We started out this day at our Airbnb in Quedlinburg, Germany, a cute little city in the heart of the Harz region of Germany. There are charming cobblestone streets and small alleyways to explore. Ice cream cafes and other eateries, as well as numerous small shops fill the center of the city, giving off a feeling of excitement while also being calming and peaceful. Our temporary home was lucky enough to be only a 5 minute walk away from the city center, which we loved so much! We didn’t have a lot of time to explore because we arrived later the night before and today we had to go on our planned adventure, but it is certainly a town worth visiting for its unique culture and history. It also apparently has calcium salt spas, we had no idea they existed. Maybe if we had, we would have made more effort to create more time for this area. Who couldn’t use some time in a nice natural spa?!
Anyways, on to the actual plans for the day. We left Quedlinburg and went to the Teufelsmauer (Devil’s wall). This is an interesting and natural rock formation, which creates a kind of wall, that just sticks out of the ground. It’s not like some kind of cliff side or anything, it is literally a wall of rock jutting out from rolling hillsides. From the parking lot (which is free) it is only about a 13 minute walk to the formation, where you can hike directly behind the rocks, and then eventually go down a trail to see the rocks from a lower vantage point below. The rocks are kind of ominous, as they look black, and even from a distance you can see them and they look like giant shadows protruding from the ground. Centuries ago, many people have died trying to cross the rocks, and so now people can only walk around them. When Naziism was heavy around Germany, someone allegedly put a red flag on the rocks or painted it on. As the story goes, it took 2 years for a rock climber to successfully remove everything, because the rocks are so difficult to maneuver.
After our little deviation from the day’s plan, we headed to Thale to see the Hexentanzplatz and Rosstrappe. Hexentanzplatz is a mythical place where a witch named Watelinde lived, and she used lots of devious acts to create mischief and was quite feared by the residents of the Harz region.
The Rosstrappe, on the other hand, is a mythical hoofprint, which was, as the story goes, left by Brunhilde’s horse, Ross. The story goes that she was being chased by a giant named Bodo, who wanted her for himself. Just as he almost caught up with her, she pushed her horse to make a giant leap across a ravine to escape. The force of the jump was so powerful that it left an impression in the stone. She landed the jump on her horse, but lost her crown in the river below. The giant didn’t make the jump, and fell from atop of the mountain into the river below and turned into a dog.
I was excited to show Lucas the area, as it is fun to explore mythical places such as these.
There is actually a giant parking lot for visitors to use. I would recommend parking there, instead of closer to the Thale Seilbahn, because there is not a lot of parking there, and it costs about 1 Euro an hour. The parking lot, on the other hand, is probably quite cheap. Because we didn’t know what we were doing, we parked very close to where we wanted to go, and almost definitely paid more than we needed to because of that.
The city of Thale offers various things to do, but the main thing is to take cable cars or hiking trails to the tops of 2 different bluffs. They also have a small theme park area where you can enjoy climbing courses in the trees or water bumper cars. Additionally, there are several spas in the area, which cost about 15 Euros/hour.
We simply decided to take a cable to the Rostroppe. It cost around 3.50 EUR/person, but for us we got 1 EUR off because of a tourist tax we had to pay in Quedlinburg. As part of paying the tourist tax, we got a small little book of coupons for the area. So pay the tourist tax if you stay, it is worth its weight in coupons!
From the end of the chairlift, it was around a 15 minute hike to the actual Rosstrappe, where you can also toss a penny into the indented hoof print for good luck. The trail is very rocky and uneven, so make sure to consider good footwear! You really do get a beautiful lookout over the valley, though. The surroundings can be seen on both sides while hiking the ridge line. We had plans to hike through the valley and up to the Hexentanzplatz, and so we had to walk back towards the cable cars to find the trail we wanted.
Having found the trail, we started hiking down for about 30 minutes, which took us down to the rapidly flowing river. From here there are actually two different ways to go up the second bluff. At the river, we turned right, and that eventually took us over the water via the Jungfernbrucke. The bridge itself is quite beautiful, as it is made from stone, and with the fall colors really coming along, it made the whole spot an amazing golden and fiery site of colors.
After crossing the bridge, we spent about an hour hiking up switchback after switchback, to reach the top of the Hexentanzplatz. There were numerous viewing platforms along the way to look out onto the valley, and eventually we got high enough that we could even easily see the people at the Rosstrappe, where we ourselves had been earlier.
Upon reaching the top, it was about a 10 minute walk to our final destination, where the witches dance! The Hexentanzplatz is a point on the mountain where a large festival occurs every March or April called Walpurgisnacht. It is supposed to celebrate the clearing of the bad spirits in the forest. A lot of people come from the surrounding area and dress up, dance, drink beer, and party. Be sure to book tickets early, like a year in advanced, as the quickly sell out!
Even when there is no festival, there are tons of things that can be done here. There is an upside house to explore, many boutiques to buy souvenirs, small restaurants/to-go stands, a hotel, and a rodelbahn. A rodelbahn, in case you don’t know, is kind of like a bobsled, but on tracks, that can be ridden around. In some parts of Europe these can actually be taken to get down the sides of a mountain, but in this case it was just a small attraction for the kids.
Parking lots exist at the top of both bluffs, so there are numerous ways to get up and down. Cable car, hiking, or driving, all are possible. Once we felt we had enjoyed ourselves enough, Lucas and I bought tickets to take a cable car back down. It cost 5 EUR/person for a one way ride, and 7 EUR for a round trip. Our plans were originally to hike back down, but we were getting tired, we had technically run over our parking time, and we wanted to start driving the four hours home, so taking a cable car was the fastest way to get back to Jeepers.
While it was not what we intended, it was actually still pretty cool. The cable car gondolas have a glass floor, so you can look directly down while riding, and if that isn’t really your thing, just pretend it isn’t there and look out the sides instead. With our ride complete, we walked back to our automobile, and left for home.
Thank you for reading and keeping up with our adventures! We both hope you have been enjoying the stories and that you enjoy the videos we have been making as well. Some days it is a lot of work, but it continually feels worth it!