Wittenberg is a small town on the Elbe that changed Europe. In 1517, an Augustinian monk and professor of theology named Martin Luther took on the sale of indulgences, and the debate that followed became the Reformation. Tradition says he nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the castle church, though historians still argue about whether he actually used a hammer. What is certain is that he sent them to the archbishop and that printers spread them across Germany within weeks.
The town is full of Luther. He lived in the old Augustinian monastery, now the Lutherhaus, the largest museum of Reformation history in the world, and he is buried in the castle church, with his friend Philipp Melanchthon nearby. He preached in the town church, where the altarpiece was painted by Lucas Cranach, and Cranach's house and workshop stand in the main street. UNESCO listed the Luther memorials in Wittenberg and Eisleben, the town where he was born and died, in 1996.
The setting is flat and gentle. The Elbe flows past meadows and old floodplain woods, and the roads around the town run through farmland and pine forest. The riding is easy, with straight roads, good surfaces and moderate traffic. The Fläming hills to the north have a few more curves, and the Dessau-Worlitz garden kingdom lies a short ride to the west. In spring and autumn, the light on the river is soft, and in summer the meadows are alive with birdsong.
Wittenberg has about thirty thousand people, and fuel, food and rooms are all easy to find. The old town is compact and mostly pedestrian, and the main street is lined with colourful renaissance houses. Cafes are plentiful, and the beer gardens under the chestnut trees fill up on warm evenings. Allow an afternoon for the museums, and an evening for the cafes. It is easy to walk the old town in a couple of hours.