Districts and cities along the route: Altenburg, Altenburger Land, Greiz district, Gera, Saaleland, Jena, Weimar, Weimarer Land, Erfurt, Gothaer Land, Gotha, Wartburg region, Eisenach.
The skat city Altenburg is the start and end point of this route, covering approximately 225 km across Thuringia to Eisenach in the west of the Free State. Via Schmölln, Ronneburg, and Gera (Federal Garden Show 2007), you reach Bad Köstritz and then Jena. The town is associated with names such as Goethe, Schiller, Napoleon, Zeiss, and Abbe. Visit the world's oldest planetarium here. Afterwards, the route continues to the "classics city" Weimar, where Goethe and Schiller, Bach, Liszt, and Cranach lived and worked. In Erfurt, the state capital of Thuringia, you will find Europe's longest built and inhabited bridge street – the Krämerbrücke, the church ensemble of the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Severus Church, the Petersberg Citadel fortress, the town hall, the Erfurt horticultural exhibition, and the Augustinian monastery where Martin Luther lived as a monk. Passing the Drei Gleichen, the next stage takes you to the former residential city of Gotha. Highlights include the baroque Friedenstein Castle complex, the 350-year-old vaults of the fortification system, the casemates, and the original preserved baroque Ekhof Theater. Further west, the Wartburg (UNESCO World Heritage Site) towers high above Eisenach. Here lived Saint Elisabeth, Luther translated the New Testament, and Wagner was inspired for the opera 'Tannhäuser'. From here, you have connections to the Hercules-Wartburg Cycle Path or the Werra Valley Cycle Path, and in the Hörschel district, the famous high-altitude cycling and hiking trail 'Rennsteig' begins.
