Who has not heard of the brothers Jacob and William Grimm. As linguists they collected and published fairy tales and legends and developed the fundamentals of grammar. The Ger man Fairy tale Road runs between their place of birth Hanau, east of Frank furt, and Bremen, where their “Bremen musicians” monument is set.

Through delightful river valleys and low mountain range landscapes, past castles, through medieval, small, winding, half-timbered towns, the Fairytale Road leads not only to the places of work of the Brothers Grimm (Hanau, Steinau, Mar burg, Kassel and Goet tingen), but also to the settings of some famous fairy tales (Saba - burg Sleeping Beauty Cas tle or Mother Holle Pond on the Hohe Meiß ner Hill). The picturesque old university town of Marburg is where the Brothers Grimm began their re - search.

Red Riding Hood country lies between Marburg and Fritzlar. The medieval cathedral and imperial town of Fritzlar is still nearly completely surrounded by the town wall with towers.

Continuing along the Fairy tale Road other places of famous stories and traditions are revealed, like that of the Pied Piper of Hamlin or Baron Muenchhausen in Bodenwerder on the middle Weser.

Wilhelmshoehe Castle and Park serve as reminders in Kassel of the significance of the city in Renaissance and Baroque times. The picturesque Lion Castle – on the outside a crumbling castle ruin, inside a homely summer residence – built by the Elector William, provided from time to time a fairytale setting for the Brothers Grimm. The Bellevue Palace houses the Brothers Grimm Museum as well as the Grimm archives and library. The Fridericianum Arts Centre is the headquarter of the re nowned, “documenta” that takes place every 4 years. Not far from Kassel is the Fairytale country Reinhards Forest in which lies the Sababurg Castle with rose garden and wild animal park, considered the Sleeping Beauty Castle of the Brothers Grimm.

In the Gesundbrunnen Park the bath houses and well temples serve as reminders of the heyday of the old Hofgeismar therapeutic bath.

With its beautiful old town houses Hamlin invites you on a tour of the town following the “trail of the rats", just as is told in the world-famous Pied Piper legend. The starting point is in the town centre at the Pferdemarkt (horse market).

Near the town of Horn the route runs along “Hermanns Path” to the Extern stones: a legendary natural and cultural monument from pre-Christian times, which was admired by Goethe. Nearby at Detmold is where Hermanns Monu ment stands, commemorating the battle in the Teutoburger Forest (9 AD), in which the Roman army was crushingly defeated by Arminius, the Prince of Cherusci.

From Bueckeburg, a gem of the Weser Renaissance, the route continues through Minden, Nienburg and Verden on the River Weser until the old Hanseatic town of Bremen, with many interesting buildings and museums to be seen. The “Bremen musicians” monument to the west side of the town hall, is considered as the most well-known monument of the city.

The ‘Boettcherstrasse’ (Cooper Street), a 110 m long passage, in which the coopers formerly produced their barrels, was ex pressionistically transformed in 1924 to 1931 by Bernhard Hoettger, a co-founder of the Darmstaedt artists’ colony. (See “On the trail of art nouveau” page 150).

Only 15 miles away from Bremen is the Worpswede artists’ colony, which also has many Bernhard Hoettger buildings.