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Sankt Goar
Sankt
Goar is located on the west bank of the Rhine near Burg Rheinfels.
Not far from Sankt
Goar you’ll find the famous Lorelei
rock cliff where rocksbelow the surface of the river have caused a
hazard for shipping for centuries.
Goar, the saint after
whom the
town is named, settled here in the sixth century A.D. and became a
hermit (although he
was known for his generous hospitality and reputedly established an inn
for travelers and for the poor). There is a church standing today,
which was originally constructed by Charlemagne, over the site where
St. Goar built his chapel. It houses some notable ancient artifacts.
The Rheinfels castle
was built in
1245 by Count Dieter V. von Katzenelnbogen, whose family
administered
the settlement that had grown up around the original chapel and hostel
of
Sankt Goar. Like other castle proprietors along this stretch of river,
the von Katzenelnbogens generated income to support the settlement and
the castle by extracting tolls from ships as they passed. The same
family came into possession of the Marksburg
castle in 1283.
Sankt Goar offers a
range of attractive lodging
options, not least of which is
Burg Rheinfels itself. It’s
also an interesting place to shop for such items as cuckoo clocks and
beer steins.
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Sankt
Goar
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The cruise ship La Boheme passes by the town of Sankt Goar.