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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 that abruptly open up, follow 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
kilometers 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.
Photo: The Lemberg mountain near Bad Münster am Stein
lies 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 Lemberg
vantage point one has an unparalleled view over the Nahe Valley and Hunsrück.
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