Thuringia is an unusual German state, both culturally and historically. The capital, Erfurt, attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to admire its medieval town center.

The biggest attraction is the Kraemerbruecke, or Kraemer Bridge - at 120 meters (130 yards), it's the longest inhabited bridge in Europe. The old center lies in the shadows of the enormous Mariendom Cathedral and the Severins Church. Just 25 kilometers to the east is the town of Weimar.

Home of Schiller and Goethe

Weimar undoubtedly brings to mind two famous figures in Germany - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. The city was home to both great poets, and also to a whole array of additional artists and scientists. The Duchess Anna-Amalia library has one-of-a-kind documents from the German classical period.

But Thuringia has more to offer than literary history. The Bach family comes from Wechmar, near Gotha. The region's church music was influenced by famed composer Johann Sebastian Bach - and also by many members of his family. Weimar was also the birthplace of the Bauhaus architecture and design movement.

Wartburg Castle, near Eisenach, is where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. This same Wartburg was where the so-called Wartburg Festival first took place in 1817. It was supposed to remind people of the year of the Reformation in 1517, but also of the Battle of Leipzig. Some 500 students from 11 German universities met there as a demonstration of liberal power and as a witness to the national student movement that was going on at the time.

Nazi era meets Weimar

More recent history has left its mark on Thuringia as well. The Buchenwald concentration camp, where more than 50,000 people were killed in the Nazi era, is directly next door to the city of poets, Weimar.

Germany's division during the Cold War also had its effect on the region - and several German-German museums along the border deal with that history.

Lauscha, in the southern part of the state, is a city of glassblowers with a 400-year-old tradition. The oldest German Toy Museum, founded in 1901, is in the Sonneberg region. Jena, a research city that is Germany's center for optics and precision engineering, represents the modern face of Thuringia.

Hiking paradise

Outside of its cities, Thuringia is a hiker's paradise. The Rennsteig is a hiking path through the Thuringian Forest, the longest high-altitude path in Germany. Anyone off to wander the Rennsteig should think about stopping for a local specialty, the Thuringian Bratwurst. It is nearly as well known as Goethe and Schiller - and it's older. The first trace of it is shown on a restaurant bill from 1404.