To get to the other sideback

 

Tel: 02173-99986-113

Crossing the River Rhine is not at all easy. Nowadays we mostly use bridges, so we don't really notice it much. But ask any lorry driver and he'll tell you that it's no joke when the ailing old bridge a few kilometres upstream from here at Leverkusen is closed for heavy goods vehicles. Until well into the nineteenth century, ferries were the only way of crossing the Rhine, and just as well. With the river constantly changing its course, building a bridge wouldn't have been worth the trouble. Before you knew it the expensive bridge might have been left high and dry. Ferries are a lot more flexible. The ferry link between the town of Zons and the Urdenbacher Kämpe nature reserve is a good example for the river's restiveness. Originally the river made a wide bow around the other side of the Urdenbacher Kämpe, and from the place where you are standing now, you could only see dry land. The parish church of Zons, St Maternus, was situated in the courtyard of Haus Bürgel, a short walk across fields for the Zonsers. But a flood in the fourteenth century changed all that. The Rhine altered its course to the one we know today. The people of Zons had to build a new church, and until it was completed, they had to cross the Rhine to marry their sweetheart or baptize their children – and naturally they crossed by ferry. Our ferry continues that tradition. Although not exactly a major traffic artery, it has an important role to play for commuters and pleasure-seekers alike. The figures – up to two thousand passengers a year – speak for themselves. The ferry is the most direct link between two opposite banks that once upon a time were on the same side of the river. If you'd like to have the unique experience of crossing the river to end up on the same side, why not board the ferry and explore the opposite bank? There is hardly a better way of getting to know the Rhine.

Photo: Joschka Meiburgback