Home >European
Touring > Europe 2008 > Germany2008 -
Harz and Thuringia
|
Germany - Harz Mountains
and Thuringia
|
Having enjoyed our teavels through Germany
so far we continued heading east through the forested hills of the Harz Mountains to the town of Goslar, a UNESCO World
Heritage site, intending to stay overnight
at the stellplatz, but as we couldn't find the one listed in the Bord
Atlas guide we drove around the
town ring road and out through an industrial town of Oker then up a rocky gorge
to Okerstausee, a large tree lined reservoir. We found a pleasant
stellplatz overlooking the reservoir at Schulenberg a small village of mostly
holiday homes and guesthouses. We returned to Goslar the next morning
and found free motorhome parking in the lorry/coach park fairly near to
the town centre. There are many interesting buildings in
the town with distinctive slate-hung fronts, the former treasury with
its carillon of bells and animated figures commemorating the town's mining
history - best seen at midday, the huge Kaiserpfalz (Imperial palace), the
cathedral and the old Kaiserworth with its intriguing decorative figures.
There are several museums and art galleries throughout the town, also the large Rammelsberg
mining museum is nearby.
|
Goslar - Hotel Kaiserworth
Goslar - Treasury and carillon of bells
|
Goslar - ornate figures
Goslar modern statues
|
Goslar - decorated building
|
Okerstausee from Schulenberg
|
From Goslar we drove through more wooded
hills of the Harz national park to the small town of Braunlage which has a
cable car and ice rink. It is a popular tourist destination with many shops,
some having a witches theme and a very elaborate shop front at the
backerei.
|
Braunlage baker's shop
|
Braunlage witches
|
After an overnight stop at the pleasant
privately run stellplatz on the edge of the town we followed a route
through more forests, stopping for lunch near Drei Annen Hohne, a
junction on the Harzer SchmalspurBahnen (HSB) narrow gauge steam railway which runs over 140 kilometres including
a steep gradient track to the top of Brocken, at 1140 metres the highest point in
the Harz region. Whilst parked up in a small layby, three impressive very smoky
trains passed within a few minutes.
Continuing east to Wernigerode where the main
depot of the railway is situated, we got
lost in the narrow streets and eventually discovered a fairground set up on the
stellplatz so we decided to drive to Quedlinburg.
|
HSB steam train
|
Once past the industrial outskirts it turned out to be a
very pleasant town with three stellplatz (we stayed at the one below the
castle) and a delightful old centre with over 1300 timber framed buildings
which is not yet too touristy. Several
of the old buildings are still to be restored but the town square was
lively with pavement cafés and statues. Apparently the town was ruled by women for
over 800 years and the was the home of the first woman to get a doctorate
at a German university in 1754. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Quedlinberg
Quedlinberg town square
|
Quedlinberg decorated building
Quedlinberg cafes
Quedlinberg shop sign
|
The next day we turned south and after
several diversions due to road works ended up at the spa town of Bad Langensalza
and then into the Hainich National Park, although finding
the main park centre proved to be elusive with very little signposting.
Eventually after yet more road diversions we spotted a display board in
the village of Behringen and eventually found a car park in the hamlet of
Hütscheroda with an amazing cat mural on the hotel wall. From there we followed a walk around a waymarked trail
with interesting sculptures and had an incomprehensible chat in German to
a local farmer passing on a horse drawn wagon.
|
Sights
on the sculpture trail in Hainich National park
|
Bypassing the large industrial town of
Eisenach we arrived at another delightful small town of Treffurt in gentle
countryside by the River Werra and the added attraction of a free stellplatz on the
riverside. On the edge of the town there were many garden allotments which
were traditionally given to town people in the Communist era, many now with
small summerhouses. The old town centre had many distinctive timbered buildings and the
next morning we walked up the steep hill to Schloss Normanstein which is
being restored.
Treffurt building detail
Treffurt garden plots
|
Treffurt
Schloss Normanstein above Treffurt
|
After using the autobahn again to avoid Eisenach we turned south into
the Thuringerwald forest. Following minor roads
from Friedrichroda and Schmalkalden through many small villages in the forest we
arrived at the large town of Suhl with many modern
buildings. From there the road climbed steeply through the thick forest
to the small town of Schmiedefeld where we parked overnight at the
stellplatz (with no services) which we eventually found after being
somewhat confused as there was another stellplatz listed at Schmiedefeld - a
different one about 40 kilometres to the east - don't trust your satnav!).
The Rennsteig long distance footpath passed through the town and we also
crossed the path at several places the following day. As it was
mostly in dense pine forests we thought it would make a rather boring walk compared with the open trails at home.
|
Kronach old town
|
Kronach old houses
|
Our final part of the journey through Germany
took us into more forests passing through several small working towns, although
Lauscha looked more interesting, a small ski resort with glassware
shops. We crossed the state border into Northern Bavaria and reached
Kronach, a busy town with an old centre where we stopped overnight. We had a small mishap, breaking off
the grey waste tank outlet hose as we drove off but amazingly there was a
large B&Q type store a couple of hundred yards from the
stellplatz so I was able to buy some pipe fittings for a temporary repair!
Once fixed we headed east towards the Czech Republic, crossing the
border (with no formalities required) on the main road to Cheb.
|
Useful Links Goslar
HSB railway
|
|
<< Germany Weser and Fairytale route
|
The Czech Spa towns >>
|