When we started our Euro-road trip in February 2016, our first stop was Prague after buying a motorhome in Berlin. Along the way, we passed through Dresden, a city unknown to us yet big enough to be labeled on Germany’s map, and beautiful enough to lure us back upon our return to Berlin at the end of our Eurotrip.
Driving through painfully cold Dresden at sunrise in February:
We returned in August to a warmer, livelier Dresden. Albeit shaded by Germany’s summer clouds, Dresden’s reconstructed beauty still shined. Despite the grandeur of the seemingly aged buildings, most of Dresden and all of its notable landmarks have been completely rebuilt to its original splendor since its destruction by the Allied Forces in 1945.
We love cities and towns that welcome motorhomes, and Dresden accommodated us perfectly. Just a 15-minute walk from the center was a large, shaded parking lot for motorhomes for €10/24 hours. A motorhome that looked similar to ours even parked right next to us.
Immediately upon arriving to the city center, we climbed up Bruhl’s Terrace, Dresden’s terraced promenade overlooking the Elbe River and old town.
Then we strolled over to the largest porcelain mural in the world, The Procession of Princes or Fürstenzug. It is 330 ft. long and made out of 25,000 porcelain tiles.
Around the corner from the porcelain mural is the gorgeous opera house:
Gazing out at Dresden Palace from the plaza of the opera house:
Across the street from the opera house is the Zwinger Palace, a palace built in the 1700s that is now a complex of museums and a free open-air pavilion.
Of Dresden’s landmarks, the most iconic is the Church of Our Lady or Frauenkirche. After the center was destroyed by air raids during WWII, the church crumbled into a 42-ft. tall pile of rubble and remained as a memorial by the East Germans until 1994. After German reunification, an effort to raise funds commenced, and the Church of Our Lady resurrected in 2005.
For a compact space, Dresden’s old town houses quite a bit of wonderful architecture. It was definitely worth the visit–we were glad we came back!