Pfalzgrafenstein.
It's meant to look like a ship.
And it does to me. lt really does.
Here in this woodland is a moment
that puts you back in the 1 800s.
The intimidating fortress, known as The
Pfalz, was ultimate customs house in the area.
There was even a chain across the water
forcing any uncooperative captains
to submit to Iocal Iaw.
And unlike so many
of its castle neighbours,
the Pfalz was never
conquered or Iaid to ruin,
so the romantics were never able
to give it a 1 9th-century make-over.
From here you can see how well-positioned
the Pfalz was as a checkpoint.
It's a nice, narrow,
straight section of river.
And that's where l'm heading.
The famous fortress
sits alongside the town of Kaub,
a town made famous by the activities
of one of Germany's greatest war heroes.
In 1 81 4, Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher
used this narrow point
to get 60,000 Prussian troops
across the Rhine in pursuit of Napoleon.
His actions kept French interest
firmly to the west of the river.
And a year Iater Blucher would join forces
with the Duke of Wellington,
to bring about the end of Napoleon's rule
at the Battle of Waterloo.
- Bitte schon.
- Danke schon.
There comes a time in every river walk
when you have to cross to the other side,
and as l can't cross by foot
because there are no bridges,
l'm going to have to take the ferry.
Oberwesel, where we're heading,
2,000 years ago was a Roman Camp
because of its convenient positioning
halfway between Mainz and Cologne.
It was on the Romans'
northern route, basically.
The river crossing is a memorable feature
in the midst of my walk.
But it does stand out as an example
of how the Rhine has changed in 200 years.
River traffic and tourists
now engulf the romance of this river,
but Iike our poet and painting predecessors,
a bit of imagination works wonders.
Another castle!
That one's called Schloss Schonburg,
and we're nearly there.
It's just a short hop on the ferry to the
town known as the town of towers and wine.
At one stage,
this small town of a thousand people
had 22 defensive towers
positioned around the walls,
a clear sign of its medieval wealth
as a customs centre.
And in 2002, this was where the Rhine
Valley was crowned as a World Heritage Site.
Time to Iearn a Iittle more about the
town's proud and very romantic past.
So what makes this tower different
or special to all the other towers here?
It's the youngest tower of the town fortification
but was not built as a defensive tower.
It was built as a customs tower.
- Ah, so for the money!
- Yes.
They collected the money here.
Every ship that passed the Rhine
had to stop here.
And it was well positioned
because the Rhine was much closer then.
Yes, the Rhine was there,
where you see the railway line.
So it was next to the Rhine.
It was built next to the Rhine.
There was no escape. You had to pay.
Yes, that's true.
You probably will like
this tower very much.
The Red Tower
is now more usually called Haag's Tower,
after Carl Haag,
a painter who Iived the romantic dream.
Having spent most of his working Iife in England,
Haag returned to his native Germany in 1 865,
and turned the Red
Tower into his own tower-
the pertect studio and a rather
eye-catching riverside apartment.
It was a good defensive tower,
but now it's a very nice, beautiful...
- Ornate,
- ..new gothic tower.
You can see this wonderful door.
And you see "CH". That means Carl Haag,
so it's restored by him.
Does somebody live there now?
Yes, it's an apartment,
and they sometimes show pictures there.
How lovely. lmagine living there!
1 6 of Oberwesel's towers
are still firmly in place
and the walls once used for defence
have now become the best platform
from which to see the town.
Some of the towers
were coloured white or red
because they were not only built
as a defensive tower,
they were also built as a symbol
of the importance of the town,
that it was a rich town.
So they wanted to show their wealth
and importance.
So some of the towers and the walls
were really ostentatious.
- Lt was to show wealth and credibility?
- Yes.
But no tour of Oberwesel is complete without
a visit to the romantics'favourite hangout,
otherwise known as the Golden Corkscrew -
a pub.
The origins of this town may be medieval,
but it was romanticism
that gave it a worldwide reputation.
William Turner's 1 840 watercolour
of this small town
is now on display 4,000 miles away
in Washington DC.
But as romanticism was in full flow,
this humble pub was where a group
of German intellectuals came
to develop their brand of free-thinking
and national identity.
So, Birgit, who came to drink here?
- For example, Hoffmann von Fallersleben...
- Say that again.
(Julia mimics sound of words)
- Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben...
- That's easy for you to say.
For me, yes.
Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben presented
the Song Of The Germans for the first time,
and the third stanza
is our national anthem today.
So the German national anthem
was created in this pub?
Yes, it was presented for the first time.
They met here in 1 843,
that was the "Summer of Rhenish Poets".
They called it that way.
The Song Of The Germans was meant
to promote unity between Bavaria, Prussia,
Saxony and all Iike-minded kingdoms.
The spirit of the German people took hold,
with the single state formally created
Iess than 30 years Iater.
- Well, l'd love to go and have a pint...
- Good idea.
..but no time, l've got to finish my walk.
- How far to go, do you reckon?
- About four kilometres.
Let's press on.
Thank you. lt's been so interesting.
The steep climb out of the medieval Oberwesel
marks the start of the final stage of my walk.
And now all that's Ieft is to find the home of
the romantic Rhine's most famous fairy tale.
So this is the rear view of the Pfalz,
that castle that looks like a ship.
This morning, l was standing way over there
in the forest, looking this way,
which means that round that bend,
there's the end of the walk.
There's a lady combing
her hair waiting for me.
The Iegend of the Lorelei seems to belong more
to ancient Greece than 1 9th-century Germany.
But for 1 50 years,
all German schoolchildren have been told
of Lorelei, the beautiful blonde maiden
who inhabits the prominent cliff
of the same name.
Every romantic created their own version
of the tale.
Perhaps she was a siren who Iured sailors
to a rocky death with her singing.
Or maybe she was a tragic heartbroken
figure who fell to her death from the cliff.
The Iegend and the romance of Lorelei is
certainly more important than a consistent story.
"The lov'liest maiden is sitting
high throne'd in yon' blue air
Her golden jewels are shining,
she combs her golden hair
She combs with a comb that is golden,
and sings a weird refrain
That steeps in a deadly enchantment,
the listener's ravished brain."
That's what Mark Twain
had to say about Lorelei in 1 883.
Shortly after that, she became
the stuff of advertising campaigns.
"A maiden so beautiful, fair
Her jewels are glistening bright,
she washes her gold, shimmering hair
She washes it with Schwarzkopf shampoo,
as famous as Lorelei's hair
lt cleans well and isn't expensive
And gives the best possible care."
Like most things along the Rhine,
the story of Lorelei has been around
a Iot Ionger than 200 years.
But the romantics had a real talent for
re-imagining things that sparked their interest.
This is the climax of the walk.
It's the most dramatic gorge section
of the Rhine.
And that is the home of Lorelei.
With cliffs that have become Iegends
and castles that have become fairy tales,
the Rhine today is an intriguing Iink
between myth and reality.
Over 200 years, this image of the great river
has successfully spread itself across the world.
And yet, with transport
and industry at its heart,
the Rhine still manages to be
the same old workhorse it's always been.
That's quite an impressive feat.
I love the twists and the turns through
the valleys and the vineyards of this walk.
The Rhine has been a busy old river
for more than 2,000 years,
but it's thanks to the Rhine romantics
that people became inspired to cruise up
and down this stretch of water for pleasure.
And it's an added bonus
that you can walk along most of it, too.
There's a lot to soak in.
have Iong had a fascination with walking.
200 years ago,
the famous romantics of German history
were inspired by their adventures
in the great outdoors.
So today, I'm here to walk in the footsteps
of painters, writers and musicians.
To explore the country, and a cultural
movement that encouraged walking for pleasure.
This is my chance to discover
my own sense of Wanderlust.
Hello and welcome to
the banks of the Rhine.
It's a river and a region that encapsulates
so many classic images of Germany.
And it's the perfect place
to start a walking tour of a country
that has a history with hiking
to rival any in the world.
"Wanderlust" is a term
that you hear quite a lot of.
Originally, it's a German word
and it refers to a deep
and almost spiritual love of walking.
Over the years it's become misused
and, funnily enough,
we tend to use it more than the Germans.
But this series aims to explore that deep,
passionate German love of walking.
Over the next four programmes I'll be
journeying to all corners of this country...
to rivers, coasts, mountains and gorges...
..taking the time to explore
some very different Iandscapes
and Iearn about artistic
and creative characters of the past
who fell in Iove with the country's natural
beauty and inspired a Iove of walking.
While l'm here, l want to experience
as much as possible,
but in particular, l want to learn about
the period known as Rhine romantic.
It sounds like some sort of
ghastly soap opera.
But in fact it was a movement that transformed
this place from a transport link and a borderline,
into a place of wondrous beauty and legend.
For 2,000 years the Rhine Valley has
served Europe as a great transport artery.
But more recently its been praised also as a
tourist destination and an area of great beauty.
In the early 1 800s, the combination
of castles, vineyards and views
proved irresistible to artists,
philosophers, writers and musicians.
The Rhine became a symbol of romanticism,
a period that changed attitudes
across the whole of Germany.
It encouraged individualism, a freer
existence, a desire to understand nature,
and, above all, an
appreciation of Iandscape.
And with romanticism to promote it, the
Rhine's popularity has never Iooked back.
Running parallel to the French border,
the Rhine stretches north from the Alps
all the way to Europe's Iargest port
at Rotterdam.
I'll be taking a two-day walk from south
to north along the Upper Middle Rhine.
The route takes me past medieval villages,
through the country's greatest vineyards
and an ever-deepening valley
to a finish at the very
romantic Loreley Rock.
This is Rudesheim, and its your
typical medieval Rhine-side town.
Every week a place like this
will welcome thousands of visitors
and this week they've got
their annual wine festival - Rhine wine.
Mm!
But before I set off,
Iet's take a Iook at my route from the air.
Leaving Rudesheim,
my walk starts with an immediate climb
up onto the wooded plateau that
overlooks the first big bend in the river.
On the other side
I descend to the village of Assmannshausen,
and beyond through the many terraces
of the Iocal vineyards.
This is the start of
the Upper Middle Rhine Valley,
a clear channel used
by ships, trains and cars.
At the end of Day 1,
my walk high along the west bank
reaches the town of Lorch, the ideal place
to sit back and enjoy the warm evening sun.
Day 2, and the river valley gets deeper.
My walk takes me through forest until I reach
the most distinctive of all Rhine castles -
the 700-year old Pfalzgrafenstein.
And from the adjacent village of Kaub,
I'll be taking my walk across the river,
as I hop on a ferry, downstream
to the famous medieval town of Oberwesel.
This walled citadel is a worthy centre
of German romanticism
and the start of the final part of my walk.
High above the deepest
and most twisting section of the valley,
I'll finish opposite a great cliff corner,
the home of Lorelei, a mythical blonde maiden
who has become the Rhine's
greatest romantic Iegend.
But back in Rudesheim,
the thousands of walkers
who follow the modern-day Rhine,
get a helping hand.
Centuries ago,
this section of the Rhine was unnavigable,
so Rudesheim became a stop point
where cargo would get loaded off the boats
and the ships, and onto wagons.
The next 20k of the journey
would have been along rough track road.
But for almost 1,000 years now, mankind
has steadily taken control of this river.
A basic shipping channel
was dug out in the 1 1th century,
confirming the river as a transport Iink,
as well as a political border,
and a famous agricultural area.
I've never seen a vineyard
from this angle before,
and they look so pretty from up here -
the symmetry is gorgeous.
And so, already high above the Rhine,
my German walking adventure begins.
Here's your first little taster
as to what its like walking in Germany.
There's a sign here
pointing out the first port of call,
which is 200 metres away,
in case you get surprised by that.
And look at all the information on here.
Tourist information number that
you can call. Altitude 291 metres.
And this number here
is a grid-referencing number.
Now, that's precise, isn't it.
I like it!
At 291 metres the vista
is quite something...
..but so too is the viewpoint itself.
This is the Niederwald Monument,
featuring the bronze figure of Germania,
the symbol of the nation
I've come to explore.
So where better to find out about the
importance of romanticism to Iocal history.
- Hi, Mathias!
- Hello.
- Rubbish weather!
- Lndeed!
- Good for the grapes, though!
- Yes, good for the grapes!
I need you to teach me a little bit
about the Rhine romantic movement.
I know that it started more than
200 years ago, but how did it start?
It started around 1 800.
It was unquiet times then.
The double revolution.
The lndustrial Revolution started.
The French Revolution.
People were upset
and they tried to escape somewhere.
They had new ideas.
They tried to escape
into nature first of all.
They discovered the origins of everything.
And they tried to escape into history.
Then they looked at the Rhine and thought,
"Wow. This is what we are looking for.
This is nature - rough nature,
wild nature - and this is history."
The ruins from the castles
from the Middle Ages.
- And you've got a lot of castles!
- A lot of castles everywhere.
So it was this escape to nature,
and this, also, escape to fantasy almost?
Mm. That's the origins
of the romantic movement.
And it was people coming from all over the
world to around here, travelling the Rhine.
- A lot of Brits as well.
- A lot of Brits as well.
Lord Byron, for example.
The famous William Turner.
Um, Mary Shelley.
So this area became a destination, not just
a route through to other parts of Europe?
It used to be a route through before.
When the Brits, for example, went to ltaly,
they didn't stop here.
But now with this different point of view,
and the attitude towards landscape
had changed,
suddenly they discovered how
nice it was here, and they stopped.
They began to draw and
to paint and do all that.
So this has changed completely then.
Who were the key German players then?
The first poets to come here
around 200 years ago
were Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim
and then Johann Wolfgang Goethe as well.
And then the painters came after,
they came later.
That was Christian
Georg Schutz, for example.
And William Turner, of course.
And then the musicians and composers,
like Richard Wagner,
who has written his Rhinegold.
Johannes Brahms stayed here in Rudesheim,
for example.
So... they all came here.
But what's remarkable is that all these
German greats predate the country itself.
The statue commemorates
the inauguration of Germany in 1 87 1.
- She's very lovely.
- She is.
But it had been romanticism,
with its shared culture
and its promotion of nationhood,
that helped the disparate German states
come together around one united people.
Time for me to press on northwards,
to seek out more of the inspiring spots
that helped create so much change.
"The river nobly foams and flows,
The charm of this enchanted ground,
And all its thousand turns disclose
Some fresher beauty varying round
Could thy dear eyes in following mine
Still sweeten more these banks of Rhine!"
At this early stage of the walk you get your
first glimpse of two famous Rhine River castles.
The ruins just down there
are the ruins of Ehrenfels castle.
And that good-looking watch-out tower
on its own private island there,
that's Mauseturm.
Mauseturm - or Mice Tower-
stands at Binger Loch,
where the river once turned to rapids
and dangerous shallows.
To this day it acts as a marker post
to shipping heading downstream -
a sign that the most treacherous stretch
of navigation approaches.
Mauseturm has been
many things in its lifetime.
It's been a signalling
station and a tollbooth,
and there's even a legend about
a greedy archbishop
who lived in the tower
and stuffed it full of grain
while everyone around him
was starving to death.
His comeuppance, however,
was to be eaten alive - devoured by mice!
"The castle crag of Drachenfels
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of waters broadly swells
Between the banks that bear the vine."
The twin features of castles and wine
were key the reason why the Rhine Valley was
made a World Heritage Site eight years ago.
The river enjoys a very specific
and Iocalised climate,
allowing vines to flourish -
most notably the famous Riesling grape.
The small village of Assmannshausen
is in the Rheingau area of wine production.
Occupying the banks
ofjust one bend of the river,
it is one of the smallest but one of the most
celebrated of Germany's 1 3 wine regions.
Chairlift has long gone!
The steep, south-facing slopes of the Rhine
are the key to the area's famous crop.
But since the 6th century,
humans have tinkered with the Iand,
creating terraces and paths
to make their vines more accessible.
Ooh, it soaks up the
sunshine something lovely.
I bet the grapes love it!
The vineyard terraces
dominate many sections of the riverbank.
The result is a distinctive tessellation.
Ah, that is too good
a resting spot to resist.
This gazebo is pertectly positioned
for a really good view of Burg Rheinstein,
my third castle.
This stretch of the
Rhine, about 70k's worth,
has got more castles per square foot
than anywhere in the world.
We thought we were pretty good at castles
in the UK,
but l think we possibly
need to revisit that.
When you look at the map...
at least another one... two... three...
within about 4km.
The castles of the Rhine are a romantic's
dream.
800 years ago they were the strongholds
of princes and bishops,
the power-brokers of the 300 small
territories that made up modern Germany.
They were known as robber barons.
In the Middle Ages they taxed and charged all
who brought ships through their territory.
But the age of gunpowder,
Louis XIV and Napoleon
Ieft the majority of
Rhine castles in ruins.
Ruins that the romantics could celebrate,
or turn into the stuff of
indulgent medieval fantasy.
There's my end of Day 1 vision -
the church spire of Lorch.
My route today has followed
where wagons once trundled goods
in order to miss the
worst of the Rhine waters.
Lorch was where cargo could return to
a much easier passage on the river.
And the residents are all very much
reliant on boat transport to this day.
The World Heritage committee
noted the Rhine's Iack of bridges...
a feature which they believe has maintained
Iocal traditions and Iocal communities.
The river's only about
600m or 700m wide here.
So your closest bridge is 45km upstream
or 45km downstream.
You need to be a strong swimmer.
(Train rumbling)
But of course, they do have the railway!
My second morning starts with a bang.
There's something of a climb.
The closer I get to my destination,
the tighter the valley becomes
and the steeper the banks get.
This is the Iongest stretch of
uninterrupted forest on the route.
If man Ieft Germany untouched for a
thousand years, this is how it would Iook.
A densely-packed mixture of beech and oak.
Quite a contrast from the sun-baked vines
of yesterday afternoon.
Here is the place to get away from the throbbing
engines and rattling trains of the valley bottom.
But in the midst of all this wildness, the Iocal
authorities have created a walkers' window.
Now there is a view to ignite the heart
of any romantic German.
That's got to be one of the most famous castles
along the Rhine, in fact, in the Rhine -
Pfalzgrafenstein.
It's meant to look like a ship.
And it does to me. lt really does.
Here in this woodland is a moment
that puts you back in the 1 800s.
The intimidating fortress, known as The
Pfalz, was ultimate customs house in the area.
There was even a chain across the water
forcing any uncooperative captains
to submit to Iocal Iaw.
And unlike so many
of its castle neighbours,
the Pfalz was never
conquered or Iaid to ruin,
so the romantics were never able
to give it a 1 9th-century make-over.
From here you can see how well-positioned
the Pfalz was as a checkpoint.
It's a nice, narrow,
straight section of river.
And that's where l'm heading.
The famous fortress
sits alongside the town of Kaub,
a town made famous by the activities
of one of Germany's greatest war heroes.
In 1 81 4, Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher
used this narrow point
to get 60,000 Prussian troops
across the Rhine in pursuit of Napoleon.
His actions kept French interest
firmly to the west of the river.
And a year Iater Blucher would join forces
with the Duke of Wellington,
to bring about the end of Napoleon's rule
at the Battle of Waterloo.
- Bitte schon.
- Danke schon.
There comes a time in every river walk
when you have to cross to the other side,
and as l can't cross by foot
because there are no bridges,
l'm going to have to take the ferry.
Oberwesel, where we're heading,
2,000 years ago was a Roman Camp
because of its convenient positioning
halfway between Mainz and Cologne.
It was on the Romans'
northern route, basically.
The river crossing is a memorable feature
in the midst of my walk.
But it does stand out as an example
of how the Rhine has changed in 200 years.
River traffic and tourists
now engulf the romance of this river,
but Iike our poet and painting predecessors,
a bit of imagination works wonders.
Another castle!
That one's called Schloss Schonburg,
and we're nearly there.
It's just a short hop on the ferry to the
town known as the town of towers and wine.
At one stage,
this small town of a thousand people
had 22 defensive towers
positioned around the walls,
a clear sign of its medieval wealth
as a customs centre.
And in 2002, this was where the Rhine
Valley was crowned as a World Heritage Site.
Time to Iearn a Iittle more about the
town's proud and very romantic past.
So what makes this tower different
or special to all the other towers here?
It's the youngest tower of the town fortification
but was not built as a defensive tower.
It was built as a customs tower.
- Ah, so for the money!
- Yes.
They collected the money here.
Every ship that passed the Rhine
had to stop here.
And it was well positioned
because the Rhine was much closer then.
Yes, the Rhine was there,
where you see the railway line.
So it was next to the Rhine.
It was built next to the Rhine.
There was no escape. You had to pay.
Yes, that's true.
You probably will like
this tower very much.
The Red Tower
is now more usually called Haag's Tower,
after Carl Haag,
a painter who Iived the romantic dream.
Having spent most of his working Iife in England,
Haag returned to his native Germany in 1 865,
and turned the Red
Tower into his own tower-
the pertect studio and a rather
eye-catching riverside apartment.
It was a good defensive tower,
but now it's a very nice, beautiful...
- Ornate,
- ..new gothic tower.
You can see this wonderful door.
And you see "CH". That means Carl Haag,
so it's restored by him.
Does somebody live there now?
Yes, it's an apartment,
and they sometimes show pictures there.
How lovely. lmagine living there!
1 6 of Oberwesel's towers
are still firmly in place
and the walls once used for defence
have now become the best platform
from which to see the town.
Some of the towers
were coloured white or red
because they were not only built
as a defensive tower,
they were also built as a symbol
of the importance of the town,
that it was a rich town.
So they wanted to show their wealth
and importance.
So some of the towers and the walls
were really ostentatious.
- Lt was to show wealth and credibility?
- Yes.
But no tour of Oberwesel is complete without
a visit to the romantics'favourite hangout,
otherwise known as the Golden Corkscrew -
a pub.
The origins of this town may be medieval,
but it was romanticism
that gave it a worldwide reputation.
William Turner's 1 840 watercolour
of this small town
is now on display 4,000 miles away
in Washington DC.
But as romanticism was in full flow,
this humble pub was where a group
of German intellectuals came
to develop their brand of free-thinking
and national identity.
So, Birgit, who came to drink here?
- For example, Hoffmann von Fallersleben...
- Say that again.
(Julia mimics sound of words)
- Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben...
- That's easy for you to say.
For me, yes.
Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben presented
the Song Of The Germans for the first time,
and the third stanza
is our national anthem today.
So the German national anthem
was created in this pub?
Yes, it was presented for the first time.
They met here in 1 843,
that was the "Summer of Rhenish Poets".
They called it that way.
The Song Of The Germans was meant
to promote unity between Bavaria, Prussia,
Saxony and all Iike-minded kingdoms.
The spirit of the German people took hold,
with the single state formally created
Iess than 30 years Iater.
- Well, l'd love to go and have a pint...
- Good idea.
..but no time, l've got to finish my walk.
- How far to go, do you reckon?
- About four kilometres.
Let's press on.
Thank you. lt's been so interesting.
The steep climb out of the medieval Oberwesel
marks the start of the final stage of my walk.
And now all that's Ieft is to find the home of
the romantic Rhine's most famous fairy tale.
So this is the rear view of the Pfalz,
that castle that looks like a ship.
This morning, l was standing way over there
in the forest, looking this way,
which means that round that bend,
there's the end of the walk.
There's a lady combing
her hair waiting for me.
The Iegend of the Lorelei seems to belong more
to ancient Greece than 1 9th-century Germany.
But for 1 50 years,
all German schoolchildren have been told
of Lorelei, the beautiful blonde maiden
who inhabits the prominent cliff
of the same name.
Every romantic created their own version
of the tale.
Perhaps she was a siren who Iured sailors
to a rocky death with her singing.
Or maybe she was a tragic heartbroken
figure who fell to her death from the cliff.
The Iegend and the romance of Lorelei is
certainly more important than a consistent story.
"The lov'liest maiden is sitting
high throne'd in yon' blue air
Her golden jewels are shining,
she combs her golden hair
She combs with a comb that is golden,
and sings a weird refrain
That steeps in a deadly enchantment,
the listener's ravished brain."
That's what Mark Twain
had to say about Lorelei in 1 883.
Shortly after that, she became
the stuff of advertising campaigns.
"A maiden so beautiful, fair
Her jewels are glistening bright,
she washes her gold, shimmering hair
She washes it with Schwarzkopf shampoo,
as famous as Lorelei's hair
lt cleans well and isn't expensive
And gives the best possible care."
Like most things along the Rhine,
the story of Lorelei has been around
a Iot Ionger than 200 years.
But the romantics had a real talent for
re-imagining things that sparked their interest.
This is the climax of the walk.
It's the most dramatic gorge section
of the Rhine.
And that is the home of Lorelei.
With cliffs that have become Iegends
and castles that have become fairy tales,
the Rhine today is an intriguing Iink
between myth and reality.
Over 200 years, this image of the great river
has successfully spread itself across the world.
And yet, with transport
and industry at its heart,
the Rhine still manages to be
the same old workhorse it's always been.
That's quite an impressive feat.
I love the twists and the turns through
the valleys and the vineyards of this walk.
The Rhine has been a busy old river
for more than 2,000 years,
but it's thanks to the Rhine romantics
that people became inspired to cruise up
and down this stretch of water for pleasure.
And it's an added bonus
that you can walk along most of it, too.
There's a lot to soak in.