The Main-Danube Canal (Main Donau Kanal) also known as the Europakanal ("Europe Canal") or the Rhein-Main Donau Kanal (abbreviated RMD) is mostly in 法兰克尼亚 (上法兰克尼亚 and 中法兰克尼亚) and partly in Bavaria (下巴伐利亚 and two short stretches in 上普法尔茨). It links the 多瑙河 with the Main, a tributary of the 莱茵河, and thus the Black Sea to the North Sea. Its official end to end length is 170.71 公里 (106.07 英里).

了解

Monument to the RMD's precessor; in the foreground a local road, not visible the A73 highway running along the former canal-route

This canal was constructed starting in the 1960s and was opened along its full length in 1992. It had been intended as a freight link, linking — as was said at the time, grandiosely but not inaccurately — the North and Black Seas via the river system of Main, Rhine and Danube. The canal reaches the highest point directly reachable via ocean going vessel in the world. Yet rail and trucking play vastly larger roles in the freight business along its entire stretch and the canal never earned enough in usage fees to pay for its upkeep and maintenance. An unintended but serendipitous consequence of its construction is converting inland cities like 纽伦堡 into 邮轮 ports, and 游船河 have become an important business factor even though the freight business is largely an afterthought. The canal is also a frequently used hiking and biking route with decent trails along its relatively flat banks, with several bridges and underpasses from one side to the other. It is also used by various sports clubs that use rowboats and other human-powered boats. There are also some yacht clubs along the canal.

Attempts to link Main and Danube. Except the "Mindorfer Linie" built during the Nazi era, they all were open to ships of some kind from end to end at some point in time. Naturally, the RMD allows the biggest ships of all extant and former canals.

Interestingly, the canal represents the third completed attempt to link Danube and Main (or their tributaries) for shipping of some kind. The first, Fossa Carolina was built under Charlemagne in the 8th century CE and was long thought to have been abandoned before completion until archaeological findings proved otherwise. The second one Ludwig Donau Main Kanal was built under the rule of Bavarian King Ludwig I who was sceptical of the newfangled railway and instead preferred to have a canal built. While it did carry a few goods all the way to its end in the 1950s, it soon proved too small and too outdated to compete with the railways. While parts of that canal still hold water and the former towpaths where burlaks or horses would tow the ships towards their destinations still exist along much of the way and are today popular hiking and bike paths, the canal is not passable for boats along its entirely length and indeed part of it has been filled in to build the new A73 motorway, including ironically the site of a monument celebrating the completion of the canal. Given that the A73 is seen as an eyesore by many people in Nuremberg and the aging infrastructure requires replacement or costly repairs soon, there is a small but growing grassroots effort in Nuremberg to turn (part of) the highway back into a canal as a sort of "linear park".

A secondary purpose of the current canal is to enable the transport of water from the usually rather wet 旧巴伐利亚 into 法兰克尼亚. The 法兰克尼亚湖区 is a set of largely artificial lakes that also serve this purpose. Construction of the canal was not uncontroversial, in part because of feared environmental damage and because opponents doubted its usefulness as a freight route. As a partial response to those concerns, there have been a few measures of nature conservation along the canal and in its environs and the newer stretches were arguably built with a bit more greenery in mind.

准备

The easiest ways to experience the whole length of the canal is booking a cruise that goes through its entire length or taking a bike trip along the path of the canal. The paths next to the canal mostly serve maintenance needs but have since become a popular bike and hiking path and are even part of the daily commute of some people in "bike-crazy" towns like 埃尔朗根

抵达

This image, taken near 纽伦堡 illustrates the touristic value the canal has gained. However, scarcely a cargo ship is to be seen.

The Canal links the Main river near 班贝格 in 上法兰克尼亚 with the Danube near 凯尔海姆 in 下巴伐利亚. The former is served by numerous regional trains and even the occasional ICE. 纽伦堡 Airport (NUE ^IATA) is the closest international airport to the canal and Nuremberg has a harbor for both cargo and cruises, but it sits more or less in the middle of the canal so starting any trip there only enables you to take half of the itinerary. Kelheim has lost all passenger train service in 1988, but if you head a bit further down the Danube, there are plenty of places that are more accessible.

去

This itinerary starts in the north at 班贝格 even though it can naturally be done in both directions. As mentioned above, Bamberg is far easier to get to than 凯尔海姆. In general, major ports are called Hafen whereas more moderate installations are called Lände.

• 1 班贝格港. Giving access to both Main river and Canal.  
• 1 埃尔朗根码头.  
• 2 菲尔特码头.  
• 2 纽伦堡港.  
• 3 罗斯码头.  
• 4 米尔豪森码头.  
• 5 迪特福特码头.  
• 3 凯尔海姆港. The southern endpoint of the Canal  

船闸

Height profile of the canal. North is left, south is right.

Given that the canal crosses the European main watershed and passes through comparatively mountainous terrain, there are quite a few locks. The German term "Schleuse" is used here for them. Watching a boat getting lowered or raised can be interesting to observe whether you are on the boat or not. These days most of the locks are unmanned but there are often plaques with information on them that explain the canal and the particular set of locks.

• 1 班贝格船闸. Counting from the north, this is the first Schleuse and it lifts or lowers the watercraft by 10.94 米 (35.9 英尺). The height towards the Main river is 230.9 米 (758 英尺).  
• 2 施特鲁伦多夫船闸. Lifting and lowering boats by 7.41 米 (24.3 英尺)  
• 3 福希海姆船闸.  
• 4 哈森船闸.  
• 5 埃尔朗根船闸. As the original 1960s structure is now at the end of its design life, there has been an effort since 2014 to rebuild it while keeping ships running.  
• 6 克里根布伦船闸. From here it is the longest distance to the next Schleuse on a southward journey - 20.43 公里 (12.69 英里)  
• 7 纽伦堡船闸.  
• 8 艾巴赫船闸.  
• 9 莱尔施泰滕船闸. Lifting boats by 24.67 米 (80.9 英尺) this is the first of three (counting from north to south) to reach this, the maximum height difference ever reached on locks in Germany.  
• 10 埃克尔斯米伦船闸. Passing a rather major height difference in a short distance, this Schleuse together with the next one Southward has a height difference of 24.67 米 (80.9 英尺) each, combining for almost 50 m.  
• 11 希尔波尔茨施泰因船闸. Once you pass this point on your southward journey, you have reached the highest point of the Canal. The surface of the water between this and the next Schleuse reaches a height of 406 米 (1,332 英尺), the highest point directly reachable from the ocean on a seagoing vessel in the world. Lifting and lowering watercraft by 24.67 米 (80.9 英尺), it is one of three along this canal that reaches such a height difference, the largest ever built in Germany.  
• 12 巴赫豪森船闸. When travelling from north to south, you are here lowered some 17 米 (56 英尺) towards the lower height of the Danube, having passed the highest stretch of the canal.  
• 13 贝尔兴船闸. Built in 1991, this is the youngest one along the canal.  
• 14 迪特福特船闸.  
• 15 里登堡船闸.  
• 16 凯尔海姆船闸。 从北面过来，这是运河最后的船闸，将您降低8.4 米（28 英尺），达到最终高度338.2 米（1,110 英尺）。  

乘自家船只

运河两侧有几个地方可以供您乘皮划艇、独木舟或划艇进出，并且沿途有几家码头。如果您想使用船闸，您需要联系操作员，因为船闸无人值守。通常会有一个标示清晰的电话用于申请使用船闸。如果您的船只足够小，可以将其抬出水面并短距离搬运，那么步行绕过船闸可能是最简单快捷的通过方式。

注意安全

运河旁的小径上有标语，写着“进入小径自行承担风险”，您最好不要掉进水里，因为可能很难爬出来，但除此之外您应该是安全的。

下一站

很明显，这条运河连接着美因河和多瑙河，如果您有船只，您可以沿着这些河流继续航行，或者分别探索上弗兰肯或下巴伐利亚。