Visitors to Thuringia can easily imagine they are standing next to Luther, Bonaparte, Bach, Goethe, Ratzinger and The Mad Hatter or, rather, Johnny Depp, as Ray Bugeja did after a quick visit to Munich, Bavaria...

Munich’s famous Hofbräuhaus. Photo: BBMC Tobias RanzingerMunich’s famous Hofbräuhaus. Photo: BBMC Tobias Ranzinger

In his book Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, British economist E. F. Schumacher wrote: “Among natural resources, the greatest, unquestionably, is the land. Study how a society uses its land and you can come to pretty reliable conclusions as to what its future will be.”

A good practical example is Thuringia, one of Germany’s 16 states.

Though the sixth smallest in terms of area, the region is endowed with breathtaking natural landscapes embellished by a wide architectural and cultural diversity, historic towns, castles and palaces.

Because of its dense forest, it is referred to as ‘the green heart of Germany’.

Is it any wonder, therefore, that it attracted some of the most prominent, if not controversial, personalities we read about in our history books, be they kings, emperors and whatnot?

Some, like Iris Gleicke, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, would even have us believe that witches, fairies, giants and dwarfs can still be found in the forests of Thuringia and that brave princes continue to slay dragons and lead their beloved home to live happily ever after.

Fairy-tale stuff? Perhaps, but that’s Thuringia for you, where glass Christmas tree baubles were invented.

The easiest way to get there by air from Malta is to fly to either Frankfurt or Munich.

I took the morning Air Malta flight to Munich and then the train to the city centre, arriving early in the afternoon, giving me ample time to settle at the Maritim Hotel Munich, a short walk from the central station.

St Mary’s Cathedral, Erfurt Photo: Barbara Neumann/Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbHSt Mary’s Cathedral, Erfurt Photo: Barbara Neumann/Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH

When darkness fell, yet Munich was far from asleep, I wandered through the crowded streets to the world-famous Hofbräuhaus, where guests can consume top-quality beer and German food, including home-made weisswurst, or white sausage, to their hearts’ delight.

You cannot say you’ve been to Munich if you haven’t been to the Hofbräuhaus.

After a good night’s sleep, I travelled to Passau, in Lower Bavaria.

On the way I caught a good glimpse of the striking Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich’s home, which is lit in red when Bayern play, blue when it is 1860 Munich or white if hosting the German national team.

Colourful buildings stand out in Passau, situated between Munich, Prague and Vienna (the border with Austria is just a mile away).

Its Italian flair is all too evident, not only because it had served as a Roman provincial town for more than 400 years, but also because, after a huge fire in 1662, Italian Baroque masters created the skyline that remains to this day.

Having three rivers – the blue Danube, the green Inn and the black Ilz – converging there, it is no surprise that water and shipping is an integral part of life in Passau.

Having three rivers – the blue Danube, the green Inn and the black Ilz – converge in Passau means that water and shipping is an integral part of life in the town

More than 2,000 cruise ship visits are recorded every year.

The imposing St Stephen’s Cathedral was at one time reputed to have the largest cathedral organ in the world, standing at 11 metres high and boasting more than 17,000 pipes. It now ranks second because the largest organ is at the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, or so it is claimed.

No attraction is really out of reach in Passau and it only took me a few minutes to walk from the Hotel Weisser Hase (‘white hare’) to the glass museum, which has items covering the years 1680 to 1950.

Opened on March 15, 1985, by Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, the museum forms part of the Wilder Mann Hotel, where Elizabeth II (Sisi), Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, had stayed from September 8 to 13, 1862, and again on July 19, 1878.

An onion market in Weimar. Photo: Maik Schuck/Weimar GmbHAn onion market in Weimar. Photo: Maik Schuck/Weimar GmbH

To the northwest of Passau lies Regensburg, reputed to be one of the best-preserved historical sites of Germany.

It has the country’s oldest stone bridge, the oldest monastery brewery and the oldest music school in the world.

The modern-looking Best Western Premier Hotel where I stayed contrasted sharply with the 11th to 13th century architecture that characterises the town that was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2006.

It was a pity that a good part of the 330-metre-long stone bridge, built between 1135 and 1146 to span the Danube, was covered by scaffolding and hoarding as part of a €20 million restoration project that started in 2008 and is now nearing completion.

The 900-year-old Wartburg castle offered refuge to Martin Luther.The 900-year-old Wartburg castle offered refuge to Martin Luther.

A main contributor to Regensburg’s economy is its university, which attracts about 30,000 students, almost a fifth of the whole population. Among the more notable dons there was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, or Pope Benedict XVI, who was professor of theology from 1969 to 1977.

Another famous name emerges in Regensburg: the Mad Hatter, a character from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by British author Lewis Carroll.

The hat that Johnny Depp wore in the film Alice in Wonderland is prominently displayed in the shop Der Hutmacher (‘the hat maker’), not far from the majestic Gothic cathedral reminiscent of the one in Cologne.

Next stop was Erfurt, the capital city of Thuringia. After almost four days of living out of a suitcase, it was a big relief being able to unpack and call my room at the Radisson Blu Hotel ‘home’.

I had the opportunity to have a very particular taste of Thuringia: literally.

At the Thuringian Dumpling World you not only get to see the manufacturing process and savour the lovely potato dumplings, but you can also make them yourself.

Wine from the Saale-Unstrut region washes down the food and if you still have space for dessert, the Romantik Hotel Dorotheenhof Weimar offers cake-baking workshops.

The mighty organ in St Stephen’s Cathedral, Passau.The mighty organ in St Stephen’s Cathedral, Passau.

Back in Erfurt, St Mary’s Cathedral and St Severus church stand out like two holy sentinels looking over the city.

Close by is Petersberg Citadel, built in 1665 and used by the military until 1963.

You keep winding your way along the narrow roads and come across one attraction after another.

The Krämerbrücke, Shopkeepers’ Bridge, is considered to be the most famous of them all. The 15th century bridge is completely covered with buildings and, unlike Ponte Vecchio in Florence, you cannot view the river from it.

A few metres away is the neo-classical event hall Kaisersaal, which had hosted the Congress of Erfurt in 1808, when Napoleon I met Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

But a historical personality that really stands out in Erfurt and in the surrounding areas is, of course, Martin Luther.

He attended school in Eisenach, found refuge at the 900-year-old Wartburg Castle between May 1521 and March 1522, after he was excommunicated, and attended university and was also made a priest in Erfurt.

If the capital of Thuringia has a few stories to tell, Weimar, the capital of Classicism, has a special place in German history because of its outstanding cultural heritage.

It was a focal point of the German Enlightenment luring the likes of Walter Gropius, who founded the Bauhaus School, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Johann Sebastian Bach, to mention just four of the very long list of masters that lived or worked there.

Adolf Hitler, who visited Weimar more than 40 times, wanted to leave his mark: in the main square is a house he had ‘designed’, possibly wanting to have his ‘signature’ next to the rich and the famous who endowed the place with their masterpieces.

St Francis of Assisi would have fit in perfectly among those personalities who fell for the charms of Thuringia, not because of its riches or the reform movements, but because of its natural beauty.

He may not have had Thuringia in mind when he wrote his Canticle of Brother Sun but it is still a fitting description: “Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Mother Earth, who keeps us and feeds us and brings forth fruits of many kinds, with coloured flowers and plants as well.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.