Boppard

Geschichte

Boppard, formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.GeographyLocationBoppard lies on the upper Middle Rhine, often known as the Rhine Gorge. This characteristic narrow form of valley arose from downward erosion of the Rhine’s riverbed. Since 2002, the Gorge has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 17 km stretch of the Rhine forms the town’s eastern limit. Along this part of the river lie the outlying centres of Hirzenach and Bad Salzig, as well as the town’s main centre, also called Boppard.Directly north of Boppard, the Rhine takes its greatest bend. This bow is called the Bopparder Hamm, although this name is more commonly applied to the winegrowing area found along it. The best known lookout point over this bow in the Rhine is the Vierseenblick, or "Four-Lake View". This vista gets its name from the way in which the Rhine can be seen from here, or rather the way in which it cannot be seen: hills block out most of the view of the river itself so that visitors can only see four apparently separate patches of water, rather like four lakes. These are all actually parts of the Rhine; there are no lakes to be seen. The Vierseenblick can be reached by chairlift.