Kalte Küche Junction of Three Nature Parks

Cold kitchen 696 m above sea level
At this point the Rennsteig crosses the "Alte Heerstrasse and Handelsstrasse" from Nuremberg to Leipzig.
In the vernacular, it is said that the original name came from the fact that the carters took a break here after the strenuous climb, eating bread and sausage "cold cuisine". In fact, the name comes from Kalde, which means border , and Kuchel "or Kochel", as one called a small church in Franconian, therefore "cold kitchen" means something like the border chapel. Historically it has been proven that there was a small chapel at the old pass.
The boundary between the Thuringian Forest Nature Park, the Thuringian Slate Mountains / Upper Saale Nature Park and the Frankenwald Nature Park runs here.

At the so-called Kalten Küche, the provincial road L1150 coming from Gräfenthal meets with the L2659 from Steinbach am Wald and the L1152 from Markt Tettau. From ancient times this was one of the most important transitions in the Thuringian Forest, crossing here but the Rennsteig, the old army and trade route Nuremberg-Leipzig and the Thuringian-Frankish slate road.

The cold kitchen also offers hot food. 😅
A wonderful place for a rest and a break with food.