GERMAN FAIRY-TALE ROAD
Follow the Trail of the Brothers Grimm
The
German Fairy Tale Road (Deutsche Marchenstrasse) is the tourism route
which traces the journey of brothers
Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm from their
hometown of Hanau in Hesse to Bremen, following the Wesar River through
thick forests reminiscent of "Little Red Riding Hood" on the
way to grandma’s house and through quaint and curious towns of
half-wood gingerbread construction like Hameln (Hamelin), from where
the Pied Piper led away first the rats, then the children. The Grimm
brothers
for the most part didn’t invent the stories of Grimms’ Fairy
Tales, they listened to the local legends of fairies and dwarfs, princesses
and witches and wrote them down in the stories we know today, set in
the real villages along their travels. This
region of German is probably much less traveled by those from outside
the country than more familiar
touring destinations. Eight nature parks
and reserves line the route separating the old world villages and towns,
lost in the forests and fields, and touring the fairy tale road is
a bit like following the bread crumbs of Hansel and Gretel.
Hanau
Hanau is where the brothers were born,
just a short distance from Frankfurt. It is the beginning of the Brothers
Grimm Trail. starting at the statue monument to the brothers in the town market
square in front of the new town hall.
Grimm Brothers history and local attractions to visit are the Goldschmiedehaus (Gold Smiths
House) a beautiful old building in the old
town square exhibiting national and international gold and silversmith
design (see Goldschmiede
Renaissance),
the Puppet
Museum at Williamsbad, the Marienkirche (St
Marys Church), the Phillipsruhe
Palace,
where every year from May to July the Brothers Grimm Fairy-Tale
Festival performs (in German) a selection
of the stories in the outdoor theater in the castle park (see Brothers
Grimm Festival in Hanau). And for real Grimm Brothers enthusiasts, the city's library which holds
a collection
of Grimm's books and materials, though most all of it in German.
Steinau is where the brothers spent younger days. Kids can enjoy a puppet play at the Renaissance palace at Amtshaus. Alsfeld is a well-known preserved medieval town rivaling Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber (see Where Castle and Romantic Roads Meet) for its timbered stately town houses from the early 16th Century.
Marburg to Kassel
Marburg is the nearby university town known as the “Cradle of German Romanticism”. This is where the Grimms began their research in to the local tales and myths which inspired their books. Around the city’s historic old town you’ll find the Landgrave Palace, market square and the House of the Teutonic Order of Knights.
From Marburg the trail wanders northward through the forests and hills, through the medieval town of Homberg (Efze), an ancient administrative center for the surrounding countryside with its historic inn dating from the 1400s, the Krone (see Homberg on the Efze), then to Kassel where the Brothers Grimm Museum can be found in the Palais Bellevue in center of town operated by the tourist bureau. Aside from long standing offerings of letters and documents of the Grimms', work, (labeled in German, English and Japanese ) the refurbished museum has new exhibits for kids like a Fairy Tale Forest interactive area. You can also get a guide here for the Brothers Grimm historic sites in Kassel and a map to the Fairy Tale Road. Baunatal just outside of Kassel is where the real “mother” of fairy tales was born. Dorothea Viehmann the “Märchenfrau” told the Grimms many of the old folk tales she knew which inspired their writings. Her birthplace is today a brewery and inn, the Knallhüt.
For Americans, especially of German descent interested in genealogy and German-American past ancestors, of just revolutionary history, it is from this region from Hanau and Kassel that the “Hessians” of the American Revolution came, called “greencoats” the soldiers sent to support the British were conscripted by the local Landgraves (prince rulers). Many of the Hessians stayed in America and raised families and settled the western lands (see Schloss Ludwigseck Family Castle B&B).
Kassel to Hamlen
From Kassel the route splits,
one part leading to the old university town of Gottingen,
while the other follows the winding Weser River along the natural parklands,
past the Krukenburg Castle near Bad Karlshafen, on
up to Hameln of Pied Piper fame, near Hannover. The
Pied Piper was an actual person
who led 130 children of Hamlin away through the streets of this mostly
Renaissance era town in earlier medieval times, on June 26 of 1284. You
can follow the piper’s reputed footsteps and on Sundays a live
open air Pied Piper performance is held at the town's Wedding House.
But keep an eye on your kids, the magic flute seems to have a special
effect on them. Around a bend of the river is Bad Oeynhausen where
you can visit the Fairy
Tale Museum. Or
take a bath in one of Germany oldest mineral springs the Federal Spa.
From here the Weser River flows
from Hesse to the Hanseatic land of northern Germany past Nienburg,
a beautiful
little medieval city fortified
by a moat with a well preserved old town center filled with merchants
on market days like centuries past. The Little Nienburg Girl is a nymph
from a folk song who is a symbol of the town, The Fairy Tale Road ends
in the “free city” of Bremen. It is here the “town
musicians” played and still do at the city’s old Rathaus
with its well known Ratskeller Restaurant in the old market place with
800 years of history. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Read
review of Dornroschen Schloss on the Fairy Tale Trail
Find best hotel and vacation deals in Hesse at TripAdvisor
Web Info
Deutsche-Marchenstrasse
Hesse
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See Also:
GERMANY
CASTLE ROAD
DARMSTADT FRANKENSTEIN CASTLE RUINS
HAMBURG
EMIGRATION MUSEUM
WORLD
OF STEIFF "TEDDY BEAR" FACTORY
GOETHE RESIDENCE & MUSEUM - WEIMAR
