8 Day Stretch of Germany Itinerary-Looking for Suggestons

I'm unfamiliar with some of your destinations. Kassel was just OK IMO. Nearby Hannoversch Münden was striking.

A bit further north is a town called Einbeck that I've meant to get to for several years. A former colleague of mine who served in WW II saw duty near Einbeck and declared it the most beautiful town he'd ever seen. The photos I've seen do indeed back him up.

We have stayed previously in Herleshausen, a quiet little town at the former border with the GDR. It's a short trip from Eisenach. We rented an upstairs apartment for 3-4 nights and day-tripped from there by train.

Cold War: The Schifflersgrund Bordermuseum lies directly north of Herleshausen and directly east of Kassel, near Eschwege. We did not visit but it sounds like something that might interest you.

The local TI office lists online accommodations for Eisenach and surrounding towns that are accessible in English:
Eisenach accommodations
Main page

It might be a shame to skip the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a logical and IMO essential detour between Limburg and Mainz. A tour of Marksburg Castle lasts about an hour, and Braubach itself is nice for a walk-around and a meal.

Can't help with your empty days, but allow some time in Eisenach and especially Erfurt for wandering around and appreciating the architecture. In addition, Buchenwald may take longer than expected because it was used after the war as a political prison, and there's a great deal of explanatory material about that period. Ask for the folder with the English-language information.

Although you can see Quedlinburg in a day, the Harz region in general requires a little more time. Perhaps you could front load 2-3 days there to fill in your empty slot.

Fritzlar doesn't take long to explore, but it's worth visiting. That whole region of Frankenerg-Waldeck is an absolute undiscovered gem. About as close to a living fairy tale as you'll get. If it's open, the nearby castle of Felsburg (overlooking the town of Felsberg) might be worth a look. It was closed when I tried to visit, but I think it's pretty well preserved from it's medieval state.

Marburg is also amazing, don't skip it.

I drove past Limburg several times a month for four years but never stopped. The cathedral certainly looked enticing. I also wanted to see the new bishop's palace, mainly because the remodeled complex was so infamously expensive (he earned the title "the bishop of bling" from the media). Another possible quick stop off you could consider is Braunfels, mainly for the huge (although rebuilt) castle.

Hi,

On days 5-7 what to do? If you want history, there is definitely more to do. . How about more Napoleon sites if you're staying in Eisenach? If you have not been to Leipzig, there is the Völkerschlachtdenkmal completed in 1913 on the 100th anniversary of the Allied defeat of Napoleon in Oct of 1813, what in anglophone historiography is known as the Battle of the Nations. Very doable since it's a bit more than one hour to Leipzig Hbf, which in itself is interesting to explore. Take the S-Bahn from Leipzig Hbf out to "Völkerschlacht Denkmal." As you approach it, the Battle Museum is on the right hand side, told from the Allied perspective, obviously, instead of that of les français. I thought it was very modest.

There is more Napoleon history in that area. The area from the Saale R. ie, Jena, Naumburg eastward to Dresden on the Elbe was fought over in two campaigns. Closer to Eisenach is Saalfeld an der Saale where the Prussian advance led by the heir to the throne, ie the Queen's brother, four days before Jena, bumped in to the French. There is probably a memorial plaque (Gedenkstein) dedicated to him, Prince Louis Ferdinand.

@ Tim...Since you'll have a rental in Jena, you can track down the twin battle sites, Jena and Auerstädt, the 1806 Museum, and the pertinent villages.

Thanks for the responses. They really helped me to reconfigure some of those days and make them more to our liking.

Russ: The Border Museum is just what we were looking for. The pics of Hann. Münden were enough to have us stopover for a couple of hours. Einbeck is just a little too far out of the way . . . there's always next time. As far as the Upper Middle Rhine, that'll be next time too.

acraven: Thanks for the heads-up on allowing more time for Buchenwald. And we are going to stay in Eisenach in order to just enjoy the sites there.

Tom: Yeah, we're just staying one day, two nights in Quedlinburg. The Harz mountains will have to wait until another trip, where we can give them 3-4 days.

Fred: Leipzig will be on another trip. Then again, we're still working out Berlin, so we may do a day trip from there (we've done it before). 1806 Museum and Jena Battlefield is about all we'll have time for on Day 1. Saalfeld looks interesting, both due to Napoleon and that the lineage of Queen Elizabeth can be traced back to there.

If you're interested in border museums, there's one very close to Eisenach, Point Alpha just outside Geisa on the Hessian-Thuringian border. It has preserved sections of the border, a museum, and also a US army observation post.

On more historical "stuff" I am sending you a PM, Tim. Also the middle Rhine is connected to Napoleon. It's where the Prussians crossed in Bacharach to invade Napoleonic France. There is a memorial plaque showing that in Bacharach, ie, der Rheinübergang von Blücher.

Fred, I missed that plaque back when I was in Bacharach in '09.

You mentioned among your interests music and Cold War history. Leipzig can fill the bill on both of these. First is the Saint Thomas Church where Bach is buried. He served as organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas for more than 30 years. There is a Bach Museum very near by. Also, their famous Boys Choir may be performing at a Sunday service. You can check the dates online at their website.
Second is the Nicolai Church, an impressive Romanesque structure begun in 1165. In the latter part of the Cold War a small group of church women began meeting on Monday nights for Candlelight prayer services at the church. These vigils, over a period of about a year, evolved into peaceful Monday night Candlelight Marches with hundreds of thousands of East German people participating. These marches led directly to the Wall's demise. One more suggestion : visiting these two wonderful churches will probably take some time and you may be hungry after your touring. Visit the Auerbach's Kellar restaurant and have lunch or dinner in the place where Goethe set his classic confrontation between Faust and Mephistopheles (Satan). There are murals on some of the walls of the restaurant depicting this scene.

@ Tim....That plaque in Bacharach commemorates the spot of Blücher's crossing of the Rhine (Rheinübergang as the plaque says) as he was the first Allied army to invade France to keep the pressure on Napoleon. From your itinerary listed I see you'll be in Mainz with the rental car. Depending on whether you can spare the time, I would suggest another museum ca. one hour away, ie, in Kaub am Rhein. The "Blücher Museum." is located in that small place.

@ Tim...That plaque (Gedenkstein) on Blücher's Rhinecrossing is on a large rock in Bacharach.

Hi,

It's a pity that Naumburg an der Saale has to be dropped this time. I've only been there to change trains...once in 1997. Not only is the town famous for the Nietzsche connection but also it has the only church in Germany with two distinctly different towers. That church is also what makes Naumburg well known in German cultural history.

This part of the trip is really coming together.

Tom: Point Alpha looks great. Now I just have to decide on going there or to Grenzmuseum Schifflesgrund. Not an easy decision.

Jack: We did a day trip to to Leipzig back in 2013 and took in St. Thomas Church, Bach Museum, Mendlessohn-Haus. Wish we had known about Auerbach's Kellar then. We hope to visit Leipzig on a future trip and stay there for 2-3 days.

Fred: Twasn't easy giving up Naumburg, but there's only so many hours in a day, and I really want to have enough time to take in the 1806 Museum and the Jena Battlefield before moving on to Weimar later that day.

@ Tim...It's always a matter of priorities and it's difficult deciding on what to skip and drop. In Weimar be sure to see the Goethe and Schiller statue am Theaterplatz. That statue can also be seen in SF. Weimar is known as Germany's Dichterstadt (the city of poets) which you'll see why with the Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Herder, and Wieland being presented in their respective houses/museums.

Hi,

When will you be in Marburg? A lovely town, a famous university town too if you're into that in Germany. You might see more if you are there in August. My first time in Marburg was at the end of August 1977....glad I went.

@ Tim...Since you'll be in Berlin, if you have the time, (always a matter of priorities, isn't it?), there are a number of Napoleonic "references" you can track down. When you are east of the Brandenburg Gate on Unter den Linden going towards Deutscher Dom on the right hand side where the open field is, there are 3 historical statues (still in black), one after another, of Gneisenau, Blücher, and Yorck. A bit farther down are two more in "white" presumably having been sandblasted of Scharnhorst ...can't recall the second one...Bülow? Five statues of Prussian commanders who tangled with Napoleon at least once and lost.

Also, in Berlin-Kreuzberg, (an area I've seen superficially once in 2007, don't care for it) there is a park, the Viktoria-Luise Park, which has the monument to the "Befreiungskrieg" (War of Liberation) against Napoleon called the "Freiheitsdenkmal" listing the battles and engagements from 1813 to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. You won't see "Waterloo" listed since in Prussian-German historiography the event is not called "Waterloo" but rather Belle Alliance. Don't expect to see a balanced list of the battles. Where the Allies lost to Napoleon, (Bautzen, Lützen, Dresden, Montmirail, Ligny, etc) those are omitted.

Fred, thanx for the Bonaparte tips!