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Home Page > Travelogues > Germany > Sachsen (Saxony)

Quick Access for this Page -- [ Introduction ] [ Travelogues ] [ Links ]

Click on the colored areas of the map to access a travelogue.  The colors indicate different regions of Sachsen -- scroll down for explanation and introduction for each location. (Original map comes from the CIA World Factbook, inset map comes from www.entry.de)

Introduction.  Saxony has a rich and turbulent history, changing hands many times and gaining or losing territory over the years (which is why other provinces in Germany also carry the "Saxony" title -- Niedersachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt.  Modern Saxony is a wonderful place to go, with its rich architecture in cities such as Leipzig and Dresden, and the incredible river valley of the Elbe called "Saxon Switzerland" that sports tall, magnif icent rocky cliffs viewable from Autobahn 4 or on the train.

Dresden was the third travelogue I wrote when I originally built this site, following Heidelberg and Cologne, and was the inspiration for the site in general.  My initial visit to Dresden came on Memorial Weekend in 2001, when I drove to Dresden, sleeping overnight in rest stops because I was unable to find a room.  It was my first trip to the former East Germany, and the drive through Saxony showed me the good and the bad -- Dresden's fabulous royal past balanced against the variety of shantytowns and thousands of unemployed youths still reeling from the Cold War.  I went to Leipzig the next year, and it served as the inspiration for a series of articles I wrote in a newspaper called Taking the Train 101, published during the spring of 2002 and now available on-line through this site.

Travelogues.  

Links.  The below links connect you to external sites in a new window.  All links are official sites sanctioned by the national, state, or local governments unless otherwise indicated.  These links will open to the German-language home page, which will offer an icon or link to an English-language section (normally limited content).  Most of these pages use a British or US flag icon as the link to English content, while others will use the word "English".  Otherwise, look for "tourismus" which should link you to English-language content.  Links updated 13 January 2006.