Meissen, the pretty porcelain town on the Elbe

We are currently parked up at Gasthaus Stuckatz in Dollenchen (N51.60745 E13.86226).  It is a little village in the countryside between Meissen and Berlin and we are now as far north as London!  For 10 euros you get everything - shower, toilet, electric, waste dump, etc etc plus a cheap restaurant to eat in.  Wi-Fi is included but they still haven't caught up with the west here, with only having 2G.  Mel says the place looks like when it was East Germany in the 1980s, but I quite like it that time has stood still!

Leaving Dresden it was a short drive of 20 miles to Meissen.  When Mel worked in East Germany, this area was restricted for him to visit so we weren’t quite sure what the town had in store for us.  We parked up by the Elbe (N51.16820 E13.47359), looking up to the castle.

Our first stop was to have a tour of the Meissen factory and museum.  Entering the museum you are greeted by Saxonia – The Saxon Statue of Liberty created in 2014 to mark the 25^th anniversary of German reunification.  Currently the largest freestanding porcelain sculpture in the world.  The dress has 8,000 single handmade Meissen porcelain blossoms.

Everything is still done by hand from the potters wheel for the creations, to the hand painting of the designs.

The museum holds over 300 years of porcelain history, from 1710 to present day.

The Great Temple of Honour – originally produced in 1748 by Johann Joachim Kaendler and comprises of 123 individual parts and is the largest table-centre ever made in Meissen porcelain.

The intricate detail is stunning

Mel wondering which piece of Meissen would look nice in the motorhome!

Walking back to the town from the factory, we came across this bench made up of broken pottery and signs of Meissen.  Must have been factory rejects!

We chose to walk up to the castle and palace, it’s not a long walk or a steep climb but there is a small funicular to take you to the top.

Meissen cathedral and palace.  The palace is considered to be the oldest in Germany.

They have started cleaning it all up, which tends to make it look a bit modern - we prefer the old ‘weathered look’.

From the top of the castle we can spy Sonny nestled in amongst the other motorhomes.

Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) – the porcelain bells at the top play out a little tune 5 times a day.

I would of loved to have danced around this Maypole!

The massive Viking cruise boat coming up The Elbe, bringing in more tourists!

Meissen is a small but very pretty town and would thoroughly recommend a visit!  We are going to chill for a while in the countryside before heading to the big and busy city of Berlin.  The last time we were both here was in 1987, when we did a 25km race around the city – something that we wouldn’t be able to do now! It will be interesting to see the changes.

Sally x