Читать книгу The Rhine Cycle Route. From source to sea through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands онлайн

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Impregnable Ehrenbreitstein fortress opposite Koblenz (Stage 17)

Background

Geographically the Rhine has six distinct sections:

 Alpenrhein (Alpine Rhine) is the combination of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein tributaries that flow rapidly down the north side of the Alps, along deep glacial valleys, into Bodensee.

 Hochrhein (Higher Rhine) continues descending through broad wooded gorges providing the border between Switzerland and Baden-Württemberg (Germany) from Bodensee to Basel.

 Oberrhein (Upper Rhine) meanders north from Basel across a broad plain, between the Vosges mountains in French Alsace and the German Black Forest, as far as Mainz.

 Mittelrhein (Middle Rhine) is a picturesque stretch from Mainz to Bonn, where the river has cut the Rhine Gorge between the Hunsrück/Eifel mountains (west) and the Taunus/Siebengebirge ranges (east).

 Niederrhein (Lower Rhine) crosses the North German plain from Bonn to the Dutch border.

 Delta Rijn (Rhine Delta) is the Dutch part of the river, which divides into five different arms to reach the North Sea.