Externsteine

Take a cheap car holiday in Germany and discover the Externsteine, a distinctive sandstone formation located in the Teutoburger Wald. The curious formation consists of several high sandstone cliffs standing, almost as if carved out, as narrow columns of stone and rising strikingly out of the surrounding forest landscape. Archaeological investigations show that parts of the monument date back as far as 10,700 BC. Over the centuries the site has been used both as a hermitage and a Christian chapel, and around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries both nationalist scholars and members of the Völkisch movement took an interest in the monument. This interest reached its peak during the Nazi regime, when the Externsteine began to be used in various propaganda campaigns. Today, the site is one of the area's most popular tourist attractions and an ideal place to visit on a self-drive holiday or mini-vacation in Germany.