The story of the Loreley is as much a part of the Rheintal (Rhine-valley) as the wine. High in the cliffs near the town St. Goarshausen you can find the home of Germany’s most famous femme fatale, immortalised by Heinrich Heines in his 1824 poem Loreley.

Perched on the cliffs of the Rhine, combing her long golden hair, the blond beauty supposedly cast such a spell on the passing ship crews that they would forget themselves and dash their ships on the rocks. The story is based on reality, albeit a less romantic one. This point of the Rhine was very narrow and had dangerous shallows making the journey past the Loreley cliffs indeed a perilous one.