The 3

On Saturday we headed out on a rather ambitious day trip. When Jeremi's friend Coco (Guillaume) was here the weekend before, we'd considered where it might be nice to visit with him, specifically which castle might be nice to visit. We considered all the ones nearby that we'd been to before, but were wondering if there was somewhere else that might be nice. Just west of Erfurt, if you're driving on the Autobahn (the A4), you pass between three very closely-spaced castles, each perched on its own hill. They're close enough that it looked like you should be able to walk between them even, and I set out to try and find out more on the internet.

It seems that the three are referred to as 'Die drei Gleichen', or three of the same, although they're not really similar in terms of structure or history at all. The name comes from the night of May 31st, 1231, when the three were set on fire by lightning, and they burned like three identical torches.

We started our trip by train, getting to the village of Wandersleben, which was way nicer than we'd expected. Sometimes the small villages that we visit during bike trips etc. are a bit sad looking, with abandoned and derelict buildings. Sadly, unemployment is still fairly high in Eastern Germany, and really high in more rural areas. Perhaps Wandersleben is close enough to Erfurt that people commute in to work, I'm not sure. In any case, it was really well kept, and had lots of well-maintained medieval buildings. We also met the friendliest Deutsche Post employee ever, who, when she saw us standing at an intersection wondering which way to go, came over and figured we were trying to get to the castle, and gave us directions. (There are signposts along the way, marking the routes pretty well, but now and then there will be some ambiguity.)

Eventually, we made it to the first of the castles, Burg Gleichen. It's considered to be just a ruin now, but it's in good enough shape that all the exterior walls are standing, many of the interior walls, there are still cellars that can be accessed, and there's a tower that you can climb (with a little museum inside it).
We actually had to pay to get in, which was a bit unexpected, but it was only 1,25 each. The area inside was like a nice little park, with plush green grass and benches, making it a perfect spot for our picnic lunch.
And from here we could see the other two castles as well, Mühlburg...
...and Veste Wachsenburg.
A view across the courtyard...
...and down into the cellar.
Here's the tower, which housed a little museum about, among other things, the geology of the region. The area used to be filled with a lake, I think (on a geological time scale, so much longer ago than the castles were built, which in the case of this one was between 1000 and 1100), and there are lots of interesting rock formations and landscape features as a result. To be honest, I didn't read too much about it, after looking for the "bad lands" that they claimed were at the foot of each of the mountains. The small patches of eroded layered rock amidst a lush forest didn't really compare to what "bad lands" look like in North America, although all the interpretive signs suggested that they were like the formations in South Dakota. I just hope that no German tourists who are from this region skip a tour of the bad lands while in North America because they figure they've seen them before.
Here's the view from the top of that tower, before the sun had managed to make it all the way through the clouds.
And from the tower, back onto the castle's interior.
From there we walked back down the hill, and started following the Gustav Freytag trail, named after an author who wrote an incredibly long historical fiction account of German history (Die Ahnen) from the 4th Century until the 19th Century. One of the many volumes was set in the oldest of the three castles (the Mühlburg). Here you can see Burg Gleichen, the one we just left, in the background.
And yes, Jeremi's wearing only a t-shirt now, and he's not just glowing from perspiration, it was really that sunny!
From there it was only a few kilometers to Mühlberg, the village at the foot of the castle Mühlburg (Berg=hill, Burg=castle, it's sometimes confusing because pretty well every castle in our region is built on a hill...). Mühlberg is another surprisingly pretty, well-maintained town, which, along with two other little towns, comprises the first permanent settlements in Thüringen. The castle is first mentioned in writing in 704, but is thought to date back even further. In any case, it's considered to be the oldest still-standing structure in Thüringen.
Here I am, after finally making it to the top of the long hill...

And look at that tower! It's like a cartoon castle turret!
Jeremi and Béla, by one of the stone-framed windows...
...through which you can see the castle we just came from!
Funny little windows, looking through to the blue, blue sky...

From here we headed further southeast, along the ridge of a long forested hill, towards the final castle. It was now the afternoon, and the sun was coming from the southwest, and we were enjoying the warmth and sunlight the whole way. I actually got down to my tank top, though I hesitated for fear of frightening the Germans who we passed, some of whom were wearing tuques with their parkas. (It is November, after all...)
Finally, a clear, unobstructed view to the third castle, which wasn't so far away. In fact, we walked much closer to it than this, but I vetoed visiting it, as it was already 4:00, and we had to walk at least to Haarhausen still, if not Arnstadt, in order to get a train back home. The days are short, and I didn't want to end up lost in the dark with a baby. And so we made within a stone's throw of the third castle before we turned around. This castle is the most intact of the three, and houses a restaurant and hotel. We'll have to come back some other time, when the days are longer.
From there we walked down the hill to Holzhausen, the village at the foot of the hill. We were quite excited for coming here, as it's the home of the Bratwurst Museum! Unfortunately, after October it's only open on Sundays and holidays, so we were out of luck. Their gate was still open though, and they had a bunch of signs out saying that they were open, but they really weren't open. I think they were preparing for a Schachtfest (butchering party) the next day, which is why it looked like there was something going on. Unfortunately, the plan had been to feed the hungry baby while having a bratwurst, and I ended up having to feed him while sitting on a pile of cinderblocks just outside. Very rustic, that.
We asked the woman there about the walking trail leading from there to Arnstadt, which was described on the internet as "from beer to bratwurst", since Arnstadt is the city where, in 1614, Hefeweizen, or wheat beer, was invented. She had no idea what we were talking about, but gave us directions to the bike trail leading between the two cities, which we could find from the roundabout with the giant wooden Bratwurst:
Yup, it really was getting darker. And we still had another 5 km to go until we made it to the streetlights of Arnstadt. Luckily, the path was clear and well-paved, and there was still some light left in the sky to guide us there. Once there, despite reading all the tourist signs, I was unable to find the brewery where they had the oldest wheat beer. (We could have been better prepared for this last part of the trip.) I even knew the name of the street, but, to be honest, we were pretty tired at this point, and didn't feel like walking around more than necessary. So we made our way into the city center (which was completely dead, and devoid of people), and found a really nice restaurant for supper. We were, however, the only customers, from 6:15-7:30 on a Saturday night. Strange.

After supper, we were all tired, including Béla, seen here yawning on his way to the train station for the trip home. The train trip home takes a bit of time due to a slow connection through Erfurt, and then we had to walk back from the train station, and it was almost 10:00 by the time we got home, a good 12 hours after we left the house in the morning.

Here you can see our approximate route - at least 20 km, not including getting to and from the train station. Let me tell you, we were tired, and Sunday was a well-earned lazy day, spent hanging around at home.