The romantic Nahe valley
The headwaters of the Nahe river lie in a forest valley, 460 m above sea level,
above the village of Selbach in the Saarland district of St. Wendel. The constantly
changing landscape with its extensive forests, narrow ravines, and wide floodplains
which open up abruptly, accompanies the river on its 112 km route to the Rhine.
On the upper Nahe, in the
Idar-Oberstein
area, one finds semi-precious stones such as agates, amethysts, mountain crystals
and chalcedony, which were commercially mined until the end of the 19th Century.
In
Kirn,
the next largest small town, there is a splendid view from the ruins of Kyrburg.
A little downstream from
Bad Sobernheim,
at the foot of
Disibodenberg,
the largest tributary, the water-rich Glan, flows into the Nahe. In the Glan
valley lies
Meisenheim,
with an old town from the Middle Ages which is worth seeing. From Disibodenberg,
the Nahe flows onwards to
Bad Münster am Stein
and
Bad Kreuznach,
where saltwater springs are the basis for the health and spa industry. In
the past, these saltwater springs also served as sources for salt (salt works
and graduation houses). A few kilometres northwest of Bad Kreuznach, in the
Ellerbach valley, lies
Sponheim
with the former monastery Church of St. Martin, the most significant Romanesque
building in the Nahe-Hunsrück region. Near
Bingen
the Nahe finally reaches the Rhine.
Above is a picture from Lemberg, which is near Bad Münster am Stein in the
middle of a 100,000-hectare nature reserve with steep mountain slopes covered by
enormous amounts of scree and many rare plants. From the peak of Lemberg one has an
unparalleled view of the Nahe Valley below as well as over a wide part of
Hunsrück.
A picture book worth seeing: Naheland Impressionen;
Kreisverwaltung Bad Kreuznach, 1994
