Two pairs of dark stone towers face each other on either side of the Rhine, with nothing left to carry. On March 7, 1945, American soldiers were astonished to find here the last intact bridge over the river: its capture, which the press called the "Miracle of Remagen," hastened the end of the Second World War in Europe. Ten days later, the structure collapsed. Around these remains, now a place of remembrance, Remagen unfolds a long Rhine promenade, an old centre of Roman origin and a pilgrimage hill watching over the river.

A port call along the promenade

River cruise boats dock along the Rheinpromenade, the tree-lined walkway running the full length of the town. The old centre opens up right behind the quays: the town already existed as Rigomagus, a Roman post on the Rhine road, and its medieval core preserves the layout. The shopping streets converge on the market square, where café terraces watch the strollers go by; between façades, openings always lead back to the water, never far away. Near the parish church, the carved Pfarrhoftor gateway has intrigued historians for generations with its enigmatic creatures carved in stone.

The Ludendorff Bridge and the Peace Museum

Walking upstream, a quarter of an hour brings you to the remains of the Ludendorff Bridge, built during the First World War to carry troops and equipment to the front. The two towers on the left bank house the Peace Museum, created in 1980: photographs, testimonies and objects trace the race of March 1945, the collapse that cost dozens of soldiers their lives, and the site's transformation into a plea against war. From the top of the building, the view stretches over the water and the opposite bank, where the twin towers of Erpel stand against the rock face the railway once tunnelled through. The contrast between the calm of the river and the violence of the events recounted inside gives the place a particular power.

The Apollinarisberg and its Way of the Cross

Above the town, the four neo-Gothic spires of the Apollinariskirche rise from the trees. The pilgrimage church, built in the mid-19th century, houses a cycle of frescoes by the Nazarene painters covering most of its walls. You climb up on foot in about twenty minutes along a path lined with the Stations of the Cross; the effort is rewarded with a panorama of the valley, the vineyards and, to the north, the wooded summits of the Siebengebirge range.

Toward Rolandseck and the Arp Museum

If the port call is a long one, the riverside promenade continues north to Rolandseck, where a 19th-century railway station turned exhibition space converses with a contemporary building designed by Richard Meier. The Arp Museum presents the work of sculptor Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp in a setting overlooking the valley, facing the island of Nonnenwerth and its former convent. The regional train brings you back to Remagen in a few minutes.

Practical pointers

• Docking on the Rheinpromenade, with the old centre immediately accessible.
• Ludendorff memorial: about 15 minutes on foot along the bank, upstream.
• Apollinariskirche: a climb of about 20 minutes; comfortable shoes recommended.
• Arp collection at Rolandseck: on foot via the promenade or by regional train (one stop).

What the river remembers

This port call is one of those towns that history passed through more than it chose. Between the Romanesque gateway with its mysterious monsters, the 19th-century frescoes and the black towers of the vanished bridge, the port call becomes a quiet meditation on what the Rhine has seen go by. You return on board a little quieter than when you left, and that silence is worth many a guided tour.