Why this German city is MORE than its history...

This city is best known for one thing that doesn't exist anymore and another thing that happened 80 years ago. But we think you'll have a different, updated perception of this beautiful, historic city after you watch this video. But first, hit that subscribe button if you want to explore the world like we're doing because it might be easier and cheaper than you think and our videos can help you do it. Now let's talk about our visit to Dresden, Germany. It's in East Central Germany. It's actually part of the Old East Germany. It's a two and a half hour train ride north from Prague. That train ride was so stunningly beautiful. The scenery was just fantastic. I am so glad we went on this trip. It was really relaxing. Everything was green and we followed along the river and it was neat to see the different towns. We saw a couple bigger cities but I loved all those quaint little towns and then the trees and the greenery and those incredible mountain formations, those rock formations and then also a castle. I mean, holy cow, it had everything. Yeah, I think that was a canyon that that train goes through. It was pretty cool. We took the Deutsche Bahn train out of Prague to Dresden. The second class on our way there, the ticket cost $69.67. On the way back we took first class just to have the experience and see how it was different and it was double the cost at $141.28 for two tickets. Yeah, I don't know if that was really necessary in retrospect. It was not. But we did it. Yeah, the Dresden train station was awesome. It was super nice and clean and it was about a 10 minute walk to the historic center from there and we stayed kind of right on the outskirts of the historic center. Yeah, it was a great location. I'm really glad we picked the heart of the area to stay in while still not being in the main tourist center. It was very quiet. Dresden is a small city. The population is about 594,000 and you've got several different areas. You've got the old town, the new town, which is north of the Elbe River or Elbe if you want to say it correctly in German. Do you think that's how they pronounce it? No, probably not. Elbe. Then there's the inner new town and the outer new town which is kind of a bohemian area with lots of graffiti and murals painted on the side of the buildings. That area was pretty cool. Dresden has a small international airport. There aren't very many international destinations or really destinations in general. They fly to Munich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Switzerland, Spain and Turkey. If you don't want to fly out of there, you can take the train. It's only two and a half hours to Berlin or Prague and they both have major international airports. The thing we noticed most about Dresden is it's not over-touristed. We didn't experience any tourism fatigue while we were there like we have in other European cities. The people were super friendly. In fact, a few people apologized for not speaking English even though they were speaking to us in English. I know. That was crazy and completely unnecessary. People were really welcoming. Yeah. For comparison, Granada, Spain has about 6.7 million tourists per year and they have a population of about 234,000 so less than half. Dresden only has 2.6 million tourists at least in 2024. So Dresden has more than double the population but one-third of the tourists compared to Granada, Spain. So it's just not over-touristed like some other cities. Well and it definitely felt a lot quieter compared to Prague. It did. It was super quiet. Of course, you can't really compare the two because Dresden is not a capital city either. And the whole city would fit into one of the boroughs in Prague. It would. Okay, now let's talk about the history before we talk about the things we loved about Dresden. The history is pretty fascinating. They're most well-known for their decorative and luxury porcelain. In fact, when we told our parents we were going there, both of our mothers asked about the china that comes from there, the famous porcelain sculptures and plates and stuff. But the company that makes those is no longer in business as of 2020. There just isn't enough demand for that type of porcelain anymore. That's kind of sad. It is. The bombing of Dresden is probably the most famous thing though. It happened in World War II toward the end and for three days in 1945, the Allied forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. 1,600 acres were destroyed and 25,000 people were killed and 80 years later, you can still see the impact that had on the buildings that were reconstructed out of the rubble. You can see the old stone mixed with the new. The blackened stones on the buildings though are due to a natural oxidation process due to the type of sandstone that's used in construction. It's not actually from the fire, although I had to look that up because I thought it might be. It was amazing to see the history, to read about the history and see those old pictures and also hear people still discussing it. It's really still fresh on people's mind. I guess when you think about it, 80 years is not that long ago. Yeah, I guess it, well, it's one of the most famous things and a lot of people still talk about it. All right, Amelia, now let's talk about what we think it should be known for instead. Well, I want to talk about the amazing weather that we experienced while we were there because when I think Germany, I think cold and snow. And gloom. Yeah. And it was full sun. It was actually warm. I got a little sweaty a couple of times when we were out walking around. It was gorgeous. It was really pretty. I love those big white puffy clouds and the parks were so green and lush and beautiful. It was amazing. And it was so walkable too. They have a huge pedestrian area down in the old town area. It's super flat. It's wheelchair accessible. We saw people riding their wheelchairs and scooters all over down there. We were able to walk everywhere. We walked around and checked out all those different neighborhoods and walked miles and miles through those parks. Actually not as many miles as we have in other cities because it is pretty small. But it was fantastic to be able to walk everywhere. However, if you don't want to walk, you can take the tram or the bus. They were plentiful. They were running very regularly too. Yeah, all throughout the city. You know, one of the things us Americans love about Europe and why we want to go there is because of the architecture and all those old buildings. And Dresden did not disappoint. You've got all kinds of that there, including the Dresden Castle. The original castle was built in 1200, but the castle we see today was built in the early 1700s by the Polish King Augustus the Strong. I guess he had to be strong to lift all those big rocks. I guess so. That was kind of cheesy, JP, but the castle is amazing. And it's amazing to think that the original was built back in 1200 because I think the 1700s is still pretty old. So the Dresden Zwinger, which is right across the street from there, was also built by that Polish King. The name Zwinger goes back to the name used in the Middle Ages for the part of a fortress that's between the outer and the inner walls. I did not know that. Me neither. Interesting. So we learned something. Yeah, that was neat. I really liked the Glockenspiel. The big clock. It went off when we were walking up. I didn't get much of the dings. It was beautiful. I know. It's too bad we didn't get the audio of that or more of it. Reminds me of that episode of Frasier. The Glockenspiel. Oh. The Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel is alive. Frasier, my Glockenspiel is working again. All right, the Opera House is next to the Zwinger. It was pretty cool, though. It was built in 1878, so it's not nearly as new. It's only like 150 years old, Amelia. Oh, that doesn't even count. The Possession of Princes, that big mural wall, is really stunning. It's the largest porcelain mural in the world. Yeah, that was really beautiful, and it's impressive to see in person. The Augustus Bridge crosses the Elbe River. It was built in 1731, also by that strong Polish king. He was very busy. He was. He built a lot of that area. Then there's the Church of Our Lady, which is that big Protestant church with the huge dome right in the center of the Old Town. It was built between 1726 and 1743 and completely destroyed in 1945 during that bombing and sat as an empty shell for about 50 years until it was rebuilt between 1993 and 2005. Well, I'm really glad that they rebuilt that and that they were able to rebuild so much of all of the historic areas and preserve as much as they could. It was, you just got to go see it in person. It was truly incredible. It is. The parks were also beautiful. The Zwinger Garden and Pond outside of the Zwinger area was pretty cool. We sat over there on a park bench and watched ducks one afternoon. That was very relaxing over there, but oh my gosh, that Grand Garden Palace, that was amazing. I loved walking over there and then going and wandering through that massive garden area. It was huge. I know it was. There was a kind of a linear park that goes over there from the Old Town area, and it's got statues. The park has statues all throughout it, which are really cool looking. Some of them have that gold leaf covered, and then once you get into the actual garden area where the palace is located, it's massive. There's a lake in there, there's a zoo, and you can walk in there for days, I think. Yeah, we could have spent days and days and days just exploring that area. There were some of those interesting and rather macabre statues, which I really continue to find fascinating because I still do not understand why people want to have statues depicting death and murder in front of their home. Yeah, like the entryway. That's just me. I know, those marble statues, one of them had a horse or somebody standing on the head of a baby. Yeah, it was rather macabre. Like, who would think to make that, too? I don't know, but it did not ruin our experience in the parks. It was beautiful. Maybe if somebody German is watching, they could explain that. All right, next up are the restaurants. This part was a bit shocking, the cost at least. We were not expecting this to be so expensive for kind of a tier two city. It's not like a big Berlin or Prague, and yet the restaurants were super expensive. We went to the Aha Leiden Café, it was delicious, but it was $45 for us to get lunch there. We had a German lunch and a German breakfast there, kind of traditional, and it was $45 for both of us to eat there. Yeah, it was pretty pricey, although it was a lot of food, I will say, they did not skimp on the portions. Then there's the enchilada dress, then you go to Germany, you gotta have Mexican food. Yeah, right. We like our spicy food, and German food is not spicy. It was $66 for dinner, that was just for two entrees and a bottle of water. Yeah, we went to that Thai place as well, and that was also $63 for an appetizer and two entrees with a bottle of water, and we did tip 10%, so the prices that we quoted, you guys did include the tip, but my guess is that it's just a lot more expensive because you are in the tourist area. On the other hand, though, wine is super cheap. We went to Aldi and got a bottle of wine for $3, and it was good wine, it was like being back in Portugal. Yeah, we did quickly look at the grocery store, and it seemed like the prices were pretty typical of what we've seen everywhere throughout Europe. Yeah, and they have the normal shopping areas too, and we went to a Zara, had to get a new pair of pants while we were there. Yeah, that was pretty normal shopping experience. Just like any other city around the world. Yeah, it's a safe city with low crime rates, which is really nice, and English, it was a bit challenging. Most people spoke English, but the signs are not in English, which is unusual. Most of the other places we've been, the signs are in English. We had to ask for English menus, and a lot of the restaurants only had one or two menus in English, so we had to share either with each other or with other English speakers at the restaurant, because there were always more English speakers than there were menus. It was a bit of a challenge, however, I liked that. I thought it really added to the whole overall charm, because it isn't an over-touristed place, and a lot of the tourists there were from Germany. Yeah, it's definitely more popular with the Germans. All right, before we talk about the worst part of our Dresden getaway from Prague, we want to let you know that our Slow Travel Express e-course is available and included with your Turtle Travel Club membership. The course covers all the tips, tricks, and insights that we've learned from nearly two years of slow travel through Europe and Southeast Asia. If your dream is to slow travel the world like us, this course will show you how to do what we are doing. Plus, a membership in our Travel Club comes with a bunch of extra perks that you can read about by scanning this QR code or by visiting emiliaandjp.com slash club. And now for the worst part of our Dresden experience, and it didn't even happen in Dresden. It was the train station in Prague. The Prague main station was crowded and chaotic, and we were feeling a bit confused and overwhelmed at first. Yeah, we didn't get a gate assignment until 10 minutes before the train departed, so everybody did a mad rush to get over to our gate before the train left. The monitors had numbers on them, but the signs to enter the train station were letters. That was so confusing, and we didn't realize that all of the entries led to the same gate, so that was a confusing part, and there was no one around to ask, so we just followed the giant crowd when everybody started moving that direction. And then once we got to the gate, everybody stood in a huge crowd right in the center of the platform because nobody knew where to go for their train number. And the train ticket and the seating was confusing. We were not allowed to select our seats when we bought the tickets online, and for reference, if you're going to go there, the car and seat are not on the actual ticket. They're on the receipt portion near the bottom, and WG means carriage or wagon. PL, I guess, means seat. There was plenty of room to spell out those words so we could translate them, but abbreviations are pretty much useless if you don't speak the language, and all of us tourists were confused on that train. I mean, everybody was asking each other for help. Yeah, it was frustrating. It's not like this was our very first ever train experience. We are not rookies by any stretch of the imagination, and I did feel better knowing other people were confused, but the good thing is is that now we know what to do. Yes, we do. By contrast, the Dresden train station experience was very calm and nice. There was clear signage with numbers. We knew where to wait for our car. The letters for each part of the train corresponded to the carriage number, so no one was confused. We were all evenly dispersed up and down the platform, waiting right where our car stopped, and I do have to say I love the German efficiency, Amelia. I just love it. I know. You know, Deutsche Bahn is a German train. I just wish they were a little less efficient with the wording on their tickets and spelled those words out instead of trying to use the fewest characters possible. Yeah, that was a bit rough, but like we said, now we know. Our short trip to Dresden, aside from that Prague train station, though, was peaceful, relaxing, and beautiful. It's a small city, so you really only need a couple of days to see the main attractions, and it's a comfortable, scenic ride from Prague if you're there. Yeah, I loved that ride. So what do you all think about Dresden as a place to visit or even to live? A lot of people move to Germany, and they love it. Have you been there, and what did you think? Let us know in the comments. And remember to check out the Turtle Travel Club and our new Slow Travel Express e-course by clicking this link here. And if you missed our video from Prague, then check that one out next. That's all we have for this video. Before you go, leave us a like. Thank you so much for watching, and we will see you all next time. Auf Wiedersehen! Ciao!