We have made it to Riesa on our grand tour. The town lies on the River Elbe, about 40km northwest of Dresden and has town has two “claims to fame”. According to a well known online encyclopaedia, the worlds first 110kvh power line was installed between Riesa and Lauchhammer in 1912. Also, in the 1980’s before reunification, Riesa was the headquarters of the 9th Tank Division of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, although from what we saw, there was no sign of them ever being there.

What was evident was the legacy of the East German architecture, the massive apartment blocks around only six storeys high but stretching for 70 or 80 metres. Since reunification, they have been much refurbished and modernised, many now have balconies and have been decorated in brighter colours to try and banish the austere look of the old GDR period. It has worked, the places are colourful, and the areas around these apartments are spacious, clean and tidy.

Top and Bottom: Apartment blocks as we left Riesa – Improvements from GDR days include balconies and colourful exteriors

Cycling alongside the river Elbe

So far our rides had taken place in very hot and sunny weather, requiring multiple drink stops and water bottle refreshments. As we left Riesa, the sun was still shining but there was some scattered cloud and the temperature was much cooler, making cycling much more comfortable.

Our destination on the penultimate day was the famous town of Meissen. To get there involved a shorter ride of just 21 miles along the Elbe paths. This leg followed the river more closely, save for a short diversion to a bakery in Merschwitz for a well earned and very tasty mid morning coffee and cake.

Coffee and cake is always welcome! We rest at the bakery in Merschwitz

Lunch too was a surprise as we stopped at a cafe that Sonnas had found. We lingered here for a while, and enjoyed a very pleasant meal.

Our lunch stop en route to Meissen

“Prepare to Cycle!” – Andre’s call to get going again.

Top: Stork – On our route we spotted many stork nests and here, one of three feeding in a field of sheep. Bottom: Un-named daisy like flower. There were loads of these as well dotted in the verges.

We arrived in Meissen mid afternoon, in time to enjoy a guided walking tour of the town and an optional visit to the factory where its world famous porcelain is made.

The guided walk led us through the old town up to the courtyard for the castle and Cathedral. Both can be seen from the river path as we cycled in. Here the tour ended and as some opted to continue to the porcelain factory Lyn and I decided to follow the path around the castle walls and back through the town to our hotel.

Meissen is known across the world for the quality of its porcelain ware. Intricate hand made and painted pieces are created in the factory here and sold to collectors world wide. Given its quality, it is also very, very expensive. For those that opted for the factory tour there was disappointment. The factory was sadly was closed to visitors by the time they arrived. However the shop was open but the price of many items was a big distraction and my understanding is that no-one bought any porcelain ware!

Top and Centre: The view cycling towards Meissen; Bottom: Lyn outside our hotel, which was on the river.

Collage of images around the old town of Meissen seen during our guided tour.

Cathedral Square Meissen

Our self guided walk around the castle path.

More images of the old town – Meissen.

Our last cycling day started with a surprise, a 90 minute mini bus ride to an area of eastern Germany known as Saxon-Switzerland. Lying south-east of Dresden around the Elbe valley, Saxon Switzerland is a mountainous climbing and walking area which stretches into the Czech republic. It gets its name from two Swiss visitors in the 18th Century who likened the landscape to their homeland in the Swiss Jura. Much better than its original name of Elbe Sandstone Mountains.

Some views of the Saxon-Switzerland mountain range near Dresden

The area has over 1000 climbing peaks and several hollow valleys and is hugely popular with climbers and tourists alike as we found out when we arrived. It was a warm dry day which brought out the sightseers, walkers and us. There were several viewing platforms clustered around a large cafe which is where most visitors congregated before embarking on one of a number of trails which gave outstanding viewpoints of the entire area.

Three shots of Lyn enjoying the views

Collage of images of us in Saxon-Switxerland

We walked a route which took us to many of the viewpoints before descending to the village of Bad Schandau at the base of the cliffs, where we met Sonnas and the van with our bikes. They were quickly offloaded and with a cry of “prepare to cycle” from Andre we were off, following a route through this very pretty alpine like village. We picked up the cycle path that ran alongside the Elbe heading north to Dresden.

Leaving the mountains for Dresden

Our extended sight-seeing meant we were late collecting our bikes. The time was approaching 1pm as we we cycled into Stad Welhen. We elected to stop for a late coffee, and cake for some, at a cafe in the busy town square.

Lunch was a couple of hours later and shortly after that we arrived at Pillnitz Palace, which was due to be our last stop before Dresden. Because we were running late the gardens were closed by the time we arrived and we cycled on through the palace grounds to reach another chain ferry to cross the river.

Relaxing after a late lunch

Pilnitz Palace

We had used number of these small ferries on our ride, most of them chain driven by the river current. This was motorised and it was our last river crossing of the tour. It was now a straight ride to Dresden centre.

Our final leg into Dresden was busy with locals cycling home or to the pub. The sun shone as we briefly paused by a river cruise jetty before riding into the centre of Dresden dismounting and walking the mile or so to our hotel pushing our bikes.

Top: The last leg. From the ferry into Dresden along a busy cycle way. Bottom: Near the end – my bike. It had served me well. Comfortable to ride but heavy and certainly no speedster…but that was not the idea!

Our last dinner as a group was in lovely restaurant about 20 minutes walk from our hotel in what looked like a residential area close to the centre of the city.

Saturday morning was very hot once again and we were thankful for not having to ride anywhere. Instead we were treated to a guided walking tour of the centre of Dresden, by an excellent, very informative guide. After this and coffee in a busy cafe on the main square, the group went their separate ways to explore what Dresden had to offer.

It was an excellent trip, well organised and we cycled with a lovely group of people. Once again Andre and his crew did a fantastic job. We will return!

Above: Collage of images from Dresden

Until next time…………………..

Image credit: Andy Brown