River Elbe, Dresden

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The Elbe flows right through the middle of Dresden and is really an integral part of the city. In front of Bruhl Terrace between Augustusbrucke and Carolabrucke, there are paddle steamers bumper to bumper waiting to bring people on the river cruises that Dresden is justly famous for. They weren't doing much business when I was there but it was easy to imagine how pleasant it would be, in different weather conditions, to cruise to Pillnitz Castle and view everything from the water. One of these river boats is a theatre, a few seemed to be offering restaurant services and all were decorated for Christmas.

The best views in town are from the Augustbrucke. This is the perfect spot to take photographs of the Old Town and to look at the skyline of the New Town on the other side. The river bank on the Neustadt side has been developed as a park with a great cycling/jogging path but the wide expanses of green look very natural , more like a field or flood pain than a park. Ducks and river birds were clucking along the verges and the whole thing reminded me more of a Dutch landscape painting than a city park.

From Augustbrucke you can see the high rise blocks in the distance and are reminded that the city is not just all about the old town. Whichever way you look, upstream or downstream, the broad curve of the river, the graceful arching of the many bridges and the city enveloping it on either side, will make you glad you came. For icing on the cake cross the Augustusbrucke at sunset and you will never want to leave

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Schloss Albrechtsberg was built for Prince Albrecht von Preussen between 1850 and 1854 in the style of a roman renaissance-villa high above the banks of the Elbe-valley. It is the first and also the most beautiful of the many villas and palaces along the river, when you take a cruise towards the south of Dresden. The palace was bought by the city of Dresden in 1925 and is used nowadays for conventions, exhibitions and may be rented for special festivities.
You may enter the wide park around Schloss Albrechtsberg freely and without restrictions during the day !

Along the Elbe river, on the opposite site of the "old town", you find lots of grasslands. It's perfect for walking, inline skating, or riding by bike. I enjoyed strolling around there, and you have a great view on the old town with its well-known skyline!

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This tip is not about Dresden but as you shouldn't miss it while you are in Dresden and as it is only 30 kms away I decided to put it here. I am talking about the beautiful "Sächsische Schweiz", a strange landscape full of spectacular sandstone rocks south of Dresden.

We went here for a half-a-day-trip and enjoyed it so much, we couldn't stop taking pictures. The place where we went to is the most touristy place in "Saxonian Switzerland", a bridge called "Bastei". It's located not far from a town called Rathen.

The first thing you see at Bastei is a terrible hotel and restaurant complex and hundreds of tourists. Walk on and you will get to the lookout points overlooking the river Elbe and the strange rock formations with great views! Once you get to the "Bastei" itself, it gets scary. At least for people who are scared of heights like me. At first it felt terrible to cross the Bastei bridge which is located between several hight rocks. Underneath you is nothing but a deep gorge.

When I got more adventurous we went into a different complex, the Felsenburg Neurathen (You have to pay admission for this one). In here you cross the most scary bridges between many more rocks and I was shaking for at least 30 mts while we walked around here. Even after all that time it's hard to imagine that people actually lived here in the middle ages, using the rocks as their fortress.

Maybe the climbers, who were enjoying free climbing at its best on all rocks around us, can imagine how living in a place like this is possible....

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UNESCO put 18 kms of the the beautiful Elbe valley "Elbtal" onto their world heritage list in 2005. This "scenic" route reaches from Schloss Übigau northwest of Dresden to Pillnitz castle in the southeast. We saw the bit between Dresden's old town and Pillnitz from aboard a boat on the river. It's definitely a beautiful area! Along the river you will find some castles as well as numerous gorgeous villas, little chapels, green fields and strange funiculars.

According to UNESCO the Elbe valley combines architecture and landscape perfectly. The river flows through the city centre of Dresden but it's not walled in as in other cities with big rivers.

Currently there are quite a few discussions going on about the valley. The city planned to build a new huge bridge, the Waldschlösschenbrücke. Its location will help traffic in and around Dresden flow. Its location, however, might take away the UNESCO heritage status as it would destroy the city views from the valley.

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Sun was shining and we wanted to do something relaxing. Everybody had told us that a boattrip to Pillnitz castle would be nice. As all three of us loved boattrips it was an easy decision: We had to get onto one of the reconstructed pedal steamers cruising the river!!

We were a bit late during the day so to get off at the castle was out of question. We went there, saw it from the river, stayed on the boat and went straight back to Dresden. The whole trip took almost three hours and those were absolutely wonderful. For different reasons: Caro and I enjoyed the nice views of Elbe valley, its castles, villas and rowers as well as a drink and a overall relaxing time. I was the only one to enjoy the very local dialect of the guy speaking the commentary and all his stories I think. Thomas fell in love with the boat "Stadt Wehlen" itself. It was built in 1879 (scary thought, huh?) and used steam and pedal to get from A to B. There even was a machine operator working on the boat! It was hard to get back Thomas' attention as soon as he'd found out ;)

There are other trips as well but I really recommend the one we did. It's a great way to explore the Elbe valley which is on UNESCO's world heritage list.

The best place to get a good idea of what the term Elbflorenz refers to is on the Augustusbrücke (Augustus Bridge). It's the bridge nearest to the centre and if you cross it, Dresden in all its splendour will present itself to you!

This pleasant city park stretches along the banks of the Elbe River in Dresden Altstadt. This is an excellent choice for flood plain land. Most of historic Dresden was under water during the catastrophic flood of 2002. By the time I visited in April, 2003, repair of flood damage and cleanup was complete. Very impressive work considering the devastation done.

The park is heavily used. Every night it is littered with trash which is promptly cleaned up the next morning.