Eisenach, and in the sun!

We have spent the day being tourists in the town of Eisenach.  Eisenach is a small city with a big history.  Wartburg castle towers high above it as the city sprawls up the various valleys funnelling down onto a central part.  It was once an important market town on the Via Regia, the section of Jakobsweg we have been following till now, when we are going to switch to the Elizabeth Pfad.  Saint Elizabeth was the Hungarian born wife of one of the Wartburg's who over a thousand years ago, after being widowed, devoted her life to the sick and poor.

Wartburg Castle is very important in the history of this town, a place in more recent times, where Goethe came to organise art "soirees".  Its major claim to fame though was from nearly 500 years ago when Martin Luther sheltered here and translated the New Testament from Greek to German.

Wartburg Castle.

Overlooking part of Eisenach, at Wartburg Castle.

Inside the castle walls.  I was intrigued by the ladders of varying lengths on the side of the building on the right.

Eisenach itself has a number of claims to fame.  Apart from Martin Luther who lived and studied there it was the birthplace of Johann Sebastien Bach.  The museum is built around an old house from the time of Bach's birth, and has been in existence for over a hundred years old.  As part of our tourist activity we went through the museum where we heard a keyboard player demonstrating on the various instruments there - a couple of small organs, a spinet, a clavichord, and a harpsichord.  It was wonderful to hear and see these instruments played.

Looking over Eisenach, with Wartburg Castle in the distance.

The Bach museum.  The yellow house was mistaken for being the house he was born in, but that is now thought to have been a few doors along, and no longer exists.

This statue of the great man stands outside the museum.

Walking into Eisenach we took one of Emrys' short cuts, which took us the longest, steepest way to our accommodation!  So much for being shorter and quicker - it was a more than a kilometre further and took us nearly an hour longer by the time we stopped to admire the views across the valley.  Until then most of our days had been reasonably flat or just steady inclines.

We were very grateful for the absence of wind on this stretch as in this flat landscape there was minimal shelter.

On this day we had numerous opportunities to sit and rest awhile, but the next day these opportunities were few and far between.

As we were walking through the town centre of Gotha we came across this hurdy gurdy player.  He was very busy, turning the handle with one hand and playing a variety of percussion instruments with the other.  He played a traditional song for us.

 The way out of Gotha

The inn where we stayed in Mechterstädt, complete with sausage factory out the back.  While having dinner here we were subjected to an interesting custom.  Each person (men) enterering the bar would give a general greeting to all, come to our table and knock on it and then join his friends at the other table.  It was the first and only time we have seen this and can only assume it is a Thuringian custom.

In the village of Stätelstädt we stopped for coffee and cake, passing some very old buildings along the way, including this one which looks like adobe, or wattle and daub.

 It's easy to see where the moles path is, and I see the saying "making a mountain out of a mole hill" in a whole new light. 

 On Emrys' detour (the longest way between two points) we had a great view across the valley, past where we should have been, to Wartburg castle in the distance.

On the detour we went past a monument with the flag proudly flying.

Since starting from Leipzig we have covered over 200 kilometres, walked in snow, across snow covered paths and always walked in the cold, though we are cosy warm as we walk.  For the past week we have watched the snow melt, now only seeing it occasionally in little icy hollows, and though the days have begun in frost we have had beautiful sunshine for the day.  Emrys has even had to stop and put sunblock on!  Spring feels very close.  I have seen forsythia in flower and a couple of days ago we passed a bank of crocus in bloom.