Elvis Presley spent his military service in Friedberg, a few kilometres from here, from 1958 to 1960, and lived in a rented house in the spa town of Bad Nauheim, where fans still leave messages on the wall outside and a square in the town bears his name. But nearly two thousand years earlier, other soldiers served in this region. The Roman frontier of the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes, a World Heritage site, ran along the edge of the Taunus hills here, and at Langenhain, near Ober-Mörlen, the Romans built a fort with a civil settlement beside it, where traders, craftsmen and the families of soldiers lived. Today, the site is mostly fields and meadows, with information boards to help you imagine the walls, gates and buildings that once stood here.
The Wetterau, the broad plain to the east, has some of the most fertile soil in Germany, and the Romans were keen to keep it within their empire. They pushed the frontier forward to include it, creating a bulge in the line of the Limes around the plain, guarded by forts, towers, a ditch and a palisade. Further west, at Saalburg near Bad Homburg, a Roman fort has been rebuilt as it might have looked, with a museum, and it is well worth a visit to see what the frontier was like.
The Taunus is a favourite area for motorcyclists from the Frankfurt region, and the roads that climb into the hills from Bad Nauheim, Butzbach and Usingen are winding and fun, through dense forest and small villages. The Großer Feldberg, the highest point of the Taunus, is a popular meeting place for riders, with views over Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main plain, though it gets very busy at weekends and the police keep a close eye on speeds and noise. Some roads in the area have restrictions for motorcycles at weekends, so check the signs. The Wetterau itself is flatter, with fields and villages, and is good for relaxed riding.
Ober-Mörlen, about three kilometres away, has fuel and shops, and Bad Nauheim has more choice, with cafés and restaurants in its art nouveau spa district. Try the local apple wine, Ebbelwoi, with Handkäs mit Musik, a sour milk cheese marinated with onions, a Hessian classic.