Germany Guide
Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland
The Rhine and its tributaries have almost single-handedly shaped both the Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and the Saarland. While large portions of both states are rural and remote, their three main watery arteries – the Rhine, Mosel and Saar – have bustled with traffic, and commerce, for generations. Vital as trade routes, the Rhine and Mosel have been studded by strategically placed fortifications and towns since Roman times. Many have been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt in competition for the land, particularly with the French who have at one time or another had most of the region in their possession and left a mark on the region's culture and food.
If you travel along the Rhine as it snakes its way across the plain around the eastern, then northern border of the region, the first cities you reach of any significance aare a trio of imperial cathedral cities: Speyer, Worms and Mainz, which grow in magnitude and importance as you move downstream. Beyond them, the Rhine is squeezed through the famed Rhine Gorge or Romantic Rhine, so called for its array of fairytale castles. This leg of the river finishes around the city of Koblenz, beyond which the Rhine becomes far less interesting en route to Bonn. However, it is at Koblenz that the Rhine meets the Mosel, and the area around the Mosel Valley southwest of here, known as the Mosel Weinstrasse for its wines, is a Romantic Rhine in miniature, with some stand-out castles, particularly the fairytale Burg Eltz, along with the exceptionally cute small town of Bernkastel-Kues. South of here the steep sides of the valley fade away around Trier, a city with spectacular Roman remains that lies just shy of the confluence with the Saar, which travels through what in the early twentieth century was one of Europe's leading industrial regions. These days most of that lies closed, decaying and rusting, but at least the Völklinger Hütte ironworks has been recognized for what it is – a fascinating snapshot of a bygone era – and preserved as such.
Highlights
1 Worms The tales of the Nibelungenlied are the star in this attractive town with a fascinating museum on the subject.
2 Mainz Dirty your hands with printer's ink as you get to grips with early printing technology in the town where it was invented.
3 The Romantic Rhine The classic castle-hopping route along the Rhine Gorge.
4 The Nürburgring Zip around one of the world's most infamous motor-racing circuits.
5 Bernkastel-Kues Cosy up in a half-timbered Weinstube and try some of the Mosel's fine wines.
6 Trier Northern Europe's most impressive Roman remains.
7 Völklinger Hütte The rusting carcass of the Saarland's steel industry has been preserved as a fascinating monument to the region's industrial heritage.