From just outside the world famous Christmas shop in the centre of Rudesheim you can take a cable car over the vineyards and up to the Niederwald monument. The tourist office sells a round trip ticket that includes the cable car up and  a chair lift back down to the next village, Assmannshausen. Then you walk through the small village to the the river and get a  boat ride back to Rudesheim.

At the Top

The huge  Niederwald  monument is 125 feet tall. It’s a statue of Germania built  to commemorate the foundation of the German empire at the end of the Franco-Prussian war. In one hand she holds the crown of the emperor and in the other the imperial sword. She stands in a beautiful landscaped park that contains the  Neiderwald temple. This was built in 1790 apparently as a source of inspiration for intellectuals! It was destroyed in the second world war but rebuilt in 2006 . It does make you feel like you’re in a romantic painting. The rich in those days must have  really had fun. Further into the woods there’s a little tumbledown  hermit cottage built so they could play at self sufficiency on the odd Sunday afternoon with nothing else to do.

Back Down

   From the statue you can walk  along the top of the hill through thick woods and following the signposts until  you come to the chair lift station to take you back down to Assmannshausen.

This little town looks  like a fairy tale but it is much too quiet to stay for  long so after a coffee in the only open bar we went in search of our boat back to Rudesheim.

A relaxing cruise past the now familiar castles to us  back to our home for the week.

A very satisfactory morning.