Rhine Gorge

After leaving Rüdesheim you enter the Rhine Gorge,

and the Castles begin... there are 24 of them.

It truly looks like Fairytale Castles,

however they have a more sinister reason for being there.

They were built by the so called 

Robber Knights...

The Rhine was & still is a major trading route.

The Robber Knights charged a levy to stop & pass

through..

Which made them fabulously wealthy!

This one in the middle of the river was also

used a prison at one time.

You can imagine the poor buggers 

down the bottom when the river flooded.

Our old mate Adolph..

had the entrance to the railway tunnels built to look like 

churches, so the allies wouldn't bomb them...

More of his deception!!

The Loreley Rock is fabled to lure ships captains to their doom

(sounds like a Harpy to me)

She was a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair

and sung to the ships.

It's a very narrow section of the river! 

Here she is & is feature in many German

 poems & songs.

These two belonged to 2 brothers,

Who fought over the same lady..

Then 2 of these roared up from behind us

looking like they were having fun playing chasey

just above the gorge!

Most of these Castles are either ruins

or used as hotels, restaurants or youth hostels now.

This isn't all of them but they are a 

spectacular part of the journey.

This is number 24 and has been rebuilt over time in different styles

as many of them have..

This one even has a gondola across the river going up to it...