Middle Rhine
The section of the Rhine between Bingen and Bonn is called the “Middle Rhine“. In a steep and narrow valley it cuts itself into the Rhine Slate Mountains. Hunsrück and Eifel are on its left, Taunus and Westerwald on its right bank.
The Middle Rhine is known to be the epitome of the romantic Rhine landscape. The UNESCO has declared the valley between Bingen and Koblenz as world cultural heritage “Upper Middle Rhine valley“. Near Lahnstein, the Lahn and in Koblenz the Moselle flow into the Rhine. Near St. Goarshausen the Rhine flows around the Loreley rock. The island of Niederwerth near Koblenz is the biggest inhabited island in the Rhine.
External links:
Hessia:
http://www.flussgebiete.hessen.de
Rhineland-Palatinate:
http://www.koblenz.de/gesundheit_umwelt/k36_lokale_agenda_21_projekte_gewaesserlehrpfad.html
The Loreley
“The Loreley, known as fairy and rock is that spot along the Rhine not far from Bingen where boatsmen formerly turned their necks, and sank, crazy about blond hair."
Erich Kästner (1932).
Loreley song
“The boatman in his small craft is seized with longings and sighs. He sees not the rocks fore and aft; He looks only up towards the skies."
Heinrich Heine (1823) in his Loreley song “I’m looking in vain for the reason?”