Dear friends and followers,

one of the most popular tourism attractions in my area is the so called "Drachenfels" (Dragon's Rock), which is a 321 metres (1,053 ft) high hill of the seven hills in the Siebengebirge south of Bonn (between Königswinter and Bad Honnef) in Germany.

The hill was formed by rising magma that could not break through to the surface, and then cooled and became solid underneath. It is the subject of much tourism and romanticism in the North Rhine-Westphalia area.

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The Drachenfelsbahn Railway

The Drachenfels is considered the "most climbed mountain in Europe" - even if this is not proven by figures and most visitors do not even climb it, but rather go to the top with a rack railway.

[The] top [...] can be reached by the Drachenfelsbahn, a rack railway built in the 19th century to satisfy demand from growing tourism. The Drachenfels is sometimes irreverently called Schwiegermutterfelsen (mother-in-law rock) or jokingly referred to as "the highest hill in Holland" because of its popularity among Dutch tourists. It is the first substantial elevation one encounters when traveling upstream on the Rhine from the Netherlands.

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To the left you can see the Drachenfelsbahn with the Posttower and the UN Campus of Bonn in the background. To the right you can see a part of the 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long single track line.

The line has a track gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) and uses the Riggenbach rack design to overcome a height difference of 220 m (722 ft) and a maximum gradient of 20%.

The line opened 1883 using steam locomotives and was converted to electric traction in 1953.

The Donkey Trail

The traditional way to reach the top of the Drachenfels is the so-called Donkey Trail. This steep path was presumably already used by Roman stonemasons in sections. Children were able to ride donkeys here, which are regarded as a hallmark of the Dragon Rock.

Right now, the donkey trail has been closed for safety reasons due to the acute rockfall hazard caused by rock movements.

However you reach the top, you will be rewarded with stunning view over the Rhine.

The Rhine Islands

To the left, you can see the Nonnenwerth island, which is mainly known as the site of a monastery of Benedictine nuns, later a Franciscan convent and a private Gymnasium school.

The island to the right is called Grafenwerth and it is mostly used as a park, but there is even a public open-air bath on it.

Panorama View

Here is a panorama, I have shot with my iPhone.

And this sign gives you an overview of what you see.

Radar Dome

For example the dome of the Space observation radar in Wachtberg.

It might be handy to use one of the telescopes, to spot some more details.

Cologne Cathredal

Like the famous Cologne Cathedral, which you can guess to the north.

The Cologne Cathedral was partly build with trachyte stones from the Drachenfels quarries, which had been transported by the donkeys of the Drachenfels and transported by barges on the river Rhine to Cologne.

The ruins of Burg Drachenfels

That should be enough for the first part of my series. In the next part I will tell you more about those orange guys and the ruins of Burg Drachenfels (which you can see behind them).

_{All images (except the panorama) shot with my Canon Rebel T5i, postprocessed with Adobe Lightroom and Fotor Photo Editor.}

Thanks for watching!

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