Nothing but forest. Really? No way!

So much more than just trees!

Nothing to see. Only the dark, heavy shades of nature soaking up the sun – even when I tilt my head all the way back. My sense of direction? Long gone. I’m somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Standing in the woods.

In Thuringia, where there seems to be nothing else. Just trees, wilderness, and all those tiny crawling creatures that treat my hiking boots as a challenge and make their way – target locked – toward my rolled-up pant leg.

No signal, of course. So I unfold my wrinkled, hole-ridden hiking map – it’s been buried in my backpack for years and is suddenly having a comeback. Should I go right or left, north or south? Almost doesn’t matter. The towering trunks around me feel endless, unbeatable. So I simply tag along with a small group wandering as cluelessly as I am. Their red-checked shirts under felt hats and those orange-yellow backpacks are such cheerful splashes of color, I can’t resist. And before I know it, we’re humming the Rennsteig Song, our trekking poles keeping the beat. The echo bounces back… and suddenly it clears. A meadow, with signposts, a hut, and a lookout tower. I finally breathe.

A little later, high up, I take in the view. The perspective shifts. In the distance I spot city walls and the silhouettes of castles nestled into the green hills. River valleys cut through the ridges, striking bridges tie everything back together. I see a landscape full of stories … So, off you go to Thuringia!