Travel to Eastern Germany – Episode 209

The Amateur Traveler talks to Eleonora about visiting eastern Germany.

Eleonora grew up in Dresden and starts our tour there with a city restored from the rubble of World War II to one that boasts beautiful baroque architecture. She takes up verbally to the Master’s Gallery and also to the Green Vault in the old palace. She recommends the famous opera house as well as the recently rebuilt Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche). We climb to the old fortress (Festung Koenigstein) which protected the area.

After Dresden Eleonora directs us to the mountains of Saxon Switzerland and to the Oer Mountains (or Erzgebirge) with its traditional Christmas wood carvings.

From there we go to Leipzig and to Bautzen (capital of a Slavic minority – the Sorbs). We make a sobering stop at Buchenwald concentration camp before hiking in the Hartz Mountains.

Then we head north to Saxony-Anhalt where we stop by the oldest chocolate factory in Germany in Halle. Eleonora encourages us to visit the palace of Sanssouci at Potsdam and the Hanseatic cities Rostock and Stralsund.

While in Eastern Germany we should try Christstollen, Baumkuchen, and Saxon Potato Soup. Two special tips from Eleonora are to visit the Hechtfest multicultural art festival in Dresden and the medieval Christmas market.

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Show Notes

Dresden, Germany
Dresden, Germany (official site)
map of Eastern Germany
Dresden Museums
Old Master’s Gallery in Dresden
Green Vault – Dresden Royal Palace
Festung Koenigstein (Koenigstien Fortress)
Castles, fortresses etc. in Saxony
Bombing of Dresden in World War II
Dresdner Frauenkirche (church of Our Lady)
Groove Station night club
Couchsurfing.org
The Elbe Sandstone Mountains National Park
Mineral Museum ( in the Erzgebirge, Ore Mountains in Saxony)
Bautzen (capital of the Sorbs)
Harz mountains – also monument for emperor Barbarossa
Weimar, Germany
Buchenwald concentration camp
Palaces in Berlin, Potsdam and Brandenburg
Sanssouci – summer palace of Frederick the Great
Berlin, Germany – Amateur Traveler Episode 40
Eleonora says “Rostock and Stralsund also have websites, and a visit to the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea is also worth a trip.”
Hanseatic League

Spreewald – Eleonora says she forgot to mention this, in the state of Brandenburg: a huge area where people live on islands, there are no cars, all transport is done by boat (school boat etc.), the people make famous famous pickled cucumbers there (Spreegurke), you can do boat rides through the area, very beautiful.
Sky disk of Nebra – Eleonora says she forgot to mention this as well, the famous sky disk of Nebra was found some years ago in Saxony Anhalt. The area was settled by Celtic people as well and you can still see their artificial hills for worshipping etc. around Nebra

Restaurants

Bautzner Tor Dresden (Eleonora’s favorite pub and restaurant)
Good Bio Food

Food

Stollen
Baumkuchen

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