Dresden, of former East Germany – a city risen from the ashes

Leaving the Czech Republic, we entered the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), formerly East Germany until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and subsequent unification of the east and west in 1990.  We have been in Germany 5 days now and visited 3 old cities – Pirna, Dresden and Meissen.  I haven’t been feeling very well though for the last few days and have had no enthusiasm for posting a blog; however, I am over it now – whatever ‘it’ was, and am now on blog catch up.

Mel is taking us on a tour of his old haunts around the former East Germany, with Dresden being one of them when he worked for the British Spy Mission in the 1980s and when Russian Leader Vladimir Putin was a KGB spy here in Dresden. Mel doesn't recall their paths crossing but who knows!

We crossed the Czech border at Petrovice and were surprised to come across a duty-free shop, where a mix of Germans and Czechs were stocking up with cheap booze and perfume.

 It made us laugh calling it ‘Europe’s No 1 border shop’ – yet another claim by a country to be a number 1

With both Czech Republic and Germany being in the Schengen there were no border controls, just signs to let us know we had changed countries and we were now entering the Saxony region of Germany.

Before getting to Dresden we stopped a couple of nights at Pirna, just to break the journey up.  Mel hadn’t been here before and we were surprised at what a pretty little town it was.  We parked up right by the Elbe overlooking the castle (Schloss Sonnenstein) it’s a free and official Aire for motorhomes.  (N50.96654 E13.93775).

To get across to the town it’s about a 2km walk via a bridge or alternatively you can take the little passenger ferry, that takes all of 2 minutes to cross to the other side.

Ferry across the Elbe

Crossing on the ferry, looking towards Schloss Sonnenstein

Pirna is a 780 year-old city.  For centuries sandstone has been a way of life for the city, with traces of it everywhere in its buildings, sculptures and architecture, and the sandstone blocks were shipped all over the world.

View from the castle on the hill.

We get the feeling we are being watched from the eyes in the roof!  Similar to ones we had seen on Romanian buildings.

Three signs are marked on this building that show how far the Elbe rose.  The top one is marked 17 August 2002, then on 31 March 1845 and the lower one of 7 September 1890 – that must have been scary in all 3 cases.

Leaving Pirna, it was a short drive (25kms) to Dresden, capital of the eastern German state of Saxony.  We parked up on an Aire, about 500m from the city centre. (N51.04426 E13.74371).  It costs €15 to park for 24 hours, €4 for electric and €1 for water and €1 to dump all your waste – a whopping €21 for parking in what is basically a car park, we’ve been paying less for staying on 4-star campsites!

Before it was bombed in World War II, Dresden was known as ‘the Florence of the Elbe’ and was regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful cities for its architecture and museums.  But unfortunately, the war reduced virtually all the town to rubble and over the years the old town has been reconstructed.  A little bit of history about it is posted at the end of the blog.

The most well-known symbol of the rebuilding of the city centre is Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady, completed in 1743) – the magnificent domed Baroque church.  The pile of rubble remained untouched in the square for half a century, as a war memorial.  Reconstruction process started in 1994 and completed in 2005.  Around the square the typical Baroque gabled houses were rebuilt section by section - the city’s ‘new’ old centre has returned.

 

Semper Opera House – another victim of the 1945 bombing.  Today considered one of the loveliest opera houses in the world and is home to the Dresden Saxon State Orchestra.

Zwinger Palace

Procession of Princes – 101 metre mural tiled with Meissen porcelain depicts the rulers of the House of Wettin in a mounted procession.

The famous and very expensive Dresden Pottery.

Mel used to visit a little house back in the 1980s to purchase it, as there were no shops selling it in those days – and bought it for a lot less than what it sells for today!

On the right-hand bank of the Elbe sits the mounted statue of the Saxon electoral prince and King of Poland, Friedrich August I (Augustus the Strong) – known as the Golden Horseman.  Originally the oldest district in the city, but following a fire in 1685 he had it rebuilt as a Baroque quarter.

Leaving the old town we came across some street music, these guys were so good and were advertising themselves on the street for an up and coming Jazz Festival in Dresden.

So, as I said in the early part of the blog here is a little bit of history for those interested:

In February 1945 the British/American Airforce carried out a firebombing attack on the city of Dresden.  The attack is said to be a payback bombing for Hitler bombing Coventry, which apparently he had done in retaliation for us bombing Munich.  There is a lot of controversy around the bombing of the city, as it has been said that the civilian town had no military significance and after a few days of bombing the city was virtually flattened and hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost.  Equally abhorrent was Germany’s bombing of the British cities and war is hell, but tit for tat doesn’t make it right in my eyes and if there was no strategic reason for the bombing then not even the passing of time can make it right.  Churchill later wrote that “the destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing”.  Although, I have read that after the war it was discovered that the city had a poison gas factory there and manufacturing establishments producing items associated with war production.  The cities of Coventry and Dresden are now twinned and Dresden continues to rebuild itself.

From Dresden we moved on to Meissen.

Sally x

Prague – charming, colourful and beautiful!

For the last couple of days we have been parked up on a small 4 star campsite - camping Sokol Praha on the edge of Prague city (N50.08908 E14.58374  E).  Poor old Sonny (the motorhome) has been treading water since arriving as it has been torrential rain on and off for the last 24 hours and temperatures are struggling to get above 8°C!  The campsite has about 30 wooden chalets and plots for 35 motorhomes/caravans, but it is very quiet with only 7 of us on here - 5 Germans, 1 Canadian (in a motorhome they hired in Denmark) and us.  Although the swimming pool and restaurant are closed, the underfloor modern heated shower and toilet blocks more than make up for it!

Sonny, keeping his head above water in our boggy pitch!

Leaving Kutná Hora the satnav decided to navigate us cross-country through lots of narrow, wiggly roads and pretty villages.  It was only 46 miles to Prague so we didn’t mind as we weren’t in any hurry. 

Having sat out the rain on the campsite, it was nice to wake up to sunshine yesterday.  An early start was needed, so we took the 8.45am free campsite shuttle bus to the train station and 3 stops later we were in the centre of Prague.  We were last here in December 2009 with our daughter visiting the Christmas markets, so we were looking forward to seeing it again.

Getting of the train we headed to Wenceslas Square in the heart of the new town.  I guess they call it the new town as it has lots of modern buildings here. But the 750m long, 60m wide boulevard was actually laid out  as a horse market in 1348 by Charles IV - so not so new!

At the top of the boulevard is the National Museum and in front a statue of St Wenceslas (‘good King Wenceslas’) on his horse, who is the patron saint of the Czech Republic.  Near St Wenceslas are 2 plaques to commemorate those killed during the communist era and one dedicated to Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in protest at the Soviet invasion.

Heading towards the old town it became apparent that the world and his wife were in Prague – tourist groups of every nation everywhere… ahhhhhh!
I struggled choosing which photos to put on and which ones to leave off, so beware there are a lot of them!!

Knight's of the Cross Square, next to Charles Bridge

View from Charles Bridge

Lots of musicians and street vendors on the bridge

I loved this Italian Embassy building but surprise! surprise! every time I went to take a picture a Japanese tourist would jump in front of the door to take a selfie or pose for a picture!

The old town hall with the medieval astronomical clock, currently going through restoration.  It gives an animated hourly show that lasts about 45 seconds and not that thrilling, but it doesn't stop the hordes of people gathering to watch - including us!

There are some lovely ornate buildings around the old square.

The 9th Century Prague Castle sits proudly on the hill. with its changing of the guard taking place everyday at 12noon.  It's a formal handover carried out with a fanfare and banner exchange by the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.

Chsnging of the guard

Familiar site of statues clobbering each other

Time to stop for lunch!  Delicious Goulash soup in a bread bun, followed by chocolate crepes and washed down with a nice glass of vino!

The Loreta  - lovely Baroque church

Petřin look out tower, reminiscent of a small Eiffel Tower.  A 63-metre high steel tower that you can walk to the top of by going up a 299 step spiral stairway around the outside - my worst nightmare given my fear of heights!  Mel did it last time he was here so was happy to give it a miss this time.

A little paddle steamer making its way under Charles Bridge

A walk around the old Jewish quarter, dating back to the 13^th century, when Jewish people were ordered to vacate their homes and settle in one cramped area.  A lot of the buildings were flattened between 1893-1913 but fortunately most of the significant historical buildings were saved from destruction and remain a testimony to the history of the Jews in Prague

Everywhere you walk in Prague you will see someone eating Trdelnik.  It is a Czech cinnamon pastry sold by street vendors all over Prague.  This one claims to be the best, not sure if it is as we didn't try any!

Lovely old chocolate shop - even had Russian Dolls made out of the stuff!

Last stop before the train - a Glühwein by the Halloween market.

Unfortunately, leaving Prague we jumped on the wrong train,15 minutes later we managed to get off crossed the line and jumped on the next train back to Prague.  We explained our situation to the ticket inspector, who luckily let us off paying for another ticket. So, back in Prague, about 40 minutes later we started again!  Note to self:  Make sure you read the signs properly at train stations before getting on the train!

It doesn’t matter what street you walk up, alleyway you go down or road you cross, the architecture cannot fail to stop you in your tracks.  Despite the amount of tourists it attracts, Prague remains our all-time favourite city to visit.

Have a Happy Halloween everyone!

Sally x

Into The Czech Republic - Country #18

We are currently at a place called Kutna Hora, in the Czech Republic.  Our 18th country since leaving the UK last December.

Czech Republic - Country #18 since leaving the UK

We left Vienna 3 days ago and travelled to a place called Eggenburg, near to the Austrian/Czech Republic Border.  It was just a stopover before heading to Telc in the Czech Republic, which was another 60 miles away. We parked up on an Aire at the bottom of the town (N48.64556 E15.81694).  It was €4 a night, plus €1 for water and another €1 to get 8 hours of electricity.  It was all done on honesty (we have learnt that Austria is a very trusting country), you just put your money in an envelope and put it through the letter box of the building next to the Aire.  There was a ‘welcome pack’ as well, all in English and maps and information about the town.

Sonny, the motorhome hidden among the autumn trees

We were surprised how pretty this little town was and had a lovely walk around the 2km town walls.

From Eggenburg, it was a short distance to the Austria/Czech Republic border. As both countries are in the Schengen, there was nothing to let us know we had crossed the border – no remains of old border control buildings, no ‘Czech Republic’ signs, just this crude plaque of Jesus and lots of Flags!

Like the previous 6 countries we had been in, we chose not to buy a vignette.  That meant no driving on the motorways otherwise we would incur a hefty fine.  So, crossing over from Austria where we'd had top-class roads, we were all of a sudden subjected to some horrendously potholed roads pretty much all the way to Telc - our stop for the night.  The town of Telc is lovely, and is known for its Italian Renaissance architecture and colourful houses, and is part of UNESCO World Heritage - yes, another one!

We wild camped the night at at the bottom of the town near a dried up river - (N49.18058 E15.45797).

Leaving Telc we were surprised that the roads were very quiet, given that it was a Saturday. We stopped off to get some food, only to find out that all the shops were closed.  It was the same thing as we drove through all the towns and villages on the way.  A quick check of the internet and we found out that it’s a public holiday – Independent Czechoslovak State Day.  It is the National Day of the Czech Republic and commemorates the date in 1918 when Czechoslovakia was created.  Interestingly, it is not a public holiday in Slovakia. Fortunately, we had stocked up the day before with food and had enough for a few days so we weren’t going to starve – much to Mel’s relief!  

Plenty of pumpkins in this town we went through - must be Halloween soon me thinks!

68 miles later and we were in Kutná Hora and found our parking place for the night (N49.94740 E15.27867).  We headed in to the town, once a wealthy silver-mining town. The sun was out but you can tell from what I am wearing it was cold - I had 3 layers underneath my coat!

St Barbara Cathedral

Some scary looking gargoyles on the Gothic cathedral

Very old medieval frescoes on the wall 

We weren't expecting to find any tourist groups here this time of year, but guess who we found in town - yes a large group of Japanese tourists posing for photos!

Time for a Glühwein stop to warm us up!

Interesting frescoes on the outside of this house

Tomorrow we are off to Prague.  We last visited the place nearly 8 years ago, so we are looking forward to getting reacquainted with the beautiful old city again.

Sally x