by – Matt Vernick, Tour Manager, Europe

Dresden’s reputation as one of the most beautiful cities in Germany goes back hundreds of years. Built on the floor of the Elbe River Valley it was traditionally a splendid capital of the kings of Saxony and home to the very well off German bourgeoisie.

In pre-war Germany, during a time when the country was considered one of the most advanced and cultured in the world, the city stood out amongst all the other great German cities and earned it’s moniker as the ‘Florence on the Elbe’. Still today the city is known by this name and remains the capital of the state of Saxony in Germany.

The glory of Dresden was however permanently altered by one of the most infamous and controversial acts of the entire Second World War. Towards the end of the War the British and their Allies made the decision to bomb the city into a raging firestorm that utterly destroyed and devastated the city and its civilian population. Rebuilding during the Soviet communist era helped bring back the feel of old Dresden in buildings like the Zwinger Palace (now a museum) and also in the post-Soviet era rebuilding of the Frauenkirche.

Dresden is still a growing and changing city today. The beautiful buildings of old exist amongst the unmistakable cold war architecture as well as more modern and daring structures. Dresden still provides a taste of what the former East Germany must have been like and pays tribute to its architectural heritage while used to be.

Dresden is a lunch stop on some Contiki Tours traveling through Eastern Germany usually on the way to nearby Prague.