I like these jaunts in the former East Germany.....

Yep.. very interesting comments there Bowser. I visited Colditz in December (it was freezing). I was the only person there, stayed the night in the hostel and got a guided tour from a really lovely older lady. She still drove her Trabant. It worked, and she was happy and needed nothing more. From talking to her she seemed a very contented person and I got the impression very happy with a simple life.

I never managed to get to Colditz is it any good? not that it will stop me its one of those bucket list things, just wondered if it was actualy worth the visit
 
We visited Colditz on our way to the winter rally at Augustusburg about 4 years ago and it wasn’t bad because we were the only ones walking around but I certainly wouldn’t stand in a long queue to go. From a personal point of view I think I knew so much about the history of the place it was just a case of wandering around having a look and that was it.
 
I was down there 18 months ago at a wedding in Hof so did a bit of riding in the area, it is really fantastic scenery, but as said before it is not outer mongolia but it is easy to get caught out, almost every shop shuts on Saturday at 1200, almost all the local petrol stations not open in the evenings or sundays or saturday afternoons, oh and often half day Wednesdays as well it really is like going back 40 or 50 years in the way things are done, cash machines are about but a lot less frequent that in the old west Germany and certainly way less than here. None of this is an issue but you just need to remember and plan some stuff in advance.

A bit like Wales
 
We did Colditz some years ago before the hotel and all that; stood in Barder's cell and had a look at the failed
Tunnels and the cloth plane in the roof; but like Andy says; knowing the history it's more a case of wandering around; we also went to Leipzig; but i missed the MZ factory at Zschapou unfortunately. Very old worldly.
 
I never managed to get to Colditz is it any good? not that it will stop me its one of those bucket list things, just wondered if it was actualy worth the visit

We visited Colditz on our way to the winter rally at Augustusburg about 4 years ago and it wasn’t bad because we were the only ones walking around but I certainly wouldn’t stand in a long queue to go. From a personal point of view I think I knew so much about the history of the place it was just a case of wandering around having a look and that was it.

I really enjoyed the trip. It was a f-f-f-f-freezing December on the bike, I was on my own and had the run of the entire hostel overnight. In the visiting part of the castle I was on my own with my own personal guide, who was great, which again made it a bit more special.
I do have an interest in WWII, so found seeing it through my own eyes worthwhile. Is it the bees knees for someone who hasn't got a great interest? Maybe not so - and I do take Andy's point that it might not be so enjoyable if crowded and herded to to speak. But if it is on your bucket list you should definitely go, and there's plenty not so far away if you're incorporating it into a broader trip of course (I went Berlin > Colditz > Prague..)

I'm really glad I went :thumb
 
Also a couple of mentions of Leipzig here. Have missed that out. I was supposed to go with work one time a few years back but missed it. I hear good reports.
 
I really enjoyed the trip. It was a f-f-f-f-freezing December on the bike, I was on my own and had the run of the entire hostel overnight. In the visiting part of the castle I was on my own with my own personal guide, who was great, which again made it a bit more special.
I do have an interest in WWII, so found seeing it through my own eyes worthwhile. Is it the bees knees for someone who hasn't got a great interest? Maybe not so - and I do take Andy's point that it might not be so enjoyable if crowded and herded to to speak. But if it is on your bucket list you should definitely go, and there's plenty not so far away if you're incorporating it into a broader trip of course (I went Berlin > Colditz > Prague..)

I'm really glad I went :thumb

yep thats the trip, Colditz, prauge, budapest, vlads castle
 
Also a couple of mentions of Leipzig here. Have missed that out. I was supposed to go with work one time a few years back but missed it. I hear good reports.

Having visited both my wife and I preferred Dresden to Leipzig so we went back for a break over the New Years holiday a couple of years back and had a great time. Plenty of places to visit with lots of good bars and restaurants all within easy walking range of the Altstadt where we’re stopping.

Going back to the Colditz subject, it was January when we visited the Castle and we stopped in a small hotel about 20 minutes walk from the square in the centre of town. I did go back the following summer with my wife who’d opted out of the winter trip and she wasn’t amused after finding out that beer & icecream in a cafe had made us too late to visit the castle :D
 
Having visited both my wife and I preferred Dresden to Leipzig so we went back for a break over the New Years holiday a couple of years back and had a great time. Plenty of places to visit with lots of good bars and restaurants all within easy walking range of the Altstadt where we’re stopping.

Going back to the Colditz subject, it was January when we visited the Castle and we stopped in a small hotel about 20 minutes walk from the square in the centre of town. I did go back the following summer with my wife who’d opted out of the winter trip and she wasn’t amused after finding out that beer & icecream in a cafe had made us too late to visit the castle :D

If that's the square i'am thinking of it was deserted when we were there; saying that; it was pissing down and we were just wandering aimlessly. My nephew who is no longer alive was in a punk band that spent a week in Leipzig playing small gigs ; they had been invited over by a German punk band that had played over here; time of his life as he called it;:beerjug:
 
Having visited both my wife and I preferred Dresden to Leipzig so we went back for a break over the New Years holiday a couple of years back and had a great time. Plenty of places to visit with lots of good bars and restaurants all within easy walking range of the Altstadt where we’re stopping.

Thanks Andy, that's interesting. Dresden is another place not seen so looks like an opportunity there, dare I say it for a bike trip.
 
Dresden is definitely worth a visit.

We stayed outside the city centre (I’ll dig out the name of the hotel) and caught the excellent tram into the city centre. I then used Michelin’s Green Guide and followed their suggested walking route, taking the tram back again in the mid-to-late afternoon.

Edit:

The suburb we stayed in was Gompitz, in the hotel Kim. The tram stop is right outside the hotel, called (remarkably enough) ‘Gompitz’.

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Roughly at 09:00 o’clock in this picture:

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From memory, the tram took about 30 minutes, dropping us off at the Seevorstad-Ost / Grosser Garten stop, in the middle of town.

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The hotel is out in the suburbs, which makes it cheaper. I chose it for two nights as:

1. It suited the direction we’d enter and then leave from.

2. We’d spent a decent amount of wedge on a three night stay in Berlin, so we saved a bit of money here.

3. Its proximity to the tram.

Parking is in a public car park, which was free, I think. If you worry about such things, don’t go.

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See also this thread: https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/524289-The-Fire-and-the-Darkness-Sinclair-McKay

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https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/312/312743/dresden/9780241986011.html
 
Thanks Andy, that's interesting. Dresden is another place not seen so looks like an opportunity there, dare I say it for a bike trip.

I gave Wessie hours of amusement by admitting to inadvertently visiting a gay bar because I was desperate for a piss and it was the first bar we saw. We (my wife and I) had been there for about 4 drinks when we realised there were lots of rainbows on the walls and all the other couples were same sex couples. The beer was ok so we stayed for a couple more drinks before making a tactical withdrawal 😲
 
Do be sure to see the Frauenkirche, if only to wonder how an immense pile of rubble was rebuilt entirely. It is right in the city centre, with Luther’s statue outside. The view from the top is worth a detour, as Mr Michelin says.
 
Well, some excellent tips there and a trip is formed in my mind (for whenever the hell I can get beyond the bottom of the road, anyway). Thanks.

I shall be sure to report back with ze findings.
 
If you are going to Dresden, you might as well go on to Berlin and then up to the Baltic :thumb2
 
If you are going to Dresden, you might as well go on to Berlin and then up to the Baltic :thumb2

I certainly liked Berlin and that demands another visit. It is a little off topic for the East Germany topic of this thread, but I am drawn to go to Lubeck, an intended destination but a current situation casualty - so perhaps something like that, down towards the Elbe, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and onwards.

I'm due to be married in the Baltic next year.. it was last year, then this year, now next.. :( But I think that voyage up there may be done on the bike (she just doesn't know it yet).
 
I certainly liked Berlin and that demands another visit. It is a little off topic for the East Germany topic of this thread, but I am drawn to go to Lubeck, an intended destination but a current situation casualty - so perhaps something like that, down towards the Elbe, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and onwards.

I'm due to be married in the Baltic next year.. it was last year, then this year, now next.. :( But I think that voyage up there may be done on the bike (she just doesn't know it yet).

Lubeck now there is a blast from my past, weekends away when I was stationed in Germany, always thought Lubeck was full of spies as it sat on the internal border, haven't been there in years, will have to have a trip back up to the baltic
 


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