Eisenacher Hof
Katharinenstraße 11 - 13
99817 Eisenach
Phone: 011 49 3691 73 40 0
Fax: 011 49 3691 29 39 26
E-mail: info@wartburg-eisenach.de

We recommend that you book a room in this 4-star hotel. After eating and drinking all the evening it is not save to drive a longer distance.

In future we want to add more information about the reformation started by Martin Luther to our travel guide for Thuringia. We are looking mainly for already existing web sites in the English language. I am too old to start my own research and I do not want to steal others peoples work.
We started with the worldly part of Martin Luther's life and participated in a feast called the "Lutherschmaus". To participate in this unforgettable event you need to register in advance. We believe as larger the group which takes part at the "Lutherschmaus" as more fun it can be.
Martin Luther loved also world things and his language was sometimes vulgar according to todays standards. But please do not forget that he lived in medieval times and probably people from that period would not agree to all of our customs and our behavior.
It is reported that he asked his guests after a heavy meal "Why do you not burp and fart? Did you not like it?"
In Japan it is still custom that you should burp after a meal to show how much you appreciated it. Japan is one of the cleanest countries I ever have visited and everybody is extremely polite.
The feast was scheduled for 6:00 pm. We arrived early enough on a Saturday to find free parking directly in front of the 4-star hotel. The waiting time went by fast by studying and translating the German written menu of the feast and having some drinks. Elizabeth, my wife, became addicted to the local mineral water and diet pop.
She had changed her diet in the previous months and became a (hopefully) temporary vegetarian. She turned pale after she learned the details of the food which was provided, unlike her I considered it mouthwatering.

Everybody was guided to a reserved table and received a menu which was written in medieval German with a modern translation.
It contained also other dishes which were offered. The following is a brief description of the "Lutherschmaus" a feast served to the citizen of Eisenach a the time when Luther lived there.
- one horn filled with 0.1 liter of honey wine for each person of the respective party
- crusty rye bread and a pot filled with "Griebenschmalz" (pork fat) or "Kräuterquark" (some kind of cottage cheese with herbs)
- mixed salad
- a bowl of old fashioned potato soup with pieces of sausage or a meat soup - served from a stone pot
- a skewer with different barbecued meat and a large sausage served with delicious fried potatoes, bread dumplings, spaetzle, baked onions, mushrooms in a herbal sauce, sauerkraut, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts and red cabbage
- a skewer with various fruits soaked in alcohol and lighted

Except the honey wine all other drinks must be ordered and paid on top of the fee for the "Lutherschmaus".
All beverages as beer, wine or mineral water were served in jugs. No drinking glasses were used but pointed mugs which you had to place in holes which were cut on different placed into the wooden table.
Recorded medieval background music was continuously played and supported the impression to be back to the 16 th century.
A large group of bikers added to this atmosphere because some of them looked like cavaliers from that time.

Because smoking is still not banned in German restaurants and public places, we none smokers suffered. Fortunately the bikers - partly still wearing their heavy gear - could not stand the increasing temperature and opened some windows.