Prague to Hamburg
 

Soon we will embark on a river cruise on the Elbe from Prague to Hamburg. There will be stops along the way for day trips. Especially in Dresden and Berlin and Hamburg which may be too large to cover in one day what would anyone recommend as not to miss, perhaps of special importance or beauty or historical interest? Any places for photos? Also any outstanding restaurant? Also we look forward to Wittenberg with its Luther connection.

I've been reading several books...Dresden and also The Berlin Wall both by Frederick Taylor...and learning quite a bit. Hope to read Bonhoeffer by Erick Metaxas (though it is 540 pp). This is a new work but I'm familiar with this Christian martyr. Any other book or source, including fiction? My wife and I have toured various places in Europe and elsewhere and enjoy learning along with sightseeing.

Looks like the temp forecast for upcoming weeks in Germany may be highs mid 70s for the most part. Is that usually norm? That isn't much different than Boston rather than much of the hot U. S. I'll keep checking of course.

Bill in Boston

Normally, I am a great beliefer in doing my own thing, but - fankly - for the three cities you mention, you are best off if you take the tours offered by the ship. Although you will be saving money using public transportation, by the time you find your way around, you will be wasting a lot of time.

Dresden is the most compact of the three, and after the tour, you can re-visit some of the places, like the Zwinger, the Semper Opera, etc. walking from the boat.

The other, smaller places along the cruise you can easiuly do yourself. Just get a good tour book, like the Green Michelin Guide for Germany.

In Dresden, if they offer a tour to the Festung (fortress) Koenigstein, take it. The same applies to the area called Saechsische Schweiz (Swiss Saxony). In fact, both of these places are up-river from Dresdden, and you will be passing them.

I am wondering how Berlin can be a stop along the Elbe river cruise from Prague via Dresden to Hamburg. It's hundred miles away from the river.

Which are your stops, the three mentioned aside?

There are red double-decker hop-on-hop-off buses in Dresden, you may want to take this tour as an alternative to the one offered by the ship. Include Pillnitz palace and the suspension railway Loschwitz-Oberloschwitz.

<< how Berlin can be a stop along the Elbe river cruise >>

Baltic cruise ships consider Berlin a stop and have day excursions to Berlin and it's 3 hours from the port. Berlin is much closer from the river. I call it crazy but I know someone who is going to do this.

You can explore Dresden just by walking from the ship. You have the best view (photoshot) from the left bank. On the right bank, you find the historical center. You will easily see the famous historic buildings - Zwinger, Frauenkirche, Semperoper.

I recommend the Grünes Gewölbe (green vault) - it is a unique collection of amazing jewellery.

http://www.skd.museum/en/museums-ins...lbe/index.html

No need to to an organized tour in Dresden.

For a rustic lunch, I recommend Radeberger Spezialausschank, an atmospheric microbrewery right on Brühl's Terrace.

http://cms.radeberger-spezialausscha...uns/index.html

Lutherstadt Wittenberg is directly at the Elbe. You may explore it on foot too. You will walk on the tracks of Martin Luther, but there are some other attractions too. See

http://www.lutherstadt-wittenberg.de...iten.html?&L=1

Berlin is far away from the Elbe indeed. I assume the cruise ship will offer a bus tour from a port to Berlin. So, you have to stick with the tour.

Hamburg is a very large city. In Hamburg, you move with the underground train or ferry boats (scenic!). Hamburg has more attractions than you can see within one day, so look into a guidebook and select those which fascinate you most. There are many outstanding museums, historical ships. the industrial harbour etc.

Eating:

For fish dishes, the "Fischküche" is a good spot. http://www.die-fischkueche.de/

One of the most atmospheric restaurants in Hamburg with refined regional cuisine is this one:

http://www.oldcommercialroom.de/

Forget the weather forecasts. The forecasts are fairly reliable for three days, not more. Temps will be between 20°C and 35°C. You may enjoy sunshine or heavy rains - you never know.

I second traveller's suggestions for Dresden.

Right bank and left bank are mixed up, though. It's the other way around ;-)

Thanks for your responses. Some good tips. Berlin is an overland excursion from the Elbe at Tangermunde. I'm sure we will only see highlights. There is some free time in the afternoon. Besides a motorcoach tour and boat tour of harbor in Hamburg there is a free afternoon.

I can see we will not have time to explore a bit more thoroughly some places as we have Brugges, Prague, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Dublin, etc. in the past. But as we are growing older this is probably best for us.

The cruise includes these stops: Prague, Dresden, Meissen, Torgau, Wittenberg, Berlin, Tangermunde, Lauenburg, Hamburg.

Bill in Boston

Of course there is so much to see in a city like Berlin, but if I had time to revisit only one thing, for me it would be the Pergamon Museum. With a little more time, I'd add wandering the Mitte's art galleries. :)

One book that comes to mind is <i>Berlin Diaries</i>, written by a young Russian woman who worked in the German Foreign Office during WWII in Berlin and Vienna.
http://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Diaries.../dp/0394757777

For Prague I've read Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright and Beyond the Chestnut Trees by Maria Bauer - both non fiction. Albright's book is about the years 1938 to 1948 and Bauer's book is about returning to Prague in the 1970s after a well-to-do upbringing and fleeing just before WWII. You can also read Kafka and Kundera for a Czech flavor (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) or the Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich.

Berlin - In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson is a fabulous book.

Yes, very much enjoyed Larson's In the Garden of the Beasts and wish I could persuade wifey to read it. Another book on how quickly and unbelievably (to outside world) the Jewish persecution and Nazi domination took place from 1933 is Bonhoeffer by Metaxas. This professor/pastor couldn't get people to realize the sinister nature of the Nazis. Will consider Berlin Diaries and have just finished The Berlin Wall and earlier Dresden both by Frederick Taylor. Anyone have a suggestion for something on post war and wall Germany, descriptive or fiction?

I have come across just the book I want...Fatherland, by Frederick Kempe (1999). The author was child of German immigrants...his father arriving in 1927, his mother a descendant of Robert Schumann. Once the author traveled back to Dresden with his father but only after his death shortly thereafter did he really explore his German heritage...an attempt to also understand present day Germany. He began by digging through a footlocker full of saved clippings and letters, some very disturbing as the father admired progress in Nazi Germany and acceptance of anti-Semitic measures.

"There are not two Germanys, a good one and a bad one, but only one, whose best turned into evil through devilish cunning. Wicked Germany is merely good Germany gone astray..." Thomas Mann