Enjoying a fabulous Rhine cruise here in Canada! The Rhine is one of most romantic rivers in the world, with gorgeous scenery, ancient towns and enduring legends. Death Cruise, the first of the Reiker For Hire Victorian Detective Murder Mysteries, features murder on the Rhine. Having lived in the south of Germany I love revisiting and discovering places like Speyer, Heidelberg and Strasbourg.
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The name Rhine comes from Gaulish Renos, meaning 'that which flows'. The God Renos or Rhenos, aka Rhine Father or Rhenus Pater in Latin, watches over the 820-mile (1320 km) river. He's also the god of all freshwater rivers, lakes, ponds and streams.
The Rhine flows from Basel, Switzerland, to the North Sea. The river traverses a landscape of ancient towns and castles, rugged rocks or gentle slopes, wine country and the legend of the Loreley Rock (Lorelei).
One of the must-see stops on a Rhine Cruise is Speyer. The Cathedral is an amazing creation of Romanesque architecture. It's my favorite architectural period partly because of the feeling of solidity, and the use of arches and columns to make the most of light from small windows.
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Begun in 1030 by Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, the building took on classic Romanesque features in the 11th and 12 centuries. Created from red sandstone, Speyer Cathedral marked a turning point in architecture.
The arched ceiling of the nave seems impossibly high for the era. You will see early pagan symbols if you look around, such as the bronze toad. If you go to Speyer definitely don't forget to view the tombs. Give yourself time to spare, because Speyer is the largest Romanesque cathedral in the world.
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The Lorelei legend was conceived in the early nineteenth century and put to poetry by Friedrich Schiller about mid-century. The story sprang from the Romantic period in art and literature, a tale of love lost and eternal sorrow, as a pretty maiden flings herself from the cliffs and becomes the Loreley Siren. She sits on the rocks and combs her golden hair, and her song calls fishermen and sailors to their doom, to be crushed upon the fatal shores.
The legend is still young. Nyx or water spirits originate in pre-Christian times. Before the Lorelei tale, the rock was said to be populated by Dwarfs. Loreley, the German spelling of the name, means "murmuring place" or "murmuring rock", because the wind and a small waterfall echoed to make sounds of voices. The waterfall dried up in industrial revolutions of the 19th century. Now the rock murmurs no more, and only the story remains.