As our final full day in Dresden dawned, we were feeling the effects of a week of travel. It rained some overnight, and it was still a bit drizzly outside. We both lacked energy in the morning so after breakfast we returned to our room and rested for a while. Finally we decided we needed to get up and take advantage of the day.
There were a few things we wanted to see which we had missed so far. The first was visiting the Dresden Cathedral, the Catholic church that stands near the riverfront. With that in mind, we headed in that direction. I happily discovered the door open so we could go in. It also didn’t cost us anything to enter which is not always true of large churches in Europe. Many charge an entrance fee as a way to help with the maintenance costs on some of these very old structures.
The Dresden Cathedral is an extreme example of a costly repair. During World War II the church was bombed and sustained major damage. Following the war the East German government helped fund the reconstruction of the cathedral. I read they reused materials they found in the destruction to retain the integrity of the age of the structure.
The inside of the cathedral was simpler than many European Catholic churches. There are not a lot of extra statues and ornate work on the walls although gold is pretty common. I did not even see any stained glass windows. It is a fairly large sanctuary, and it does have some statues. The one which intrigued me the most was a modern statue near the entrance to the church. I’m still not completely sure what the statue represents. One unexpected item was a Christmas scene of Mary and Joseph made of paper and colored with crayons.
Leaving the Dresden Cathedral we walked across the Augustus Bridge to a Christmas market on the other side. We knew about this market as a large Ferris wheel sits at the front of the market. We easily saw it from the other side of the river.
This market was a very long market. The white draped booths line a walkway which goes for several blocks. At some of the intersections the market has placed decorations to add in the Christmas spirit. The items for sale here were pretty typical of the kinds of things we saw at the other markets. Of course there were the food and drinks. It seems to me that those two things are the real reason most people visit the markets.
As we were returning back down the path I noticed a sign pointing to a market which I thought said antiques. Silvette agreed to check it out. While there was a food market inside the large building, what it really seemed like was what we in the U.S. call a flea market. People were around manning their own booths displaying a number of usually older items. At this time of year one can easily find some Christmas decorations here. There were tables with old books, some with kitchen ware, and others with ceramic items. Many had a mixture of items. I find these places quite interesting, but SIlvette not so much so we didn’t stay too long.
Crossing back over the Augustus Bridge, we took some photos of the long row of old buildings as well as a selfie.
On the other side we began a search for a Jewish synagogue. On our boat trip yesterday, the construction of this synagogue was mentioned as being in the same place as the synagogue which had been destroyed in the war. It seemed an easy proposition to find the site, but the reality was quite different. The spot that Google maps took us to was a concrete menorah memorializing the bombed synagogue. The building behind it did not look like a synagogue. After much guessing and research online, we finally determined that the building across the street was the synagogue. It was undergoing some renovation, however, so we were not able to get a very close look at it.
Having solved that mystery, we decided to head back to our hotel room before getting something to eat. We went through a different section of Dresden’s Old Town and then walked through the main Christmas market again. Since it was a Saturday afternoon, the market was very busy. Later we walked back toward Old Town for dinner and saw the market lit up for the night. We ate at a Mexican restaurant I had spotted. The food was pretty good.
We started to walk back to our hotel again when I realized I had another stop I wanted to make. I had not taken an exterior photo of the Lutheran church we had entered on our first day. I wanted to get that exterior photo hoping the church would be lit up at night.
As we walked in the direction of the Church of Our Lady we were surprised to encounter another Christmas market. We did not remember this market from two days before. Had it really been put together in just a few short days? But there was more to come. As we approached the church to take that exterior shot, we saw a large screen outside. We realized there was a concert going on inside the church, and they were streaming it on a screen outside as well. Was this perhaps what had been rehearsed the other night when the church was open?
We stuck around to enjoy the concert. The music wasn’t particularly Christmas music as far as I could tell. It was classical music with a couple of obvious Christmas selections. The concert consisted of an orchestra with an adult choir, a boys choir. and a tenor and soprano soloists. It was about 20 minutes of music that we saw before the concert ended. The environment wasn’t the best for a concert. It was cold. It was noisy, and we encountered some cigarette smoke. Nevertheless it was a unique and unexpected experience on our final evening in Dresden.
After listening to the concert, we went back to check out this Christmas market. We didn’t expect to stay long, but we quickly realized that one of the unique aspects of the market was the real artisans. The first one we saw was a glass blower. He had his furnace going, but wasn’t blowing glass while we were there. Next door was a metal worker, and next to him some men were smoking salmon over an open flame. It reminded me of the way the Native Americans smoke their salmon in the Pacific Northwest. In other parts of the market we saw lace work, wool items, and a woman selling all kinds of brushes and brooms. Dresden has certainly not disappointed with its Christmas markets.
Having more thoroughly checked out this particular market, we headed back to our room. Encountering the flea market and being able to listen to a concert made this a different day than we had expected. However, our time in Dresden was coming to an end. Tomorrow we take a train to the city of Wroclaw, Poland. Join me next week as I share more about train travel in Europe.
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