Corona-diary: Three castle tour at the Elster valley

Christina/ December 6, 2020/ The daily grind, Categories

After four weeks at Bad Kösen we have seen a lot! This will be our last excursion today. We have mixed feelings but first of all we want to enjoy this final discovery tour. And it is once more special to us! The wineroute hiking trail is on our itinerary.

We are heading for Zeitz and its Moritzburg. The weather forecast for today is not too bad. We hop into our car and off we go. On our way we pass by a village called „Oberkaka“ (poo-poo vilage). Are they serious about the name? And strange enough there is also a „Unterkaka“.

The hiking trail which is a cycle-path
Arriving at Zeitz we are looking for Kloster Posa. The place is not easy to find. It takes some time and some asking for directions to arrive there. At the cloister we learn that the alledged hiking trail is a cycle path. Oh, too bad. We decide to use plan B and drive to Haynsburg to start our walk from there.

Haynsburg is only 10 km off Zeitz. After a short drive we are there. Construction works forces us to park our car at some distance from the village. The fortress of Haynsburg is just in front of us. We take a good luck around and climb the donjon. The way up is steep and stepped, a good exercise for our upper thigh. The view from the top is nice, unfortunately the windows cannot be opened.

Beer instead of burglary
Back from the donjon we start our hike. The way is not signposted, still we make it. We descend the Schmiedeberg from Haynsburg and reach Raba. The path to the Schneidemühle has signs. We walk through the forest and come across a ranger’s hut. There is a piece of paper attached to the door: „Please do not break in, have a beer instead.“ What beer, we wonder. I take a look on the ground. Oh, there is a bucket with beer in it. We have to laugh and move on – without the beer.

From the Schneidemühle we walk to Gossra and back to Haynsburg. The trail is not very interesting. The Haynsburg itself is interesting to see, especially I guess, with an open restaurant.
Where only men live
We leave Haynsburg towards the town of Droyßig. We want to visit the castle and the „Bear claws path“. The GPS leads us via „Mannsdorf“ (men’s village). Oh, what an interesting name, does that mean that only men do live here? Unfortunately the streets are empty. Must be due to Corona.

At Droyßig we have a look at the castle. The emblem both oft he castle and the town is the Droyßig bear. There is a walk following its traces and leading the audience through the history of the village. We download a corresponding app on our smartphone and listen to the information given. Amongst other things we learn that the Templar Order used to be active here.

The Moritzburg of Zeitz
At the end of the day we return to Zeitz. We want to see the Moritzburg, a namesake of the castle close to Dresden. The building is closed, of course. Still we walk around the castle and admire the beauty of the place and get hungry upon taking a look at the menue of the corresponding restaurant.

Light and shadow
From the castle we walk into the old part of the town. Both the houses at the market place and on the pedestrian walk are nicely renovated. The Franziskanerkloster is also worth seeing as well as the cathedral St. Peter and Paul and the Michaeliskirche. Just a stone’s throw away however you can discover the none-renovated part of the city. The houses here are ramshackle and abandoned. Looks like nothing has happened since the wall came down in 1989.

Shortly after dawn we leave Zeitz and return home.

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