Gateway Guide to Germany [antikvár]

A LITTLE ABOUT THE COUNTRY When we talk of 'Germany', all we really mean is 'Western Germany'. One-third of Germany as a whole-the eastern part- is for the present a closed country for tourists. geography The Germán Federal Republic has a totál area of 95,923 sq. miles and a population of 54 mill. It stretches from the Bavarian Alps in the south to the Danish frontier in the north, about 560 miles. From west to east, between the Belgian and the Czechoslovak frontiers, it measures about 250 miles. The most northern part of Germany is really the base of the Jutland peninsula, and it has the same deep fjords and wooded hills, flat stretches of heath and watery marshlands. South of Hamburg lies a flat not very exciting country, of which the show-piece is the Lüneburger Heide. Thus far, the landscape has been förmed by melted glaciers of the Ice Age. But from here southwards, primeval rock appears in the Harz Mountains, the Teutoburger Wald, the Rhön, the slate-hills of the Rhine, the Schwarzwald and the Bayerischer Wald. Along the Ruhr, beside the Rhine, and in the Saar district, there are rich seams of coal. Further south is red desert sandstone, and limestone, till the limestone Bavarian Alps tower up along most of the southern horizon, with Germany's highest mountain the Zugspitze (9722 ft.) as their central point. ri vers All the rivers of Western Germany flow into the North Sea, except for the Danube and its tributaries. The bigger ones are interconnected by an elaborate system of canals. In Western Germany, navigable rivers and canals extend for 2850 miles, and carry endless numbers of small cargo boats, tugs and barges.