On the plain at the foot of the hill of Godesberg and at the distance of an
eighth of a mile from the river, a shelving cornfield intervening, stand
three large hotels and a ridotto, all striking edifices. To the south of
these is situated a large wood. These hotels are always full of company in
the summer and autumn: they come here to drink the mineral waters, a
species of Seltzer, the spring of which is about a quarter of a mile
distant from the hotels. The hotel at which we put up bears the name of
_Die schoene Aussicht_ (la Belle Vue) and well does it deserve the name; for
it commands a fine view of the reaches of the river, north and south.
Directly on the opposite bank, abruptly rising, is the superb and
magnificent chain of mountains called the _Sieben Gebirge_ or Seven
Mountains. On the summit of these mountains tower the remains of Gothic
castles or keeps, still majestic, tho' in ruins, and frowning on the plains
below; they bring to one's recollection the legends and chronicles of the
Middle Ages. They bear terrible awe-inspiring names such as Drachenfels,
Loewenberg; the highest of them is called Drachenfels or the Rock of Dragons
and on it stood the Burg or Chateau of a Feudal Count or _Raubgraf_, who
was the terror of the surrounding country, and has given rise to a very
interesting romance called _The Knights of the Seven Mountains_.
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