With the reunification of Germany, Erfurt became a pilgrimage destination of sorts. Thousands of Americans poured into this former East German city to see where Martin Luther studied, to bow heads where he prayed, to walk the same medieval streets, and even to sleep where he slept.

 
Luther came to the University of Erfurt as a student in 1501, served as a monk in the Augustinian Monastery starting in 1505 and was ordained as a priest in the St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1511. At almost every turn, there’s a reminder of the man who launched the Reformation.
But Erfurt’s far more than Luther.

In the compact Altstadt, almost every major sight of interest—and there are many—is within a five-minute walk of the Rathaus. There’s Cathedral Hill with the 14th-century Cathedral and 13th century St. Severus with their 70 stone steps leading to the sprawling Cathedral Square.

 
From the top of the stairs, there’s a glorious view to the sprawling square bordered on the southern and western sides by shops and restaurants in restored renaissance buildings. The recently restored Zur Hohen Lilie (High Lily) House, built in 1538, at 31 Domplatz is especially attractive.

 
Nearby, the hilltop Petersberg Citadel, started in 1664, is one of few almost completely preserved Baroque citadels and an excellent example of military construction through three centuries. (Take an evening torchlight tour through the passageways.) A quick stroll leads across the 14th century Merchant’s Bridge lined with 32 narrow houses to form the longest such bridge in Europe.

 
The Gothic Augustinian Monastery dates to 1277 and offers an exhibition on the life and work of Martin Luther. Even those not interested in Luther will be impressed by the architecture. They’ll also be saddened by a crater that remains where residents huddled in the library basement in a vain attempt to escape a late-war bombing raid. Instead of protecting them, the medieval columns and arches collapsed and crushed them.

 
Walking through the Anger 1 shopping pavilion, an early 20th-century Jugendstil building now teeming with capitalism-driven boutiques and eateries, it’s hard to believe that this town was part of the former East Germany. The city is alive. Shoppers fill the streets. Sounds of kids in courtyard playgrounds pour into the streets in mid-afternoon. Their older brothers and sisters tend to congregate longer, with a surprising number of body piercings and breadth of bare female midriffs. University students also bring life, although they actually seem more subdued than the teens.