For months we had been planning on climbing up to the Nurnberger Hutte in the Stubai Alps. We dreamed of exploring the high route, and if strong enough, climb up to the border between Austria and Italy and look down upon the lake country and forests that run all the way to the sea. Unfortunately the weather called for unrelenting days of rain and temps down to freezing. Even the hardiest backpacker within us blanched! Quickly we began seeking an alternative.
It turns out that my that a relative of my partner had recently passed away. The old house, still furnished and calling out for use, was situated in a tiny valley above the Rhein River. It seemed like an ideal location to to base ourselves for a multi-day ramble in the high country above the river. And oh yes, did I mention the wine? It was plain that there would be some wine drinking along the way.
The Rhein River flows some thousand miles from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea. Passing through Lake Constance, Basel, Mainz, Worms and Cologne, the river formerly traversed the medieval heart of Europe. Today one can walk along the bluffs on either side of the Middle Rhein on an extensive series of paths – the Rheinsteig on the right hand side of the river, and the RheinBurgenWeg on the left.
We took a short train ride from Bingen (on the left side of the Rhein) down to Niederheimbach. From there we walked the two miles up a side valley to the tiny village of Oberdiebach. There we found our temporary quarters. Sadly, it was a melancholy affair. The house had been abandoned by death, and the faded wallpaper, mementos and photographs attested to an earlier time.
We arranged a couple mattresses on the top floor and prepared for the next day.
The following morning we left Oberdiebach behind and gained the bluffs above the river. The walking, in general was easy, with occasional forays into the ravines that line the river. Romantic poets walked these paths while pursuing inspiration. But perhaps much of their inspiration came from the vineyards that line either side of the way!
After a sweaty hike to the top of the bluff we passed the ruins of the Furstenberg Castle. Built in 1219 by the powerful Archbishop of Cologne it served as one of the ubiquitous toll stations along the Rhein. In 1840 Victor Hugo, traveling by stage and on foot, visited Furstenberg Castile. Although he admired the castle he much preferred the three young French girls he met there. One of them he called “a true princess from a fairy tale!”
Once on top of the bluff we walked past farmer’s fields, through mossy ravines and then beside vantage points overlooking the Rhein.
Then we encountered the “Summstein”, the humming stone. According to Herman Hesse, the Summstein “makes invisible sound waves noticeable as vibrations”. What ever that means. So according to the instructions on a nearby plaque I stuck my head all the way to my shoulders into the hole and quietly hummed. Supposedly the invisible sound waves would make my entire body vibrate. But I had a bad cold, and the only humming I heard was inside my head.
By then we had walked more than five miles and were approaching the next town, Bacharach. We marveled at a typically German outhouse then began our slow descend into the village.
Bacharach is one of the prettiest towns on the Middle Rhein. Victor Hugo described the houses of Bacharach as “gothic constructions, hanging, leaning, groaning and holding themselves obstinately upright against all the laws of geometry and equilibrium.” Many of the town walls exist to this day, with the slate capped watchtowers looming over the town like overbearing mushrooms. On the hill above Bacharach a Gothic ruin called the Werner Kapelle strikes a discordant note. It wasn’t until later that we discovered how discordant the Werner Kapelle really was. But for us, on that day, all that mattered for us was to find a place to eat and sit down!
We ate at the Munze, on old stamping house for coins in the Middle Ages. I had an excellent goat sausage paired with a Weissburgunder from the TONI JOST vineyard “Hahnenhof”. One of the great things about hiking the Middle Rhein is that you constantly hike through vineyards. We had seen the sign for the TONI JOST vineyard while walking that day! Unfortunately the bad thing about drinking local was that my Weissburgunder was a 13% wine. After a couple glasses of wine I was drunk and staggering around like a medieval boatman on shore leave! Taking the train back to Niederheimbach and then walking the two miles back up to Oberdiebach was a long and difficult chore that I could barely manage.
The following day was drizzly, and my head hurt, so we decided to take the ferry across the Rhein to Lorch. I had heard that there was a wooden altarpiece in a local church and I wanted to compare it to the altarpieces I had seen by Riemenschneider.
The fine monochrome altarpiece in St. Martin Catholic Church is evidently the oldest monochrome in Germany – 1483 – and has been attributed to the workshop of Master Hans Bilger of Worms. Unfortunately the 18th century paintings on the side panels detracts from the piece as a whole.
On our walk back to the ferry we decided to have dinner at the Rosslers Winzerwitschaft. It’s a typical small town wine bar with a patio sheltered by grape vines. Locals came and went, frequently sitting with a glass of wine and a cigarette, chatting with the owner Jacqueline Rossler. Despite my resolve to not have any alcohol that day we sampled several light Feinherb Rieslings and I went home happy, sleepy and content.
Bacharach… yes Bacharach. What to say about Bacharach? We returned there early the next morning to investigate the Werner Kapelle and to continue our walk to Oberwessel.
What we found out about the Werner Kapelle made us ashamed. Evidently, in 1287 the body of a young man – the “good Werner” – had been found at Bacharach, or Oberwessel. Quickly it was asserted that the Jews did it, drinking Werner’s blood or using it to make matzos. It was further asserted that Werner was hung upside down by the Jews to snatch the host out of his mouth. This is an instance of ‘Blood Libel’ a particularly pernicious antisemitic trope that ran from the Middle Ages of Europe through the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” so beloved by Hitler and the Nazis. Against all evidence the Catholic Church decreed Werner a martyr and he was sainted. St. Werner remained a part of the Catholic Church until 1962(!) when the cult was suppressed.
In the late Middle Ages Bacharach, hoping to cash in on the pilgrim trade, built the Werner Kapelle.
With a heavy heart we climbed out of Bacharach, heading for Oberwessel. It had all seemed like so much fun and games! Drinking wine, bowing down to the god of inebriation, insanity and the arts, Dionysos. Perhaps the separation between inebriation and the insanity of the Nazis isn’t so far, and it is only blinders and a tight leash that keeps the animal within us at bay.
These gloomy thoughts persisted as we walked the bluffs towards Oberwessel. We walked a long road down into town that lead directly to the Liebfrauenkirche – The Catholic Church. Yasha wanted to go while I groaned inside: “Not another church!” But the inside was a revelation!
We stood outside the filagreed lettner, peering in at a golden room. No one had charged us to come in and we were the only people save for a lay person sitting in the back. She indicated that we could go in. But still it didn’t seem quite right. So she took joy in our awe as she led us into the Golden Altar.
On our final day on the Middle Rhein we decided to change things up and go and look for a Roman Road on the bluff behind Oberdiebach. So we again took the train to Bacharach and climbed up to the Burg Stahleck.
We cut behind the town and traversed a long path into the countryside.
Finally we left the path altogether and climbed through the woods
One on top we waded through a field of flowers as we searched for the Roman Road.
And then there it was, the Roman Road. It wasn’t much to look at. In fact, it looked like a normal road. Yet the rock was finely crushed and all in all it looked like it could last a thousand years. And it had.
