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| View of the Royal Palace & Katholic Hofkirche |
So far, I have been to the capital of the Bavarian states and the capital of modern day Germany, next up is the capital of yet another major kingdom of Germany - the Saxony. Dresden is one of the sites that tourists tend to miss out when going all over Germany and from the looks of things in there, its easy to find the reason why. When I first entered, I could notice that Dresden lacks the glamour the other major cities have. The infrastructure is not as well-designed as other major cities, with no underground trains (for some geographical reasons) and a barren train station. This makes the place one of my favorite location in Germany as it comes as an unspoiled package, not overspilling with tourist yet with enough sights to fill my day.
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| Elector Augustus the Strong |
This city found her prime during the Baroque era, where she was ruled by the elector Augustus the Great. Thus the structures that I found all around are of Baroque style, a good change from the typical romanesque or gothic style that can be found all over Europe. The city is split into two portion - the old and the new town. Due to bad weather on the both days I was there, I could only accomplish going through the old town. Walking through the entire old town will probably take you only 1 to 2 hours. For starters the area is not really very big and on top of that, all the worthy sights are packed in one small corner of the old town. A slow walk in the rain took us through the
Theatreplatz, Zwinger, Katholic Hofkirche and the
Frauenkirche. These buildings were mostly restored after being leveled by the Allied bombings in WW2, in particular the
Frauenkirche which was rebuilt using Dresden's people money and workers, making it the pride and joy of the people of Dresden. Another highlight was the
Historic Green Vault, the imperial treasure of Dresden. This is one of the best imperial treasures museum I have been. It is equipped with a interesting audio guide that gives context to most of the exhibits and well preserved.
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| Cute Eastern Germany Traffic Lights |
The most interesting thing about Dresden is that it was under the communist sphere of influence after WW2. She had the unfortunate fate of being located on the east side of Germany and was placed under the Soviet care. Much of the "backwardness" in its looks and facilities can be attributed to the fact that Dresden became stagnated in the post-war era while her neighbors shot far ahead under the Allied care. Thus it is interesting to see how a post-war communist germanic state is doing after reintegrating with the rest of Germany. I would say I was very impressed by how much they have improved over the last 20 years (communism fell between 1989 - 1991). The historical sights were mostly re-built within that spam of time, infrastructure developed over these years and it is now fast catching up with her western neighbors.
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| The Augustus Bridge linking Old & New Town |
All in all, Dresden is a rare gem in Germany that is worth passing by if you are near Berlin (just a short 2 hour train ride from Berlin). The place is not as jam-packed with tourists (but still crowded with them) and still has the basic infrastructure to make touring the place easy. English is spoken by most of the people in the tourism industry and the cost of isn't as high as the other major cities. I would recommend a 3-4 day stay, taking time to explore the old town, the new town and the historic green vault. If you are a ardent museum fan, you can buy the €10 museum tickets that allow you to go to all the museums in the
Zwinger. If not, just sitting around with a beer in hand is also a good idea to spend one day in Dresden.
For more information:
My Guide to Europe: Dresden
For more photos:
Photos of Dresden
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