Bacharach is an incredibly well preserved, not to mention pretty, medieval town on the western bank of the Rhine. It’s famed for its historic centre of half-timbered buildings topped by a castle, and surrounded by steep hills covered in terraced vineyards. It’s hard to imagine a more picturesque spot, but since it sits in the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, it has a bit of competition.
The town still has some of its medieval walls and towers, including medieval fortified gates. It leaves you with the distinct impression that Bacharach has seen turbulent times and had a lot of wealth to protect. Today, the population hovers close to 1,000 people, but in its 15th century heyday when trade along the Rhine brought riches and political power, the population was a sizeable 6,000 residents.
There were never entirely peaceful times, but until the 17th century Bacharach’s towers and walls gave it some security. Then came the Reformation and decades of war between Catholics and Protestants. Death and destruction, famine and disease, followed in the wake of marauding armies in a conflict we know today as the Thirty Years’ War. The Holy Roman Empire, from which Germany was formed, suffered more than most.
Protestant Bacharach was no exception. It was occupied by different armies – Swedes, French, Spanish and German – and suffered terrible deprivations. It was the French though, in 1689, in a different war, who blew up Stahleck Castle and four of the town’s towers. Bacharach sunk into obscurity in the 18th century, its population much reduced and trade passing it by. Ironically, it was its ruined castle that sparked a town revival.
There is nothing the Romantic movement loved more than a ruined castle on a hilltop overlooking a mighty river. Bacharach fit the bill perfectly. Even Victor Hugo visited. The castle was renovated and repaired in the 20th century and became a youth hostel. Victor Hugo stood beneath the ruined castle and later wrote: “This is Bacharach, land of fairy tales, covered with legends and sagas.”
We strolled through the quiet (it was April) cobbled streets lined with half-timbered houses. After a few days of sunshine the clouds had gathered on our trip to Bacharach, but the weather was warm enough to sit outside for lunch. No one fancies doing much exercise after a traditional German lunch, but we did a bit more exploring on our way back to the river to meet our boat back to Rüdesheim.
Taking a boat trip on the Rhine is something of a rite of passage, and our journey from Rüdesheim to Bacharach and back offered fabulous views of hill top castles, attractive villages, vineyards, and lots of other boats. It always comes as a surprise to learn how much commerce is still conducted on Europe’s waterways. We saw dozens of barges carrying containers, building materials, chemicals and liquified gas.
The boat we took was a large day cruiser with three levels, a restaurant and bar: you can enjoy a glass of Riesling as you sail past the vineyards that produced it. Our boat was a linienfahrten service, stopping at different places along the river. If you feel like it, you can jump off and explore any of the towns and then either get the next boat or, as we did, have lunch and then get a boat back.
We first stopped at Bingen before sailing between the Mouse Tower and the ruined castle of Burgruine Ehrenfels. We were soon stopping at Assmannshausen, home to famous Spätburgunder wines, before passing Rheinstein and Reichenstein Castles. There was a stop in historic Lorch before passing the ruin of Fürstenberg Castle just before we landed in Bacharach. The view from the boat over the town was magnificent.
