I've posted some photos of the Meissner mountains taken in autumn some time ago. Here is a bunch I took two weeks ago, with the first buds of spring appearing on the trees.
I'm still having a busy time at work. I hope it will be better soon so I'll have the time to write some longer posts that require research. It's not that I'm running out of landscape photos, but I suspect my readers will get bored if there's not some castle soon. ;-)
The scenery for this post was taken on the juniper heath near a village called Rossbach in the Meissner foothills. One of the Premium hiking paths is leading through this landscape. The Premiums hiking ways are mostly natural paths that are kept free from obstacles and well equipped with signposts. There are also maps so you can plan tours ahead.
The areas with juniper heath are interspesed with calcareous grasslands, fields, and grazing meadows down in the valleys. In summer, some rare orchids will bloom on the calcareous grasslands. I'll plan to return for another tour when the heather is in bloom - the hills should look lovely then.
There is some forest as well, and a river that gets lost. *grin* Since the rock ground in that area is limestone and gypsum kalk, the brook seeps into some particularly porous bit of ground. That itself is not so unusual in limestone formations, but the brook doesn't reappear anywhere - like for example the Rhume Springs - and that is unusual.
The limestone dates back to the zechstein time when this part of Germany had been a shallow sea that stretched from eastern England to northern Poland, an area that was known as the European Permian Basin - back then located near the equator. That was 298-252 million years ago. The zechstein is a sedimentary rock as result of layers of calcareous marine fauna pressed together.
The Zechstein Sea was also responsible for the vast layers of halite (rock salt) that can be found in Germany and Poland. The salt domes around Lüneburg which played a role in the rise of the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages belong to that strata. Salt can also be found at Werra and Leine where it comes close to the surface in some places.
The grassland parts of the landscape are kept open by sheep who are herded to grazing regularly. The area is an interesting mix of natural habitats and man made parts like fields and cherry orchards (the whole area is famous for its cherries). The landscape has developed that way for hundreds of years and is now a nature reserve despite its partial agricultural use.
Karst landscapes like the ones in the north-eastern foothills of the Meissner can also be found in the southern foothills of the Harz (I explained the Zechstein Sea in a bit more detail in that post).
And finally a nice view towards the village of Rossbach on a sunny spring afternoon.