The best traffic-free bike rides around Weißdorf

Stone bridge in the center of Münchberg;

With Polznica, meaning creeping, slowly flowing water, the Slavs had once designated this stream. From this developed the current name Pulschnitz. The eleven-kilometer-long stream is a tributary of the Saxon Saale.

In 1901, the Wirsberger Torhaus with "Fronveste" on Hauptstraße, directly next to the Gatshof Hereth inn, was demolished. For 469 years, it had protected the most important traffic route through the market town and, if necessary, could also block it with a heavy wooden gate. Every stranger, every cart could be stopped and checked here. The gatehouse, built at the behest of Nuremberg burgrave Friedrich from fieldstones, also served as a residence for the lord's bailiff and as a prison. Today, the arched gallery below the town hall architecturally recalls the former gate to the market.

The renowned chef Alexander Herrmann, born in Kulmbach in 1971 and raised in Wirsberg, comes from a family of restaurateurs. At the age of nine, he lost his parents in a car accident; the "Posthotel", which had been in the family since 1869, was managed by his uncle and aunt from 1981. Herrmann attended a hotel management school and completed a culinary apprenticeship. In 1996, he joined the "Posthotel" as head chef. His restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars.

Wirsberg also owes its historical significance to this crossing over the Schorgast. Located on important trade routes, such as the connection between Nuremberg, Plauen, and Leipzig, simple wooden bridges had been built here repeatedly in the past. However, these were often damaged or destroyed by floods, ice drift, and the massive wear and tear from heavy wagons, which transported copper ore, among other things. At the beginning of the 18th century, it was decided to build a stone bridge here. The Schorgast Bridge, which can be seen here today and which the locals call "Wernersbruck", was built in 1711 as a two-span sandstone ashlar bridge. In 1995 and 1996, it was extensively renovated by the district of Kulmbach and the market town of Wirsberg to preserve a historical piece of Wirsberg's history.

Here is the residence of the popular TV chef and two-Michelin-star cook Alexander Herrmann.

In 1432, Friedrich Burggraf von Nürnberg made the market rights conditional on the place being protected "with ditches and fortifications". The gatehouse with "Fronfeste" (prison) thus served to protect and block the most important traffic route through the market town. Every stranger and every wagon could be stopped and checked.

The Steinener Brücke from 1711 over the Schorgast, also called Wernersbruck, is a technical monument of great rarity. The bridge was thoroughly renovated and restored in 1995 by the district of Kulmbach.