A new tourist road for traveling within Germany is in the making – the German Language Road.
Up until now, if I had ever been asked for what popular road in Germany would come to mind, I would have answered with Romantic Road.
I have only been on parts of the Romantic Road, but since it is part of my hometown region, I am quite familiar with it. Driving to my hometown on a Friday evning in summer often has us take a detour from the overly crowded Autobahn. Thank God for detours.
But this post is about the latest one in the planning – Straße der deutschen Sprache (German Language Road). This venture is supposed to connect 23 cities within the states of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, beginning in Thuringia and ending in Leipzig (Saxony). Some towns to visit along this road are Weimar, Meiningen, Eisenach and Köthen.
This road has been chosen for various reasons, mainly to attract tourism to this central part of Germany. Additionally, as the city of Schleiz (Thuringia) is the place where the road begins and where Konrad Duden has written what is commonly known as the Duden of the German language, this road has been chosen for various German linguistic and cultural reasons.
The next point of interest would be Burg Falkenstein, where Eike von Repgow once issued the Sachsenspiegel ((the first German book of law) during the Middle Ages. The town of Mühlhausen deserves a bit of fame as well as it tries to forego using English while enhancing its city image.
More noteworthy towns to visit are Kamenz, Bautzen, Reichenbach and Oelsnitz in the area of Vogtland.
Just follow the street signs, this German article says. But be forewarned, we are in Germany, this could take a few months until implementation.
Don’t hop into your car just yet….