Hainich and Mikveh

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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

   Hainich is where the day begins. Next is Wartburg Castle.

2. 2. Wartburg Castle

   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.

   Read the complete Wartburg Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Wartburg Castle comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt.

3. 3. Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt

   Erfurt is a compact, well-preserved medieval city in central Germany, and for hundreds of years it was home to one of the most important Jewish communities in the Holy Roman Empire. The Old Synagogue, with parts dating back to about 1100, is one of the oldest surviving synagogue buildings in Europe, and a ritual bath, or mikveh, uncovered in 2007 beside the Gera river was found in remarkably good condition. UNESCO listed the Jewish-medieval heritage of Erfurt in 2023, recognising the buildings as testimony to a community that thrived and then suffered.

   Read the complete Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 115 km into the recorded legs you reach Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt. Next is The former School of Applied Art.

4. 4. The former School of Applied Art

   Weimar is a small city with a very large place in German culture. Goethe and Schiller lived and worked here, Liszt composed and taught, Nietzsche spent his last years here, and in 1919 the national assembly that created Germany's first democratic constitution met in the theatre, giving the Weimar Republic its name. That same year, the architect Walter Gropius founded a new art school in the city, merging the academy of fine arts with the school of applied arts, and called it the Bauhaus. The school building designed earlier by the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde, along with the main building of the art academy, became its home. These buildings, together with the Haus am Horn, are part of the UNESCO serial site of the Bauhaus and its sites, inscribed in 1996.

   Read the complete The former School of Applied Art write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   The former School of Applied Art, about halfway. Next is Mikveh.

5. 5. 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 sits at 144 km, about halfway. Next is back through The former School of Applied Art.

6. 6. back through The former School of Applied Art

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete The former School of Applied Art write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through The former School of Applied Art comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt.

7. 7. back through Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 225 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt. Next is back through Wartburg Castle.

8. 8. back through Wartburg Castle

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Wartburg Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Wartburg Castle, late in the day. Next is Hainich.

9. 9. Hainich

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   The route ends here after 338 km.