The Harz – Thale: Where we wanted to see dancing witches, but saw a lot of stuff we didn’t want to see
Our next stop was Thale:
The town itself is not a popular attraction, but the area around it is. Thale is known for its myths and legends. The Hexentanzplatz (literally Dancing Witches Place) is where according to many stories witches used to gather naked before flying off to their brooms on Walpurgis Night. It is actually a plateau of about 450 above a gorge.
That all sounded very intriguing to us, so we decided to have a look at it. As soon as we started driving towards the Hexentanzplatz, we noticed that the Germans had constructed an attraction park in this area. Apparently, the spectacular landscape isn’t entertaining enough… But this is of course tourism.
We decided to drive about 1 – 2 kilometers away from the masses of tourists. The Viking and I discovered a parking place where there was a trail towards the Hexentanzplatz. Perfect! Or so we thought… Surprise number 2! When we opened the doors of our car, we found ourselves amidst empty beer bottles and cans. Nice. Really very nice.
We took a deep breath and started our walk on the trail. Isn’t it nice, to be in a forest? Enjoying the beautiful sights and the peace and quiet? Surprise number 3! Everywhere, we encountered small groups of men, of all ages, being drunk, carrying several cans and/or bottles of beer, making a lot of noise, running around like fools. And they all seemed to be going to the Hexentanzplatz.
That was it. You know by now that we can’t stand crowds, but noisy crowds we simply hate. I have nothing against people having fun, especially not at a party or in a pub. But here in these beautiful and quiet surroundings? We thought it was just a bit too disrespectful. Disrespectful towards nature, other people and themselves. And we went back to the car, to our next destination.
Later that same day, we discovered that it was Father’s Day and that (some) Germans celebrate it by hiking with a group of men in some forest, drinking and eating a lot. And making a lot of noise apparently… So, we happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong moment. And we have to admit that the other two days of our long weekend, we didn’t encounter any other noisy people…
Here are the other pictures!
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Like the way you’ve embedded that map!
Me too! How do you do that?
On Google Maps, but it doesn’t always work properly (as you can see from today’s post).
Do you just copy and paste the link into your post???
There is a button on Google maps, that enables you to embed the map in your blog, just like with YouTube.