Drachenfels
dra'ken-fels, or Dragon's Rock, a mountain on the Rhine. It is one of the range known as the Sieben Gebirge, or Seven Mountains. The stone used for Cologne Cathedral and for many other noted buildings was quarried here. The mountain rises abruptly from the river to a height of over 1,000 feet. The cave where the old dragon was wont to live is still pointed out to the traveler. The summit commands a magnificent prospect, including the university town of Bonn in the foreground, and Cologne with its cathedral spires farther down the valley. Byron saw all this with a poet's eye:
The castled crag of Drachenfels
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of waters broadly swells
Between the banks which bear the vine;
And hills all rich with blossom'd trees,
And fields which promise corn and wine
And scatter'd cities crowning these,
Whose far white walls along them shine,
Have strew'd a scene which I should see
With double joy wert thou with me.
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of waters broadly swells
Between the banks which bear the vine;
And hills all rich with blossom'd trees,
And fields which promise corn and wine
And scatter'd cities crowning these,
Whose far white walls along them shine,
Have strew'd a scene which I should see
With double joy wert thou with me.
Volume II · Aiton’s Encyclopedia