11 Jan
11Jan

By The Spanish Fly


My wife and I often go to Germany for Christmas and New Year. Rita is German and we like to visit her family, which is distributed throughout the country from Schleswig-Holstein in the North, to North Rhine Westphalia in the middle and Baden-Würrtemberg in the south.

In 2023 we combined our visit with a three-day trip to Dresden in the former East Germany.

Dresden in ruins after the Second World War [BBC]


Dresden is the city flattened by the Allies in the closing stages of the Second World War. The City Centre has been painstakingly rebuilt as it was before the attack. This article is an edited and abridged version of two articles written by me at the time and posted on another website.


DRESDEN

Thursday, December 21, 2023

By The Spanish Fly

After our long drive from north of Hamburg, through five Bundesländer* (federal states) to get to Dresden, we were glad to step out of the car. 

*Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Sachsen (Saxony), Sachsen-Anhalt and Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony).   


We checked into our floating hotel, a former paddle steamer, now docked permanently in a side arm of the River Elbe and enjoyed a short German version of the siesta


We then headed off on foot to the Altstadt (Old Town) to enjoy the delights of one of the many Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets) and to seek out a Thüringer Bratwurst, a sausage typical of the region.



Pöppelmann Schiffsherberge – Hotel

I’d stayed in/on a boat hotel once before, on the Moskva River in Moscow back in 1990. My young family and I were in the then Soviet Union on holiday visiting Russian friends of my first wife, who was a graduate in Russian

Little did we know there was about to be a coup d’état. But that’s another story!

Back to Dresden, the boat was somewhat basic (eg no en suite facilities), but it was clean and reasonably priced for a big city at Christmastime. Indeed it was Rita's sister Birgid’s third time staying in the very same boat hotel.

After our nap we set off on foot into town.

When we got to the bridge over the Elbe that leads to the old town, we were confronted by a police road block! 



Apparently, there was to be a major demonstration by right-wingers/modern Nazis, and the bridge was supposed to be part of the route.

“How do we get to the Altstadt, then?” I asked the policeman politely. 

You’ll have to turn round, go back to the previous bridge and cross there”, replied the nice policeman.

Well, I nearly flipped out.

“Look. I’m 73-years-old and not very mobile, I can’t manage that. My brother-in-law here is over 80 and needs to use a walker.  I’m an English visitor to Dresden and I just wanted to experience the Christmas markets in the Old Town”.

“Oh, OK. You can pass”, said the German bobby without hesitation.

Amazing! So, the four of us, plus several other tourists who were hanging around, were allowed to cross.

The empty bridge reminded me of a 1960s spy film maybe starring Michael Caine where prisoners are about to be exchanged.


Der Altstadt-Markt

There seemed to be Christmas stalls everywhere, but we headed for the Altmarkt.

It was already rocking, with people everywhere and stalls selling everything you could imagine. The most popular ones were those selling alcoholic drinks, eg Glühwein, a kind of punch; beer; and Schnaps, as well as food, with everything from Würste, to fish; to filled sandwiches; to what looked like pasties; to French fries.


We settled for Thüringer Bratwurst with wholemeal Brötchen (crispy German bread rolls). Delicious at 5€. I washed mine down with a couple of locally brewed beers.


Right-wing ‘demo’

We booked a taxi to get back to the “houseboat”, but it couldn’t get to us because of all the blocked streets in anticipation of the demo, now clearly imminent.


There were police everywhere (I learned from the local newspaper the following day that 500 police officers had been deployed).

We felt a little exposed. 

All of a sudden, a group of protesters appeared beside us. Up went a roar as a dozen police ran in a line towards them yelling at the top of their voices. The demonstrators disappeared in a flash! 

We laughed heartily.

But it was time to go. We headed back over the bridge, still blocked to vehicles but no longer to pedestrians. We could see the march below. 


The air was full of loud music and chanted slogans, all of them racist and anti-foreigners. The main “perpetrators” were from right-wing groups Pegida and AfD, but interestingly there was also a counter demonstration against the right-wing racists.

According to the local paper the following day, the whole thing went off peacefully and no arrests were reported.

Meanwhile we trudged the two kilometres back to our accommodation.


Dresden by Night

It was still only just past 9.00 pm and there was no bar on the boat, so I decided to go out for a nightcap in one of the local Gasthäuser

I walked for what seemed like miles, but there was no Gasthaus, no bar nor off-license, just an ESSO petrol station selling booze with a little bar area with seats. That had to do.



Then it was back to the paddle steamer and an early night.


Day 2 in Dresden

After all the excitement of the right-wing demonstration on Monday evening, it was back to normal on Tuesday. 


Dresden by Day

After a hearty German breakfast, we drove to the Altstadt.



First up Rita needed a new pair of boots, so the first thing on the agenda was to find a shoe shop. We ended up in the Altstadt Shopping-Zentrum. The first shop was way too dear, so we sought out a Deichmann store.

In another shop I found a delightful wooden elephant head to add to my already large collection.

I had spotted a Tchibo shop. Originally a coffee brand and coffee shop, they also sell a random selection of good quality clothes, kitchen accessories, gifts and souvenirs.

I bought a couple of presents for our hosts later in the week, ie Rita’s daughter and family, and enjoyed a tasty coffee while I waited for the others.

Re-united we headed for den Striezelmarkt, the oldest, largest and widely reckoned to be the best of the Weihnachtsmärkte in Dresden.


We eventually tracked down a stand selling ½ metre long Bratwurst.

We each had one! That's 2 metres all together!

I washed mine down with a Weihnachtsbierlecker (delicious).


***

After our 50 cm lunch, we wanted to do a bit of tourism:


Die Frauenkirche, an ecumenical church, was a pure delight.

The Semper Opera House was unfortunately shut, so we consoled ourselves with a coffee in the café in the C. Bechstein building. This is a celebrated café on a par with the Sacher café in Vienna, Austria.

After our coffee, or in my case a beer from the Czech Republic, I popped upstairs to take a peek at the pianos in the Bechstein showroom.


What a delight! The piano I liked best turned out to be their most expensive model, a grand piano on sale at 193,000 euros! Their cheapest was a reconditioned upright for a mere 2,000€.


Back to the boat

Home time – it was getting dark – and starting to rain. I went to the ESSO petrol station for supplies.

A small bottle of Sekt for Rita, some Bier for me and a Schweineschnitzel. Birgid and Uwe don't drink (alcohol).

Supplies delivered I went upstairs to the breakfast cabin of the paddle steamer and watched the TV News, followed by “Der Kommissar und das Meer”.



Then to my uncomfortable cabin bunk bed and dreams of the gorgeous Bechstein pianos.


Wednesday and check-out time

We had a hearty breakfast the next morning before setting off for the long journey back to North Germany, and a super supper of Asparagus soup, breads and spreads, before going to bed.

***

Epilogue

Looking back, I had thoroughly enjoyed my first ever visit to the former East Germany. 



Dresden ranks highly with other fabulous cities that I have had the good fortune to have visited in my life: 

Barcelona, Berlin, Bristol, Bruges, Brussels, Cardiff, Chester, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Madrid, Moscow, Munich, New Orleans, Oslo, Paris, Prague, San Francisco, San Sebastián, Seattle, Sheffield, Valletta, Vienna, and York.


© The Spanish Fly


Photographs:

Esso

Paul Whitelock

The Spanish Fly 

Wikipedia

www.dresden.de


Tags:

AfD, Altmarkt, Altstadt, Altstadt Shopping-Zentrum, Barcelona, Bechstein, beer, Berlin, Bier, Bratwurst, Bristol, Brötchen, Bruges, Brussels, Chester, Cologne, Copenhagen, Czech Republic, Dresden, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Elbe, Frauenkirche, French fries, Glühwein, Hamburg, houseboat, Lower Saxony, Madrid, Moscow, Moskva, Munich, Niedersachsen, North Germany, Oslo, paddle steamer, Paris, Pegida, Pöppelmann, Prague, punch, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, San Francisco, San Sebastián, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Schnaps, Schweineschnitzel, Seattle, Semper, Spanish Fly, Striezelmarkt, Thüringer Bratwurst, Vienna, Weihnachtsbier, Weihnachtsmarkt, Weihnachtsmärkte, York 

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