Odenwald facts for kids

Odenwald
Odenwald
	Overview of the Odenwald
Elevation	626 m (2,054 ft)
Location

Map where one can see the Odenwald within Germany

The Odenwald is a mountain chain in the south of Hesse, in the north of Bavaria and the north of Baden-Württemberg.

In the south of the Odenwald there is the Neckar River. In the east there is the Main River . In the west there is the valley of the Rhine River. The highest mountain is the Katzenbuckel (literally "cat's hump", 626 m).

The big cities Mannheim and Frankfurt am Main are near to the Odenwald. People of these cities like to go there at holidays. It is known for its clean thin air. There are many marked hiking paths. You can find wild blueberries, strawberries and mushrooms in the forests.

Several small towns are very beautiful like Weinheim on the Bergstraße and Michelstadt. The mild climate of the area is well known.

Images for kids

rocks of the Felsenmeer
Katzenbuckel
castle Alsbach
The Reichenbach felsenmeer in autumn
Felsenmeer near Reichenbach (Lautertal) in winter
Characteristic sandstone formation near Eberbach
Roman manor house Villa Haselburg near Höchst (Mümling)
Wild Woman (Wildweibchen) with an unicorn (Straßburg around 1500)
Heidelberg with the castle and the Königstuhl
The Himbächel viaduct on the Odenwald Railway)
The Margarethenschlucht (gorge)
Every year the Heppenheimer Street Theatre Gassensensationen occupiesEberstadt the marketplace and other corners of the old town
Granite-Gneiss-Odenwald (Altherr, 1999)
Granite-Gneiss-Odenwald (Stein, 2001)
Granite-Gneiss- and Redsandstone-Odenwald (Stein, 2001 + Weber, Geo-Naturpark)
Geological profile (from left): Rheinplane, Granite-Odenwald, Gneiss-Odenwald, Redsandstone-Odenwald (Geo-Naturpark)
Siegfriedbrunnen by Wilhelm Trübner. In the legend there is no exact description in respect of the hunting trip.
Rodenstein Castle is the scene of the Rodensteiner ghost legend (19th-century picture).
Neutsch with a view to Neunkirchen and the Neunkircher Höhe
View from Weschnitz- Valley to the mountains Hardberg (with transmitter), Götzenstein, Kisselbusch (from left)
Weschnitz- Valley with a view to Tromm-mountain range
Overlooking the Krehberg (view from Lindenfels)
The Waldskopf in the Gorxheim valley
The Melibokus near Zwingenberg
With a view from the Lauter- Valley (Hohenstein) to the Melibokus (right) and the Auerbach Castle (background, in the middle)
The Gesprenz-Valley gneiss-sandstone-mountain range: Böllsteiner Höhe on the left, Morsberg in the middle
The Felsberg (with transmitter, view from the Lauter-Valley), Auerbach-Castle and Melibokus on the left
The Daumberg in the Gorxheim valley
The Weschnitz-Valley with Hirschkopf-Juhöhe-mountain range (view from the Tromm)
The Gersprenz in Dieburg
The Mümling in Erbach
The Eutersee near Hesseneck
Climbing path at the Breuberg-Hainstadt quarry
Hohenstein near Reichenbach (Baryte-quartz-cliff)
Borstein near Reichenbach (Baryte-quartz-cliff)
Giant tortoise gneiss rocks (Böllstein)
Granite rocks (Tromm)
Reichenbach-Felsenmeer: The giant column (Riesensäule) is a workpiece of Roman stonemasons.
Granite rocks Wildfrauhaus (Fischbachtal)
Zwingenberg (Neckar) gorge: Wolfsschlucht
When Caspar und Max begin with casting the magic bullets in the Wolf’s Glen the Wild Hunt appears in the air with demoniacal noise.
The rocks at the Juhöhe are supposed to be the petrified dogheads of the Rodensteiner cry of hounds
It is said, that the holes of the Opfersteine were offering cups for the devil.
People of the Kreiswald near the Juhöhe told, that a long time ago the granite formation was the flat iron of Giant-ladies
Frankenstein near Darmstadt/Upper Rhine Rift valley
Frankenstein Castle
The ruins of Tannenberg near Seeheim (Seeheim-Jugenheim)
Heiligenberg Castle near Jugenheim (Seeheim-Jugenheim)
Alsbach Castle, view from Melibokus (Alsbach-Hähnlein)
The ruins of Auerbach Castle near Bensheim
Park and mansion Fürstenlager near Bensheim-Auerbach
Schönberg Castle (Bensheim-Schönberg)
Bergstaße: Starkenburg (view from Maiberg, Heppenheim)
Starkenburg with Schlossberg (Heppenheim)
Weinheim Castle
The ruins of Windeck (Weinheim)
Wachenburg near Weinheim (Two-Castles-Town)
Wachenburg (view from Hirschkopf-tower), Weißer Stein (lookout tower) in the background
Strahlenburg near Schriesheim
The ruins of Schauenburg in Dossenheim
Birkenau Castle near Weinheim
The ruins of Lindenfels Castle, Bürgerturm (tower)
View from Weschnitztal to Lindenfels (left), in the background right of centre: Reichenberg Castle, left picture margin: Neunkircher Höhe
The ruins of Rodenstein near Fränkisch-Crumbach are the setting of a ghost story: Rodensteiner flies with a berserker-cornet in the night through the air to prophesy the start of a war (see above).
Reichenberg Castle, entrance, near Reichelsheim
Gersprenz-Valley with Reichenberg
Lichtenberg Castle (Fischbachtal)
Neunkircher Höhe with a view to Lichtenberg Castle (left) and the Reinheimer Bucht: Otzberg to the right of centre
Castle Grounds in Lichtenberg in Odenwald, Wilhelm Trübner, 1900. Colección Carmen Thyssen Bornemisza.
extinct volcano Otzberg and the old fort Veste Otzberg with the white tower
Erbach Castle
Fürstenau Castle (near Michelstadt) with decorative gateway arch
Old Castle in Bad König
Burg Breuberg near Höchst in the summer of 2006
Breuberg Castle, keep (Bergfried) and main gate
The ruins of Wildenberg (Kirchzell) from the High Middle Ages, built in the Staufer era, where Wolfram von Eschenbach is said to have written parts of his Parzival.
Portrait of the medieval poet Wolfram von Eschenbach from the Codex Manesse
Fireplace in the great hall. In Wolframs Parzival the author indirectly compares the gigantic fireplace in the Grail Castle with that of Wildenberg: “so groziu fiwer sit noch e sach niemen hie ze Wildenberc” (line 230,12-13)
The ruins of Freienstein near Beerfelden
Waldleiningen Castle in the British-style (near Mudau)
Heidelberg with Castle and the Old Bridge over river Neckar
Neckarsteinach with Mittelburg (left) and Vorderburg (in the middle)
Neckarsteinach: Vorderburg
Neckarsteinach: Mittelburg'
Neckarsteinach: Hinterburg
Neckarsteinach: The ruins of Schwalbennest
The medieval feudal lord and poet (minnesinger) Bligger von Steinach (Portrait from the Codex Manesse) resided in Steinach (Neckarsteinach)
Dilsberg with mountain fort
Tower and wall of Dilsberg near Neckarsteinach
Hirschhorn with Hirschhorn Castle
The ruins of Eberbach Castle
Zwingenberg Castle (also called the Zwingenburg) (Zwingenberg/Neckar)