Page 511 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

37km through Gemunden and to 5pm Nov-Mar) at the west- Tue & Thu-Sun, to 8pm Wed)
Frankenau to Edertal where ern end of the Edersee. aims at burying the taboo
you’ll find the park. Note how of discussing death.
the forest gets thicker and The Drive » Drive east on
darker as you go. the L3332, B485 and the B253 54 p516
for 28km until you reach the
A49 autobahn and zip along The Drive » Your shortest
4 Kellerwald- northeast until you reach Kassel. jaunt of the trip takes you 6km
west through Kassel’s leafy
Edersee National suburbs. Take Wilhelmshöher
Park TRIP HIGHLIGHT Allee.
Kellerwald-Edersee Na- 5 Kassel
tional Park (www.national Visitors to this culture- 6 Wilhelmshöhe
park-kellerwald-edersee.de) rich, sprawling hub on
encompasses one of the the Fulda River discover Wilhelmshöhe is the
largest extant red-beech a pleasant, modern city. classy end of Kassel.
forests in Central Europe, Occupying a prime You can spend a full day
the Kellerwald, and the position atop the Wein- exploring the spectacu- GERMANY 36 GERMAN FAIRY TALE ROAD
Edersee, a serpentine berg bunker in the scenic lar baroque parkland,
artificial reservoir 55km Weinbergpark is the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
northeast of Marburg and truly most unmissable (www.museum-kassel.de;
about the same distance attraction on this trip: h9am-sunset), which takes
southwest of Kassel. In Kassel’s newest musuem, its name from Schloss
2011 this national park, Grimmwelt (%0561-598 Wilhelmshöhe (%0561-316
along with Hainich Na- 610; www.grimmwelt.de; Wein- 800; www.museum-kassel.de;
tional Park in Thuringia bergstrasse; adult/concession Schlosspark 1; adult/concession
and a cluster of other €8/6; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun). €6/4, Weissenstein wing incl
parks and reserves with It could be described as tour €4/3; h10am-5pm Tue
large beech forests, an architect-designed & Thu-Sun, to 8pm Wed), the
became a Unesco World walk-in sculpture hous- late-18th-century palace
Cultural Heritage site. ing the most significant situated inside the ex-
On a fairy-tale trip, it’s collection of Brothers panse. Walk through the
fitting to wander into the Grimm memorabilia on forest, enjoy a romantic
deep woods, never forget- the planet. Visitors are picnic and explore the
ting that if your name is guided around original castles, fountains, grot-
Grimm, nothing good is exhibits, state-of-the-art toes, statues and water
bound to happen. If you’re installations and fun, features: the Herkules
lucky, you may see larger hands-on activities, (www.museum-kassel.de;
land animals including aided by entries from the Schlosspark Wilhelmshöhe 26,
red deer; while overhead Grimms’ German dic- Herkules-Terrassen; adult/
you might spot eagles and tionary: there were more concession €3/2; h10am-5pm
honey buzzards and, at to these famous brothers mid-Mar–mid-Nov) statue
night, various species of than just fairy tales, and Löwenburg castle are
bat. (The brothers would didn’t you know? also here.
approve of that.) Billed as ‘a medita- The palace could star
For information, head tive space for funerary in any fairy tale. Home
to the striking modern art’, the Museum für to Elector Wilhelm and
visitors centre (%05635- Sepulkralkultur (Museum of later Kaiser Wilhelm II,
992 781; www.nationalpark Sepulchral Culture; %0561-918 the opulent complex today
zentrum-kellerwald.de; B252, 930; www.sepulkralmuseum.de; houses one of Germany’s
Vöhl-Herzhausen; e-bikes per Weinbergstrasse 25-27; adult/ best collections of Flem-
day €20; h10am-6pm Apr-Oct, concession €6/4; h10am-5pm ish and Dutch baroque

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