The HIVE Tour - Episode 33 - Goodbye Bavaria, hello Essen

What a rich area that is at Bayreuth and beyond. Just a week and brought me (and you) almost 10 posts! All good things come to an end though and now it's time to leave my beloved Bavaria behind to head West. Once again my friend Andreas leads my route via his recommendations and I'm more than happy to deviate in order to visit Pottenstein. With rock formations like this I love it instantly:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 32 - A 5km walk up to Bayreuth to visit its garden and palace

As my days here at St Johannis East of Bayreuth are not infinite I take the chance today to visit the city's center even though that's 5km away from the place I stay. However, it's a rather pleasant walk as it's a very pedestrian and cycle friendly route as you can see:

 

The Hive Tour - Episode 31 - NE Bavaria & NW Czech in one day

Knowing the right people is priceless and I couldn't have a better contact for my Bavarian days than my dear friend Andreas. I'm close to the end of my days here in Bayreuth and I will try to do as many places he has proposed around here as possible since who knows when I'll be back. Quite a challenge though as the whole area is an eye candy with endless sightseeing.

Number one on my way is Fichtel mountains. It's a nice ride up to there but the place is not exactly what I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, nothing bad about it, it's just that I thought I could ride part of it and then go back to my route for the rest while here you have to park your vehicle and continue on foot. And that's what I do:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 30d - The palace of palaces: Eremitage @ Bayreuth

Quite the walk around Bayreuth's Eremitage isn't it? 3 parts so far and not done yet. In the previous (sub) Episode I covered the pool of this complex and now it's time to continue my walk North East in the woods.

If nothing else these beautiful trees are tall:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 30c - The palace of palaces: Eremitage @ Bayreuth

So far I have showed you around the Old and New Palace of the Eremitage here East of Bayreuth in Germany. I've shared the stunning beauty of both so now it's time for a little mysticism. North of the New Palace a few steps down is the "Dragon's hole":