On The Plain At The Foot Of The Hill Of Godesberg And At The Distance Of An
Eighth Of A Mile From The River, A Shelving Cornfield Intervening, Stand
Three Large Hotels And A Ridotto, All Striking Edifices.
To the south of
these is situated a large wood.
These hotels are always full of company in
the summer and autumn: they come here to drink the mineral waters, a
species of Seltzer, the spring of which is about a quarter of a mile
distant from the hotels. The hotel at which we put up bears the name of
Die schoene Aussicht (la Belle Vue) and well does it deserve the name; for
it commands a fine view of the reaches of the river, north and south.
Directly on the opposite bank, abruptly rising, is the superb and
magnificent chain of mountains called the Sieben Gebirge or Seven
Mountains. On the summit of these mountains tower the remains of Gothic
castles or keeps, still majestic, tho' in ruins, and frowning on the plains
below; they bring to one's recollection the legends and chronicles of the
Middle Ages. They bear terrible awe-inspiring names such as Drachenfels,
Loewenberg; the highest of them is called Drachenfels or the Rock of Dragons
and on it stood the Burg or Chateau of a Feudal Count or Raubgraf, who
was the terror of the surrounding country, and has given rise to a very
interesting romance called The Knights of the Seven Mountains. This
feudal tyrant used to commit all sorts of depredations and descend into the
plains below, in order to intercept the convoys of merchandize passing
between Aix-la-Chapelle and Frankfort.
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