There where the Elbe enters Germany, the pine forest abruptly plunges in a 200-meter-deep ravine. In the valley, rock formations tower like windmills of stone, a few with a pine tree on top. The rock formation, the narrows, and panoramas seduced noblemen about 1000 years ago to build a fortress on the peaks. The remainders of Bastei, including the access bridge, now made of stone instead of wood, are still there, and the panoramas are equally stunning as the formations themselves.

Situated half an hour upstream is Dresden, the city where during Valentines night 1945, so many bombs were dropped that very little of the Altstadt was still upright at sunrise. As a way of non-violent demonstration, the ruins of the Lutheran church, the city palace, the opera, and the orangery Zwinger remained untouched along the Elbe for decades. Sheep grazed among the ruins until the Iron Curtain fell and the drift to rebuild raged. And even though the masonry work, carpeting and restoring hasn’t come to an end, Dresden’s sweethearts have been brought back to life.

Head down to the wine region

Saxons are proud of their wine, and not even an hour away from Dresden by boat, still on the Elbe, we find the wine region. In the heart of the Sächsische Weinstrasse, around the village of Radebeul, the area is teeming with grapevines and majestic castles. And contrary to other regions, the vineyards are modest in size, making it easy to hop from one winery to the next. Don’t skip Schloss Wackerbarth, where both the grapevines and the lawn around the fountains are groomed with nail clippers.

A few kilometres further on lies the vineyard owned by Karl Friedrich Aust. Karl is a young winemaker who prefers to stroll past his grapes in T-shirt and shorts. In the GDR-era, everything was about hectolitres, and that’s why Karl repaired the stone walls in the yard and planted new grapes. On to better wine, his motto goes. That is why he opened a wine café in his parental home, as tiny as a stamp, where you can taste his sincere wine.

Music city of Europe

You have to leave the Elbe for it, but Leipzig is a city unlike any other. Like Vienna and Paris, it was the music city of Europe: it was home to Liszt and Schuman, and the birthplace of composer Mendelssohn. Many buildings are reminiscent of those times, like the opera building on the Augustus Platz which, like the post office next to it, is a GDR-building pur sang. Both buildings are situated in a belt of lawns, fountain ponds, memorial sites and trees surrounding the city centre.

The centre is a remarkable melting pot of architectural styles. You pass by buildings from the Renaissance and see plenty of Jugendstil. The modern university auditorium has a Dutch touch to it: the distinctive combination of church and auditorium (see photo above) was designed by the Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat. At certain places in the Nikolaistrasse, you can see heads of wild animals in the facades, referring to the furriers that used to be based here. In the heydays, there were 800 of them, making Leipzig the fur capital of the world. The prosperity of the city is also obvious in the trade fairs that were held in the magnificent malls, like Specks Hof.

Also amazing are the eclectic murals by Michael Fischer, reminiscent of the peaceful protest against the Wall. The fall of it was actually due to the grass-roots resistance in Leipzig. They made sure that the border crossings in Berlin were re-opened. That is why the city of liberty celebrates the Lichtfest yearly on 9 October – celebrating 30 years this year.

Are you visiting Leipzig a little before that, between June and September, the Markt welcomes you with bierstubes and stalls. While you are tasting some grilled salmon or mushroom-scrambled-egg, you will undoubtedly find a band performing. From classical to jazz to cross-over, Leipzig can be heard practically every summer night.