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

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This is a journey of variety. Passing through six countries (Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands, with short sections in Liechtenstein and Austria) you will be exposed to much of the geography, history, culture and economic success of Western Europe.

From the Rhine’s upper reaches in Switzerland, surrounded by high Alpine mountains, our route passes the tiny principality of Liechtenstein to reach Bodensee (Lake Constance), Western Europe’s second largest natural lake. On the shores of Bodensee are the Austrian festival town of Bregenz, where open-air opera is presented every summer on a stage over the water, and Friedrichshafen, home to the Zeppelin. Beyond the lake is Rheinfall, continental Europe’s largest waterfall by volume of water. Below here the river flows through an attractive wooded valley between the Black Forest and the Jura mountains, passing a series of unspoilt medieval towns. After Basel, the route turns north through French Alsace, an area much fought over, with many remnants of successive wars. Then it is on past the French gastronomic centre of Strasbourg, the great industrial cities of Karlsruhe and Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, and the imperial cities and religious centres of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, before reaching the barrier of the Taunus and Hunsrück mountains. The Rhine Gorge, cutting between these ranges, is the most spectacular stage of all, lined with fairy-tale castles and award-winning vineyards. Halfway through is the infamous Loreley rock. Continuing between the dormant volcanic Eifel and Siebengebirge ranges, where an active geyser demonstrates the power of vulcanism, the Rhine emerges onto the North German plain.