THIS TIME, WE'RE GOING MEDIEVAL,

CRUISING RIVER GORGES STEEPED IN LEGEND

AND CLIMBING CASTLES

IN THE MOST ROMANTIC CORNERS OF GERMANY.

THIS TIME WE'RE ENJOYING THE CHARMS

OF GERMANY'S VILLAGES AND EVOCATIVE RUINS.

WHILE MOST OF THIS COUNTRY IS AN URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL POWERHOUSE,

THIS EPISODE IS ALL ABOUT STORYBOOK GERMANY.

AFTER CRUISING THROUGH A FAIRY-TALE WORLD

OF RHINE LEGENDS,

WE'LL CLIMB THROUGH MY FAVORITE CASTLE IN ALL OF EUROPE,

AND CHECK OUT A SLEEPY AND LAID-BACK ALTERNATIVE

TO THE RHINE.

WE SAMPLE FINE RHINE WINE,

LEARN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS,

AND EXPLORE THE BEST-PRESERVED MEDIEVAL TOWN IN GERMANY,

WITH SOME HELP FROM THE NIGHT WATCHMAN.

GERMANY, ABOUT THE SIZE OF MONTANA,

WITH OVER TWICE THE POPULATION OF CALIFORNIA,

IS THE HEART OF EUROPE.

THIS TIME WE FOCUS ON GERMANY'S ROMANTIC RHINE REGION.

WE'LL CRUISE THE MOST CASTLE-STUDDED

STRETCH OF THE RHINE,

VISITING ST. GORE, BACHARACH, AND KOBLENZ

BEFORE EXPLORING THE MOSEL RIVER AND THE ELTZ CASTLE.

THEN WE VENTURE EAST TO ROTHENBURG.

WHILE THE RHINE IS OVER 800 MILES LONG,

THE 36-MILE STRETCH FROM MAINZ TO KOBLENZ

IS BY FAR THE MOST INTERESTING, AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE EXPLORING.

IT'S NO COINCIDENCE

THAT THE GREAT MEDIEVAL SIGHTS OF EUROPE

LIE ALONG THE IMPORTANT TRADING ROUTES LIKE THE RHINE.

IT TOOK BIG MONEY TO BUILD THE STRUCTURES

THAT WE TRAVELERS WOULD MARVEL AT CENTURIES LATER.

SINCE ANCIENT TIMES,

THE RHINE HAS BEEN ONE OF THE WORLD'S BUSIEST RIVERS

AND THIS REGION'S MAJOR TRADING ROUTE.

TODAY THERE'S A STEADY FLOW OF BARGES WITH THOUSAND-TON LOADS,

WHILE BUSY TRAIN TRACKS AND HIGHWAYS LINE BOTH BANKS,

ALL UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF ONCE-MIGHTY CASTLES.

MANY OF THE CASTLES WERE ROBBER BARON CASTLES,

EXTORTION STOPS, BUILT BY PETTY PRINCES AND TWO-BIT RULERS

BACK WHEN THERE WERE 350 INDEPENDENT LITTLE STATES

IN WHAT IS TODAY GERMANY.

THE SHIPSHAPE PFALZ CASTLE, ACTUALLY BUILT MID-STREAM,

EFFECTIVELY TAXED RIVER TRAFFIC.

ITS TOWN GREW RICH AS THE CASTLE

RAISED ITS HEAVY CHAINS ACROSS THE RIVER

WHEN BOATS CAME

AND LOWERED THEM

ONLY WHEN THE MERCHANTS HAD PAID THEIR DUTY.

ALONG THIS STRETCH, THERE WERE CUSTOM STOPS LIKE THIS

ABOUT EVERY SIX MILES.

NO WONDER MERCHANTS WERE EARLY SUPPORTERS

OF THE CREATION OF LARGER NATION STATES.

IN THE MIDDLE AGES, EMPERORS, POPES, AND THESE LITTLE PRINCES

WERE JOCKEYING FOR POWER AROUND EUROPE.

IN GERMANY, THE EMPERORS CONTROLLED THE PRINCES.

BUT IN THE 11th CENTURY,

THE POPE ESTABLISHED HIS POWER OVER THE EMPEROR.

THIS ALLOWED THE LITTLE GERMAN PRINCES TO GO WILD

AND BUILD ALL THESE CASTLES.

THAT'S WHY MOST OF THE CASTLES ALONG THE RHINE

DATE FROM THIS ERA.

A COUPLE HUNDRED YEARS LATER,

AS THE EMPEROR BEGAN REASSERTING HIS CONTROL

OVER THE PRINCES, THESE CASTLES SAW ACTION.

WHILE THE CASTLES SURVIVED THESE BATTLES,

MOST WERE DESTROYED LATER BY THE FRENCH

BECAUSE THEY FEARED A STRONG GERMANY,

AND THEY FELT THE RHINE WAS THE LOGICAL BORDER

BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES.

IN THE ROMANTIC AGE, THE LATE 1800s,

MEDIEVAL THINGS WERE IN VOGUE

AND MANY OF THE RUINS WERE REBUILT.

TODAY THE RHINE CASTLES ARE ENJOYED AS RESTAURANTS,

HOTELS,

HOSTELS,

AND MUSEUMS.

AND TRAVELERS CRUISE THE RIVER JUST TO CASTLE-WATCH.

TOUR BOATS COME AND GO ABOUT HOURLY.

VARIOUS LINES EACH HAVE THEIR OWN DOCKS

AND ADVERTISE THEIR OWN SCHEDULES.

BUYING TICKETS FROM A KIOSK BEFORE BOARDING,

TOURISTS CAN PUT TOGETHER THEIR OWN HOP-ON AND HOP-OFF TOURS

OF THIS MOST ROMANTIC STRETCH OF THE RHINE.

ALONG WITH TRANSPORTING CAMERA-TOTING TOURISTS,

THE RHINE MOVES A STEADY FLOW OF CARGO

TO THE WORLD'S BIGGEST PORT, ROTTERDAM,

WHICH WAITS AT THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER.

BARGE WORKERS ARE ALMOST A SUBCULTURE.

MANY OWN THEIR OWN SHIPS.

THE CAPTAIN AND HIS FAMILY LIVE IN THE STERN,

CAR PARKED ON THE ROOFTOP.

THE CREW LIVES IN THE BOW.

LOGICALLY, IMPORTS LIKE OIL GO UPSTREAM,

AND EXPORTS LIKE GERMAN MANUFACTURED GOODS

GO DOWNSTREAM.

THE POWERFUL RHINE HAS LONG BEEN TREACHEROUS TO NAVIGATE.

BOATS GENERALLY PASS ON THE RIGHT.

SINCE DOWNSTREAM SHIPS CAN'T STOP OR MANEUVER AS FREELY,

UPSTREAM BOATS ARE EXPECTED TO DO THE TRICKY DO-SI-DO WORK.

LARGE TRIANGULAR SIGNALS

POSTED BEFORE TROUBLESOME BLIND BENDS IN THE RIVER

WARN OF ONCOMING SHIPS.

EACH TRIANGLE COVERS A SEGMENT OF THE BEND,

THE LOWEST TRIANGLE BEING THE NEAREST.

THEY WARN OF APPROACHING SHIPS.

IF THE BOTTOM SIDE OF A TRIANGLE IS LIT,

THAT SECTOR IS EMPTY.

BUT IF THE LEFT SIDE IS LIT,

THERE'S AN ONCOMING SHIP IN THAT SECTOR.

THE MOST DANGEROUS BEND IN THE RIVER

SWINGS AROUND A ROCKY BLUFF CALLED THE LORELEI.

BECAUSE OF REEFS JUST UPSTREAM,

MANY SHIPS NEVER MADE IT SAFELY PAST THE LORELEI

AND THE ROCKY CLIFF REMAINS STEEPED IN MYTH.

SAILORS BLAMED THEIR MISFORTUNE ON A Fräulein -- SO wunderbar --

HER LONG, BLONDE HAIR ALMOST COVERED HER BODY.

THIS LEGENDARY SIREN FLIRTED

AND SANG HER DISTRACTING SONGS FROM THIS ROCK.

JUST DOWN RIVER FROM THE LORELEI

IS THE PLEASANT TOWN OF ST. GOAR,

FOUNDED IN THE 6th CENTURY BY A MONK

FAMOUS FOR HIS HOSPITALITY.

ACCORDING TO LEGEND, EARLY SAILORS WOULD STOP HERE

FOR A REST AND A PRAYER OF THANKS

AFTER SURVIVING THE SEDUCTIVE AND TREACHEROUS LORELEI.

TODAY ST. GOAR IS A TOURIST TOWN.

ITS ONLY HAZARD, STREETS OF SHOPPING OPPORTUNITIES.

THIS SHOP BRAGS

IT HAS THE WORLD'S LARGEST FREE-HANGING CUCKOO CLOCK.

THIS ONE SPECIALIZES IN STEINS.

RHEINFELS CASTLE SITS LIKE A DEAD PIT BULL ABOVE ST. GORE.

ONCE THE BIGGEST AND MIGHTIEST CASTLE ON THE RHINE,

RHEINFELS RUMBLES WITH GHOSTS FROM ITS HARD-FOUGHT PAST.

WHILE IT WITHSTOOD A SIEGE OF 28,000 FRENCH TROOPS IN 1692,

THE FRENCH FINALLY DESTROYED IT A CENTURY LATER.

TODAY THIS HOLLOW, BUT FASCINATING, SHELL

OFFERS YOUR BEST HANDS-ON, RUINED-CASTLE EXPERIENCE

ON THE RIVER.

DURING THE PRE-GUNPOWDER GLORY DAYS OF CASTLES,

DEFENSES WERE BETTER THAN OFFENSES.

THE BEST WAY TO BEAT A CASTLE LIKE THIS

WAS A LONG, BORING, STARVE-'EM-OUT SIEGE.

THEREFORE, A CASTLE NEEDED TO BE WELL-STOCKED

AND SELF-SUFFICIENT.

IMAGINE THIS COURTYARD 500 YEARS AGO.

IT HAD A BAKERY, PHARMACY, HERB GARDEN, LIVESTOCK, A WELL,

EVEN A BREWERY.

DURING TIMES OF PEACE, A COUPLE HUNDRED PEOPLE LIVED HERE.

BUT DURING A SIEGE, AS MANY AS 4,000 PEOPLE

WOULD PACK WITHIN THESE WALLS,

HOPING TO HAVE ENOUGH PROVISIONS TO OUTWAIT THEIR ATTACKERS.

IN ITS HEYDAY, THESE WALLS,

WHITEWASHED AND GLEAMING IN THE SUN, FLAGS FLYING HIGH,

MUST HAVE EXASPERATED ATTACKERS CAMPED OUTSIDE FOR SO LONG.

IF YOU MISS YOUR BOAT,

HOURLY TRAINS CONNECT RIVERSIDE TOWNS QUICKLY AND CHEAPLY.

THE HISTORIC TOWN OF BACHARACH MAKES A FINE HOME BASE

FOR EXPLORING THIS REGION.

HERR JUNG, BACHARACH'S RETIRED SCHOOLMASTER,

IS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE.

OVER THE YEARS,

HE'S ENJOYED SHOWING MY TOUR GROUPS AROUND TOWN.

NOT MANY PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN.

NO, WE ARE A SMALL TOWN,

BUT IN MEDIEVAL TIMES WE ARE A BIG TOWN.

WE HAVE 3,000 INHABITANTS.

IT WAS A BIG TOWN AND A FAMOUS TOWN.

THIS WAS THE CAPITAL ONCE OF GERMANY.

AND FOR TWO YEARS THIS WAS THE RESIDENCE

OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPERORS.

Rick: ACTUALLY, THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR

RULED FROM HERE?

Herr Jung: YA.