Schmalkalden, Germany

Once you're past its underwhelming outskirts, SCHMALKALDEN is a Thuringian Forest classic that's picture-postcard pretty in an Altstadt of jostling half-timbered buildings. Hard to believe today, but the sleepy small town played a central role in the Reformation. The Schmalkaldic League of Lutheran princes coalesced here as an independent power bloc that opposed the centralization of Catholic Emperor Charles V. Even if they lost the battles of 1546–47, they ultimately won the war after Charles, weary from years of warfare and recognizing the intractable Protestant hardcore within Central Europe, agreed to the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, thereby permitting German states freedom to choose their religion. No history lessons are needed to appreciate Altmarkt, its colourful heart fronted as ever by the Gothic Rathaus (foyer Mon– Fri 8.30am–4pm, Thurs till 6pm; free) in which the league plotted strategies. The fire of revolution had been sparked by the sermons of Martin Luther preached in 1537 in the adjacent Stadtkirche St Georg, built of blushing-pink sandstone and worth a look for the quirky net of stellar vaulting in its chancel. Death scythes down a young girl as a Memento Mori on its clock tower as the hour strikes. Mohrengasse leads from Altmarkt via pretty Salzbrücke and Steingasse to Lutherplatz and the chunky sixteenth-century house in which the renegade preacher stayed, Lutherhaus, identifiable from its red-painted beams and a Baroque plaque bearing the white rose of the Reformation. Fellow firebrand Philipp Melanchthon stayed at Steingasse 11, today a chemist's. Lutherplatz also represents the start of the Martin-Luther-Weg marked by a green "L", a 17km trail that tracks Luther's footsteps on the day the Schmalkalden Articles laid down the gauntlet to Charles's Holy Roman Empire in 1537. It makes an enjoyable, easy five-hour trail that ascends meadows to a 742m high-point en route to the village of Tambach-Dietharz. Tradition demands walkers drink from the Lutherbrunnen (Luther Well) on the outskirts of the village. Bus #851 makes the return journey a couple of times a day; check times with the tourist office.