Erfurt is a treasure trove when it comes to beautiful historic architecture, culture and art. Looking back at more than 1, years of history, the capital city of Thuringia in the eastern part of Germany is the perfect place to be explored in a day and thanks to its compact old core, it is perfectly walkable. Packed with carefully restored colourful renaissance buildings, the historic core would not even need to have any other attractions to absolutely delight!
Sitting on its original site, today you will instead find a neo-gothic building dating back to The building is decorated with large murals showing local traditions and important characters on its interior walls. Several of them were given their own names β which seems to be something we Germans like to do. It was once even visited by Napoleon Bonaparte. Similarly beautiful is Haus zum roten Ochsen house of the red ochs β which is in fact painted a bright yellow!
It was built during the 16th century and replaces a building that was already mentioned at the end of the 14th century. It will lead you down to the river Gera from where you will get a wonderful perspective of the bridge build of lime and sandstones and its beautiful medieval houses. You can also pass directly under the bridge and whilst the view from the other side is a bit less spectacular as you are missing the water there, is still offers stunning views of the beautiful houses.
The shop sells a large range of artisanal ice creams, including quite unusual flavours such as goat cheese with green pepper. At both ends of the bridge, you will find two cute squares offering the opportunity to sit down and have a coffee or lunch. The church forms the eastern entrance to the merchants bridge through a small archway. It is one of the formerly tow bridgehead churches; the second one at the western end of the bridge was demolished at the end of the 19th century.
From Wenigemarkt, you are not far from the 13th century Augustinian monastery where reformer Martin Luther became a monk in , living at the monastery for another six years to It is one of the stops on the German Martin Luther trail which is deemed to be one of the most magnificent scenic routes in Germany.
