Martin Luther spent ten months of his life in a small room in the Wartburg, and it changed the German language. In 1521, after he had refused to recant at the Diet of Worms, his protector, the Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, had him seized on the road and secretly taken to the castle above Eisenach, where he lived in hiding under the name of Junker Jörg, a knight. There, in a few weeks, he translated the New Testament from Greek into German, a version that helped fix the written language and spread Reformation ideas. The room, with its panelled walls and a stove, is the heart of the castle.
The Wartburg is far older than Luther. It was founded in the eleventh century by the Thuringian counts and grew into a major centre of medieval culture. The saint Elisabeth of Hungary lived here in the thirteenth century, famous for her charity to the poor, and the castle is the setting for the legendary singing contest of the minstrels, which inspired Wagner's Tannhäuser. In 1817, student fraternities gathered here for a festival that called for German unity, and the castle became a symbol of national feeling. UNESCO listed it in 1999.
The ride up is short but steep, because the castle sits on a wooded ridge above the town, and the road finishes in a car park from which you walk. The surrounding Thuringian Forest is excellent riding country, with the Rennsteig, the old ridge path, running along the crest, and with roads that climb through spruce and beech, giving long views over the hills. The roads are generally smooth, with plenty of bends, and traffic is light outside summer weekends. Winter brings snow and ice, so the best months are May to October.
Eisenach, two kilometres below, is a town of forty thousand with fuel, cafes and restaurants. It is the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, in 1685, and home to a factory that once built the Wartburg cars, a staple of East German roads. Try a Thuringian bratwurst, grilled over charcoal and served in a roll with mustard. The castle is open daily, but the guided tour is the best way to see the interior, so arrive early, because queues build up in summer.