As Germany’s Fairy Tale Route turns 50, towns and cities along the 600km route continue to breathe new life into the Brothers Grimm’s much-loved fairy tales.
I feel a childlike thrill as I cross a wooden bridge and duck through the small arched door into the courtyard of a medieval castle where I’m spending the night. I’m in Trendelburg, halfway along Germany’s Fairy Tale Route, a 600km (323 mile) journey linking towns and landscapes associated with Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and the stories that have shaped childhoods for more than two centuries.
Founded in 1975, the route was designed to invite travellers into a romanticised world of castles, forests and folklore while preserving Germany’s cultural heritage. It begins in Hanau, the Brothers Grimms’ birthplace near Frankfurt, and winds north through half-timbered towns, wooded hills and medieval fortresses before ending in Bremen. While many travellers drive it as a road trip, I choose to travel by train, stopping in the places where they studied, worked and got inspiration for the famous stories like Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel and Cinderella that were collated in their famous Children’s and Household Tales.
Like many children, I grew up on sanitised versions of these tales through bedtime stories and Disney films. But the Grimms’ early editions, first published in 1812 and 1815, were darker, stranger and far less sentimental, with poverty, hunger and moral ambiguity running through them. As the Fairy Tale route marks its 50th anniversary, I’m curious to see how the Grimm legacy is being shaped for a modern audience.
Hanau: Where the story begins
My journey starts in Hanau, where a statue of the Brothers Grimm stands in the market square in front of the stately town hall. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in 1785 and 1786, respectively, and the statue shows Wilhelm sitting with a book open across his lap, and Jacob standing over his shoulder (although legend says at midnight, they secretly switch places).