Classical Weimar and Hainich

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Classical Weimar

   Weimar is small, about 65,000 people, and for a few decades around 1800 it was the cultural capital of the German-speaking world. Goethe moved here in 1775 at the invitation of the young Duke Carl August, and stayed for most of his life. Schiller came later, Herder and Wieland were already in town, and together they made the little court a place where poetry, philosophy and theatre were taken very seriously. The Goethe house on the Frauenplan and Schiller's house nearby are open to visitors, and the Park an der Ilm, a landscaped garden along the river, has Goethe's garden house. The UNESCO listing covers these and other buildings of the era.

   Read the complete Classical Weimar write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Classical Weimar is where the day begins. Next is Mikveh.

2. 2. Mikveh

   In 2007, during construction work near the Krämerbrücke in Erfurt, archaeologists uncovered a medieval ritual bath, a mikveh, beside the river Gera, which had been forgotten for centuries. It dates from the thirteenth century and was used by the city's Jewish community until the pogrom of 1349, when the community was destroyed during the panic of the Black Death. It is now protected and can be visited on guided tours. Together with the Old Synagogue and the Stone House, a medieval residence, the mikveh forms the Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt, listed by UNESCO in 2023.

   Read the complete Mikveh write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mikveh comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hainich.

3. 3. Hainich

   Hainich is a long, low ridge of beech forest in the middle of Germany, and it has the distinction of being one of the few places in Europe where beech trees have been left to grow old. The national park, established in 1997, covers a large part of the ridge, and its oldest stands are part of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and other Regions of Europe, a UNESCO listing. You notice the difference at once: tall, straight silver trunks, massive fallen logs covered in fungi, and a forest floor that smells of mould and mushrooms.

   Read the complete Hainich write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 96 km into the recorded legs you reach Hainich. Next is back through Mikveh.

4. 4. back through Mikveh

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mikveh write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Mikveh, late in the day. Next is Classical Weimar.

5. 5. Classical Weimar

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Classical Weimar write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Classical Weimar. That is the ride.