"No effort to like Erfurt" a Erfurt Travel Page by iandsmith

To be honest, I was looking for a place to stop between Gorlitz and Brugge that had a rail connection.
Erfurt was that place. I had no idea really what to expect as I had concentrated on the other places I was going to visit but, I always have a rule that you must stay at least two nights in a place.
I knew there was a castle somewhere nearby but held little expectation for the town itself.
The train approached and I was even less enthused. Erfurt plainly was going to have little to offer.
I alighted and walked to the tram stop following the instructions to my accommodation. I boarded the indicated tram.
The next 3 km blew me away. Had I been misplaced and delivered into Disneyland's History World?
Here a mediaeval building, there a Normandy (Tudor) style, around the corner a wonderful baroque.
I figured this was going to be a thoroughly enjoyable two days. This time I was right.

This is a city of over 210,000 people with a history as colourful as you could hope for and is the capital of Thuringia, a centrally located state of Germany.
It's history very much parallels Gorlitz', the city I had just left to come here. Both were built on the woad trade and the fact that the road between Paris and Novgorod ran straight through the towns.
Tragically, even as recently as 2002, Erfurt was on the world stage though in general I found the place unthreatening, the people welcoming and tourism, though going well, undervalued by other western countries which makes it great if you seek some authenticity.

Since I first came here, one thing has become abundant. Unfortunately, that one thing is graffiti. It has reached plague proportions in the city and really puts a dampener on many of the areas.
Though it's noteable in the old city where tourists go it is absolutely appalling the amount of it out in the suburbs. Hopefully the good burghers of Erfurt will read this and start doing something about it.
I won't gratify the exponents by giving them even greater exposure here, which is why there is no picture.