[Top left] Koblenz, the capital of Rhenish Prussia, is at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle, whence the Romans called it Confluentia. It is a powerful fortress, with heights crossed with enormous fortifications. The Palace contains interesting Electoral Hall and Festival Hall. The Rhine is crossed by a bridge of boats and by a very fine railway bridge. Across the Rhine is Ehrenbreitstein, (“Honor’s Broad Stone”), “The Gibraltar of the Rhine,” a vast fortress on a precipitous rock, 387 ft. above the river, and commanding a wonderful view. It has often been beleaguered but yielded only twice.
[Bottom left] STOLZENFELS.
[Top right] Stolzenfels (“Proud rock”), a fine castle of the middle ages, on a projecting rock overlooking the Rhine, belongs to the Royal Family of Prussia. It was presented by the city of Koblenz to King William IV. Here they say treasures are buried which Archbishop Werner acquired by his knowledge of alchemy. Fine view of the Lahn Valley and Koblenz.
[Center right] Ehrenbreitstein
[Bottom right] Braubach, an ancient little town, at the entrance of the valley that winds round the Marksberg, with a fine old Castle, the Marksburg, a fortress of the middle ages, one of the few ancient Rhine castles which escaped destruction.
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[Top left] St. Goarshausen is under the castle called The Cat, built in 1393, and blown up by the French in 1804. Above is the Lurlei rock, a precipice 433 ft. high, rising over whirlpools in the deepest and narrowest part of the Rhine, and the fabled seat of a siren who lured sailors to a tragic death.
[Bottom left] RHEINSTEIN