European long-distance path E3 - Thuringia

About 70 km north of Milseburg / Rhön, the E3 Thuringia branches off the E6 to the east at Höhnebach. Not far from the junction, at "Bodesruh", there is a tower built as a lookout over the border fortifications of the former GDR (East Germany). The so-called "Iron Curtain" in the middle of Europe was developed here into a tourist attraction because of the bizarre border course and its elaborate security installations. The entire border strip, hundreds of kilometres long, between East and West Germany will in future be developed as the "Green Belt" into a valuable natural area, in Thuringia also into a hiking region, and is also intended to serve as a memorial to the painful division of Germany/Europe. After crossing the former inner German border, today the border between Hesse / Thuringia, the E3 runs through the Werra floodplain. The white heaps were formed as a result of intensive underground salt mining.
The E3 follows the "Lutherweg" up to the Wartburg but takes a detour over Eisenach from the Rennsteig onwards.

Eisenach was the start of the only long-distance trail of the former Eastern Bloc states, the "International Mountain Hiking Trail of Friendship" Eisenach-Budapest (EB). Because the EB was declared the E3 in 1990, the designation of the long-distance trail from Eisenach to the Saxon border is E3/EB. There is an active community of "conquerors" of the 2690 km long EB, who maintain traditions and an engaged long-distance hiker who manages a website www.eisenach-budapest.de.

Eisenach has a charming old town with historic buildings of national importance. The Wartburg, towering high above the city, is the most prominent. The E3 passes by the Wartburg to the Rennsteig, one of the most famous and traditional long-distance hiking paths in Germany. The E3 follows it eastward through the Thuringian Forest Nature Park, past the Inselsberg (916 m) and through the Oberhof winter sports center. In Neuhaus am Rennweg, the E3 branches off from the Rennsteig and leads over the Schwarzatal to the Saale and to Saalfeld, which is also called the "Stone Chronicle of Thuringia" because of its preserved medieval buildings. Following the Saale valley, the E3 reaches the Saale dam cascade near Kaulsdorf, a river stretch about 70 km long with 5 dams. The Hohenwarte and Bleiloch reservoirs (the largest reservoir in Germany) have created a fjord-like landscape in this forested area.
Near Saalburg, the E3 leaves the Saale and leads to the Saxon state border near Schleiz. Via Plauen, the E3 Thuringia meets the E3 Bavaria in Ölsnitz/Vogtl.

Total length E3

(Portuguese Atlantic coast - Black Sea, Bulgaria): 6950 km

E3 Germany

(Mosel, Schengen - Elbe, Schmilka): 1203 km

E3 Thuringia

(Hessian state border - Saxon state border): 310 km

There are a total of 12 European long-distance paths managed by the European Ramblers' Association EWV. www.era-ewv-ferp