Virtual Sightseeing

Auf den Spuren der Roten Maus

Taking a stroll through Bingen is fascinating, not only because of the places of interest and the splendid views, but also because shopping is so relaxing.
We invite you to join in the circular tour of the town.
With the help of the guide “Auf den Spuren der Roten maus” you can have a relaxing stroll through the town within 2 hours and get to know the places of interest.


The tour starts at the Tourist Information Office and through the Leitergässchen we come to Mainzer Straße.


At the travel agency we go right to Café Röthgen and then to the left to the entrance of the Burggraben (castle moat or ditch).


Here at the base of the castle it is peacefully quiet in the middle of the town. Through the Burggraben, a cared-for green area, we arrive after a short while at Burg Klopp (Klopp Castle), now the location of the town administration.
The 53-metre deep castle well is worth looking at as well as numerous Roman milestones, which indicate the founders of the town.


From Klopp Castle there is a magnificent view of the town, the mouth of the River Nahe, the Mäuseturm and the ruins of Ehrenfels Castle at the gateway to the romantic Rhine and the vine-covered slopes of the Rheingau on the opposite side of the river. The proud Germania greets you from the Niederwald. The eyes pan to the right to Rüdesheim and the abbey of St Hildegard in Eibingen, once a sister convent to the Rupertsberg convent of St Hildegard von Bingen. Then we follow the course of the river in the direction of Mainz and see the Rochus Chapel on Rochusberg (Rochus Hill).


We go down the steps to Bürgermeister-Neff-Platz. There we turn left to go to Zehnthofstraße and to the River Nahe.


We cross the road and walk along the River Nahe then left to the Drususbrücke (Drusus Bridge), named after the Roman commander-in-chief Drusus, who built the first wooden bridge over the Nahe in Bingen.
The bridge is one of the oldest stone bridges in Germany. In the right bridge pile there is the bridge chapel, in which travelers for centuries prayed for a safe journey.


We now follow the Nahe in the direction of the mouth of the river and soon reach the largest church in Bingen, the basilica.


The St Martin basilica, a present for the abbey in Lorsch, was first mentioned in 793. In 883 the Roman construction was destroyed and newly dedicated in 1220. When fire broke out on 14 August 1403, almost the complete church was raised to the ground. Three decades later a new Gothic-style St Martin’s church was finished. As St Martin’s was a collegiate church , it became a parish church for everyone in 1505. In the following years the church experienced many changes to its structure. The altars and ecclesiastical treasure were either stolen or sold. On 1 April 1930 Pope Pius XI awarded the church the title of basilica. After the bombing in 1944 the vaulted roof of the main nave and a part of the high altar collapsed.

We now leave the basilica and turn right at the cemetery.


Directly in front of us is a lovely Tudor-style building, commonly known as “Hawwerkaschte”, which indicates its earlier use as a grain store. The sign on the building “Stefan-George-Haus” explains the present significance of the building. Inside there is a small Stefan George museum, which shows the works of the author, who was born in Bingen-Büdesheim.


We now walk back to the Nahe, turn right and cross the road and go along the asphalt path to the junction of the rivers Nahe and Rhine.


The Rhine-Nahe-Eck (junction) reveals the whole beauty of the Rhine Valley with the hallmark of the town, the Mäuseturm and the ruins of Ehrenfels Castle on the other side of the river. Since 2002 the Upper Middle-Rhine Valley between Koblenz and Bingen has been on the list of the Unesco World Heritage.


We wander along the Rhine and watch the ships sailing along the Rhine, which is Europe’s busiest waterway.

 
Not far away we reach the Rheintal-Kongress-Zentrum (Rhine Valley Congress Centre) and the historical museum on the river – Hildegard von Bingen. Here the life and work of the most important woman in the Middle Ages are displayed. Among other exhibits there is a model of the Rupertsberg convent, which was destroyed. Other departments in the museum are dedicated to Rhine Romanticism and the surgical instruments used in the days of the Romans.


We wander further along the Rhine in the direction of the car ferry and can experience the first impressions of the Garden Show 2008.


Opposite the railway station in the town we reach the old crane. We know that there was crane here in the 15th century. The present swivel crane with its cantilever arm was built in 1613, in accordance with plans by the master builder, Riedinger from Aschaffenburg.


From this point it is only a few minutes away from to where we began the tour or to the pedestrian precinct in Bingen, where there are numerous cafés and restaurants, which invite you to stay awhile.