In the middle of Erfurt's old town, among tall, narrow houses with steep roofs, stands a stone building that has outlived most of its neighbours. The Steinernes Haus, the Stone House, is a medieval house built in the thirteenth century, and it is one of several buildings that record the life of the town's Jewish community, which was among the most important in medieval Germany. In 2023 the group of sites was added to the World Heritage list, together with the old synagogue and the ritual bath.
The house is called the Stone House because most buildings of the time were timber, and a stone house signalled wealth and security. The Jewish merchants of Erfurt, a town on the trade routes between east and west, were bankers and traders, and they lived and worked in the streets around the Krämerbrücke, the bridge lined with shops. The community was destroyed in the pogrom of 1349, when many were killed during the plague years, and the town took possession of the property. The house passed through many hands and was rebuilt and altered over the centuries, and its long survival is part of what makes it valuable.
Erfurt is a lively place, a university city and the capital of Thuringia, with a compact medieval centre, a cathedral and a church on a hill and a long tradition of gardening and horticulture. Riding in is easy from the autobahn, but the centre is mostly pedestrian and cobbled, so leave the bike in a car park and walk. The surrounding country, with the Thuringian Forest to the south-west and rolling farmland to the north, has good roads and gentle bends.
With over two hundred thousand people, Erfurt has all the fuel, food and beds you could want. Thuringian bratwurst, grilled over charcoal and served in a roll with mustard, is the local classic, and the dumplings known as Klöße are served with roast meats. A coffee near the Fischmarkt is a good break.
The ride combines Erfurt with Bad Kissingen, so you pass through Thuringia and Franconia, with plenty of woodland and small towns between.