Mainz was the cradle of the art of Printing, and the birth-place and residence of John Gensfleisch, called Gutemberg, the discoverer or inventor of moveable types. In 1837 a bronze statue of Gutemberg, modelled by Thorwaldsen, a Dane, and cast at Paris by a Frenchman, was erected in the open space opposite the Theatre. The expenses (26,000 fl.) were defrayed by subscriptions from all parts of Europe. Gutemberg's house no longer exists; but upon its site stands the Civil Casino, a club or reading-room at the end of the Schuster Gasse, the members of which have erected a small statue of him. Gensfleisch (literally, goose-flesh) was born between 1393 and 1400, in the corner house between the Emmeran St. and the Pfandhaus St., which still exists, and his first printing-office, from 1443 to 1450, is the house called Hof zum Jungen, or Färberhof.

He

in time of peace as a barrack; but in case of war the roof can be removed, and the upper platform mounted with cannon. There is a heavy toll for carriages passing the bridge.

Railway to Frankfurt in 1 hour; to Wiesbaden by Biebrich in 16 minutes-Trains 6 times a-day. (Rte. 99.) Eilwagen daily to Darmstadt; to Coblenz; to Worms; to Saarbruck, Metz, and Paris. (Rte. 101.)

The excursions, to be made from Mayence are, to Frankfurt by railway; to Wiesbaden ditto (6 m.), visiting the Château and Garden of Biebrich on the way. (Rte. 99.)

Steam-boats go from Mayence several times a-day to Coblenz and Cologne, twice a day to Manheim during summer, and daily to Strasburg (see Rte. 102.).

ROUTE 39.

WEILER AND ALTENAHR.

The English Church service is performed every Sunday by a clergyman licensed by the Bishop of London, in the Lycée, formerly Jesuits' College.

Near the village of Zahlbach, about a mile beyond the Gauthor, are considerable remains of a Roman aqueduct nearly 3000 ft. long, which conveyed water to supply the garrison: 62 pillars remain, but it is said to have originally consisted of 500. The reservoir which it fed is hardly to be detected at present in a small pond near the Gauthor, called the Duck-puddle (Entenpfuhle).

Excellent Hochheimer and Rhine wine may be procured at the house of Hoffman. Von Zabern, bookseller, has a good collection of guide-books, maps, and prints.

A bridge of boats, 1666 ft. long, over the Rhine, unites Mainz to Cassel, or Castel (Castellum Drusi), a busy and flourishing faubourg, strongly fortified as a tête de pont. At the extremity of the

From Remagen to Altenahr, by the carriage road along the valley of the Ahr. 4 Germ. m. 19 Eng. m. - by the bridle road over the hill direct, 33 Germ. m. = 17 Eng. m.

The scenery of the Ahr valley is by many esteemed equal in beauty to that of the Rhine. By means of excellent roads it may be explored with the utmost ease and convenience.

Schnellpost daily to Altenahr, in 4 hours.

A carriage may be hired at the Preussischer Hof in Remagen, with 1 horse, to Altenabr and back, for 3 thal. Passengers by the steamer may land at Linz, and crossing the Rhine to Kripp engage a carriage there, or start from Sinzig.

The pedestrian may find a direct road over the hills from Bonn to Altenahr, by the Kreuzberg, Ippendorf, Röttgen, and Meckenheim, or landing from the steamer at Remagen, after seeing the church on the Apollinarisberg may walk over the shoulder of the hill, and join the carriage road at Heppingen; those who travel in a carriage will fol

1

low the road on the 1. bank of the Rhine, as far as Remagen (p. 274.).

Between Remagen and Sinzig the Ahr in summer often dries up to a mere thread, but swelling in winter to a furious torrent, enters the Rhine. A carriage road, turning off abruptly at the bridge of Sinzig, ascends the valley along the 1. bank of the stream, passing through Bodendorf and Lorsdorf; and under the basalt-capped hill of Landskron. The ruined walls on its summit are those of a castle, built 1205 by the Emp. Philip of Hohenstauffen during the war between him and Otho of Brunswick, for the Imperial crown, 11981206. Hence, during these wars of Guelph and Ghibelline, his troops attacked the Archb. of Cologne, and laid waste the neighbouring towns. It was destroyed by the French 1689; only its chapel escaped, partly built over a cave lined with basaltic columns, which serves as sacristy. There is a good view from this hill of the winding of the Ahr. Close by the road side, at Heppingen, there is a mineral spring. Below Ahrweiler the valley is tame and open, though rich and well cultivated.

2 Ahrweiler (12 m. from Remagen by the carriage road, 94 by the road over the hill). (Inns: Kreuzberg; the host has capital Ahrbleichart; - Kaiserlicher Hof; · Stern, good), a town of 2500 inhab., whose chief occupation and wealth are derived from their vineyards, which cover the slopes of the valley. Ahrweiler is the centre of the wine trade of the valley: the average annual produce is 19,000 ohms

=

about 74,000 English gallons. The situation of the town is pretty; it is still surrounded by walls, and is approached by 4 gates. The church is a beautiful Gothic edifice, with a treble choir (date 1245-74.) The town was burnt by the soldiers of Turenne, 1646, and suffered again from the French in 1688. The picturesque Calvarienberg, on the opposite side of the Ahr, is crowned with a Franciscan convent, which has been converted into an Ursuline nunnery, and occupied by sisters from Montjoie, who keep a ladies' school.

The gate tower at the entrance of the town from Walporzheim is an interesting object, well preserved externally.

66

At Walporzheim, the first village traversed by the road after leaving Ahrweiler, the Burgundy grape is cultivated, and produces a strong red wine, which is highly prized. Ahrbleichart (i. e. Bleich-roth, pale red). Here the valley contracts, and is hemmed in by rocky cliffs, and the wild and beautiful scenery which has obtained for the valley the name of Kleine Schweitz," begins. At Marienthal, to the rt. of the road, are the ruins of a convent. Above the road rise singularly formed, jagged precipices, 200 feet high, from which an isolated block, called die Bunte Kuh, projects over the road. A footpath leads over the hills from behind the village of Dernau to Altenahr; "the carriage road, now continued uninterruptedly along the 1. bank of the Ahr, passes in sight of the picturesque village of Rech, and under a rock crowned by the ruined castle of Saffenburg, to Mayschoss. The patient toil exerted in cultivating the vine on every accessible shelf of rock up the declivities of the hills around, is not surpassed in the most valuable vineyards on the Rhine. Here and at Lochmühle is the principal fishery of Rümpchen (minnows), the cyprinus phoxinus of naturalists, which are taken in baskets (like eel pouts) placed in weirs or dams of the river. They should not exceed an inch in length, and having been cooked in cider and water, are packed in baskets made of willow bark, which imparts to them the bitter flavour for which they are esteemed." The Ahr is also celebrated for its craw-fish and trout, which, however, are taken chiefly in its tributary streams. "The rocks at Lochmühle are low and narrow, and a passage has been cut through them by which the road passes without following the windings of the river round the projecting hill, but rejoins it on the other side of the cutting, The road then makes a nearly semicircular sweep along the river side, being supported on a wall washed by it."-T. H. reaching Altenahr, a most striking

Before

scene opens out: precipices of slate rock rise round to a height of 350 ft., partly wooded, partly covered with vines, and on their highest peak are perched the ruins of the Castle of Altenahr, the finest object in the whole valley. A footpath strikes off to the rt. above Reimerzhofen, and leads to the Cross, the best point of view in the valley, whence the castle is well seen. A path on the opposite side leads up to the castle, or down into Altenahr. The traveller should send on his carriage from this to Altenahr, and walk up to the cross. The precipitous rock, crowned by the castle, seems to deny all passage up the valley; the river sweeps round its base, and forms so complete a curve, that, after a course of a mile and a half, it almost returns to the same point. A tunnel 192 ft. long has been cut through the rock to allow the passage of the road.

12 Altenahr (Inns: Ulrich's, at the entrance of the town, and Caspari's are good and clean) is a village of 400 inhab. Ascend to the ruined Castle of Altenahr, above the town; the view will richly reward the trouble of the ascent. The traveller should then ascend the hill on the W. side of the valley, beyond the bridge of Altenahr, in order to command a full prospect of the winding course of the Ahr; the path, however, is steep.

Travellers having come to Altenahr in a carriage, or being unable to walk, will of course retrace their steps to the Rhine. A moderately good walker may cross the hills by a bridle-road, which, by the directions given below, he can easily find without a guide, provided he can speak a little German, from the vale of the Ahr to the abbey of Laach (7 stunden = 20 miles) (Rte. 40.), whence he should return to the Rhine through the pretty valley of Brohl, which ought not to be missed.

The carriage road from Altenahr up the valley proceeds by way of Altenburg, situated under a singular isolated rock, formerly crowned by a castle of the lords of the Ahr. The castle of Kreuzberg, with the village of the same name, presents a striking point

of view, and the church of Pützfeld, perched up in the rocks, with a singularly high steeple, is also very picturesque. The road continues through Brück and Hönningen to Dümpelfeld, where the Adenau falls into the Ahr, and the traveller proceeding to Treves, quits that river. The carriage road

ceases at

33 Adenau, a town of 1200 inhab., on one of the tributaries of the Ahr, under the mountain called Hohe Acht, 2434 ft. above the sea, and from which there is a fine view. Adenau itself contains nothing worth notice; but not far distant are the ruins of the castle of Nürberg, the finest and most extensive feudal stronghold in the Eifel. From hence the traveller may find his way to Mayen (p. 306.), passing another old castle, Virneburg, whose lords in ancient days, besides other possessions, were the proprietors of 23 villages.

The traveller proceeding on foot to the Abbey of Laach from Altenahr, should proceed up the valley on the road to Adenau by Altenburg and Pützfeld to Brück, and there turn to the eastward along the Hurein brook or Kesseling thal. He need not go along the road as far as Brück; but may if he pleases cross the shoulder of the hill above Pützfeld into the Kesseling valley. Proceed up this valley through Kesseling (2 hrs. from Altenahr) and Staffel; a little beyond which latter place, where a brook comes down a valley and falls into the Hurein, turn to the right, i. e. the S., and skirting along the side of the hill to the E. of the brook, proceed to Nieder Heckenbach. At the sign post in this village turn to the left to Ober Heckenbach, and so on to Hannebach. In passing over the high ground between these two places there is a fine view of the seven mountains: and just after leaving Hannebach the castle of Olbrück is seen standing out boldly on the left. From Hannebach proceed over the ridge to Engeln, thence over the high land in a S. E. direction to two crosses, or rather a broken cross, where the rt. hand road leads to Mayen, and that on the left to Laach. About 4 hr. further

on, a sign post at the entrance of a beech wood, points with one of its arms to Laach; plunge boldly into the wood, and after a short walk the lake and abbey burst upon you.

ROUTE 40.

THE LOWER EIFEL.

EXCURSION TO THE LAKE OF LAACH, MAYEN, AND LUTZERATH.

The traveller may leave the Rhine at Brohl, or Andernach (see p. 273.) Suppose he starts from Brohl, (where Nunn's inn is good,) a cross-road, but calculated for light carriages, ascends the beautiful, valley of Brohl, passing in succession Nippes, a hamlet named from the Dutch Nieuwe Huis, the paper mill and trim garden of M. Fuchs, the Trass mills and quarries, the Castle of Schweppenburg, once belonging to the counts of Metternich, beneath which are many spacious halls and cavernous chambers hollowed out of the rocks. Our path here turns out of the Brohlthal, diverging to the 1. into a side valley, in which issues forth the spring of Tönnisstein (44 m.), whose agreeable mineral water resembles those of Selters, but are more effervescent. Mixed with Rhenish wine and sugar it is very palatable. Near the spring stood an ancient Carmelite convent, almost concealed beneath cliffs of tuff stone and slate it was demolished, and the materials sold for their value, in 1829.

Numerous jets of carbonic gas issue out of the rocks in this neighbourhood, some of which have been ingeniously collected by the owner of a chemical manufactory, and are employed in his works. The scenery of the pretty winding valley is very pleasing as far as Wassenach, a small village (6 m. from Brohl), lying at the foot of the hills, whose interior includes the lake of Laach, and having an humble inn, Laacher Hof, where pike from the lake may generally be had. A continued ascent of about 1 m. from the village leads to the margin of the Laacher See, a most singular lake, of a nearly circular form,

supposed to occupy the crater of an extinct volcano, and nearly resembling the crater lake of Bolsena, in Italy. It lies 666 ft. above the Rhine, is about 1 m. long, and about 1 broad, its area being 1300 acres. The depth is great, increasing towards the centre, where a plumb-line sinks to 214 feet. There is a popular notion similar to that attached to the lake Avernus, in Italy, that no bird can fly over the Laacher See, in consequence of the poisonous vapours arising from it. This belief seems to have originated from the circumstance that a jet of carbonic acid gas issues from a scarcely perceptible opening on the N. E. side of the lake. It is the only remaining symptom of the volcanic action once so powerful in this district. Bodies of birds, squirrels, bats, toads, &c., have been found in a pit near this jet, killed by the noxious vapours, which resemble those of the Grotto del Cane, in Italy. The Laacher See is fed by numerous springs below the surface, which keep its basin constantly filled. It has no natural outlet; but the superfluous waters are carried off through a subterraneous canal or emissary, nearly 1 m. long, cut by the monks in the 12th century, after an inundation which threatened to overwhelm the abbey. A new tunnel is projected by the proprietor, to lay dry a portion of the lake bed.

The appearance of the deep blue lake, hemmed in on all sides by a ridge of hills completely covered with luxuriant wood down to the water's edge, is exceedingly imposing as well as singular. On a near examination its banks will be found to be scattered over with masses of scoriæ, cinders, ashes, and pumice, and other volcanic products. At the opposite extremity, in a quiet secluded nook, shut out as it were from the whole world, lies the deserted Abbey of Laach, a picturesque object, with its 5 towers. It was originally a very wealthy Benedictine Convent with more than 200 chambers. There were 52 monks at the time of Its its suppression by the French. revenue having been sequestrated at