There are essentially nine districts in the town of Großschirma, found right about in the middle of Saxony. Too bad I didn’t get to do all of these villages, there was only time to do about half, maybe next time. But what I did manage to find was quite enough — so it was all right.
The village with probably the most do was Siebenlehn, hometown to 19th century botanist Amalie Dietrich. There’s an exhibition with information regarding her life’s work, and a loop trail runs to tell you more. Not too shabby for what used to be a medieval mining town, huh?
You know what else you can see in Siebenlehn? How about what used to be Europe’s highest bridge? Or, how about a trek over to see its old medieval church, and its soaring water tower? All major feats of (different) German engineering, I’d say.
Großvoigtsberg is really nice, too. It’s a simple hamlet with simple houses (like half-timbered ones) and railroad tracks. You won’t find this to be a place of “bells & whistles,” but if you’re looking for a true German experience — this is pretty much it.
Here in Obergruna, located near the town of Nossen, is where you’ll find Großschirma’s Heimatmuseum (Local History Museum) at Dorfstraße 46. Its church is quite pretty, you’d never guess it was originally built in 1346, because this one wasn’t built until 1687.
Last, but by no means least, is Rotenfurth. This hamlet of around 300 people sits along the Ore Mountains with a charming Evangelical Lutheran church that’s hard to miss with its thin black roofed tower. It’s harder to say what’s prettier, the church or the surrounding countryside.
The Romanusbad, a pool complex with beer garden and volleyball court, is a good place to come up with an answer to that. It wouldn’t be fair to say hike the Zellwald for an answer, because the countryside would win out every time.
Then again, I haven’t gotten to see the rest of Großschirma yet…
