The Rhine Trivia Quiz

Answer: South-east to north-west

Many other major rivers in North-West and Northern continental Europe flow in much the same direction, for example, the Oder, the Elbe, the Weser, the Meuse (Maas), the Seine and the Loire.

Answer: St. Gotthard

The other main source is the Hinterrhein (or in Romansch, Rein Anterier). Both are in Canton Graubünden (sometimes called Les Grisons). The source of the Vorderrhein is Lake Toma, that of the Hinterrhein is the Rheinwaldhorn Glacier at a height of just over 11,000 feet.

Answer: The North Sea

To most intents and purposes the Rhine and the Maas (Meuse) have what might best be described as a joint estuary. (Most good maps and atlases indicate clearly that it is a 'joint' estuary).

Answer: 820 miles

By comparison with some of the major rivers in the Americas, Asia and Africa, it's not very long, but this doesn't detract from its signficance.

Answer: Schaffhausen

Here the Rhine plunges over 20 metres (70 feet) in series of spectacular cataracts.

Never confuse der 'Rheinfall' with 'der Reinfall' (pl. "e)! The latter means 'flop', 'non-event' or 'disaster' (in the sense of something that falls well short of expectations.

Answer: Hameln

Hameln is on the Weser. Small sea-going vessels can travel upstream as far as Mannheim. Duisburg, at the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr, has for a long time been one of the busiest inland ports in the world, despite the decline in the German coal mining and steel making industries, and Rotterdam is Europe's busiest port.

Answer: The Inn

The Inn flows into the Danube. The Neckar flows into the Rhine at Mannheim, the Main joins it near Wiesbaden and the Ruhr at Duisburg.

Answer: Lorelei

In medieval German legend this rock hid the treasure of the Nibelungs. In the 19th century it was popularized, in particular in a poem by Heinrich Heine, 'Die Loreley', written in 1823 and set to music by Friedrich Silcher. (There are also poems on the Lorelei by Bretano and Eichendorff.

In the modern legend the Lorelei is a 'femme fatale' whose seductive singing lures boatmen to shipwreck and death).

Answer: The Lek, which becomes the New Maas

The Lek/New Maas flows into the sea at Hook of Holland (Hoek van Holland). The Waal/Maas merges with another arm of the Maas to form the Merwede and flows into Hollands Diep, which is an inlet of the North Sea. The Crooked (or Old) Rhine flows northwards from the Lek, runs through Utrecht and flows into the sea at Katwijk, north of Scheveningen.

The Scheldt flows to the west of the Rhine and for most of its course flows through Belgium. The chief port on the Scheldt is Antwerp.

Answer: Baedeker's

At the time Karl Baedeker's publishing house was in Koblenz. In 1828 he bought the copyright of a book entitled "Rheinreisen von Mainz bis Köln: Handbuch für Schnellreisende" (best translated simply as "The Rhine from Mainz to Cologne. A Handbook for Tourists [literally 'quick travellers']" written a few years before by Johann Adam Klein.

There was nothing new about describing the course of the Rhine, and a number of earlier descriptions, often with charming plates, are available. What was new about Klein's book, and even more so when Baedeker revised it, was the inclusion of detailed practical advice for travellers. Baedeker's next venture was a book on the Mosel from Trier to Koblenz.