Dresden

Dec 18

Arrival in Dresden: Reunions, Medieval Markets, and Germany's Oldest Christmas Tradition

Dresden welcomed us in the best possible way. Tomas and Helena were waiting at the Hauptbahnhof, having made the trip from Berlin earlier in the day. It was a wonderful reunion. They had not seen Leona since she was eighteen months old in Portugal, and watching them take in how much she had grown was one of those quiet, glad moments that travel tends to produce.

We checked into the Hilton, ideally positioned in the heart of the Altstadt, and headed straight out into the evening. Our first stop was the Medieval Christmas Market in the Stallhof, a sixteenth-century courtyard tucked within the Dresden Royal Palace complex, directly across the street from our hotel. Built in 1591 and once used for jousting tournaments, the Stallhof is one of the few original tournament grounds remaining in the world. In December, it is transformed into something extraordinary. There are no loudspeakers, no electric lighting, and no plastic. Flickering torchlight and live medieval music fill the ancient stone courtyard. Around fifty craftspeople in period dress work with tools and materials from the late Middle Ages, blacksmiths, leather workers, rope makers, and woodcarvers, all demonstrating their trades as they would have been practiced centuries ago. One of the more memorable attractions is a pair of giant wooden washtubs elevated above the market, where visitors can soak in hot water while overlooking the scene below. We did not soak, but we did linger. The atmosphere is unlike any other market we have visited.

From there, we walked across town to the Striezelmarkt, held in the Altmarkt square and widely regarded as Germany's oldest Christmas market, with records tracing it back to 1434. What began as a single-day meat market, allowing citizens to purchase food after the Advent fasting period, has grown over nearly six centuries into a sprawling celebration of Saxon tradition. The market's name derives from Striezel, an early form of Dresden Stollen, the region's famous Christmas bread. More than two hundred stalls fill the square, and at its center stands a fourteen-meter Erzgebirge step pyramid, the largest in the world. We ate, drank, and enjoyed the company of family we had not seen in far too long.

Dec 19

A Morning Run, a Concert in the Frauenkirche, and an Italian Dinner Across the River

Tomas and Helena started the morning with a run along the Elbe, and what they saw clearly moved them. The views of the rebuilt Altstadt from the riverbank are genuinely remarkable, and all the more so when you understand what you are looking at. On the night of February 13, 1945, Allied bombers dropped thousands of tons of explosives on Dresden over the course of two days, killing an estimated 25,000 people and destroying the city center almost entirely. The baroque palaces, the churches, the historic squares, nearly all of it was reduced to rubble. Under Communist rule, the ruins were left largely as they were, partly as a memorial and partly because full reconstruction was never a priority. After German reunification in 1990, the decision was made to restore the Altstadt to its historic character, a project that took decades, attracted donations from around the world, and is still not entirely finished. Running along the river and taking in that skyline, the Frauenkirche dome, the Semperoper, the sweep of baroque rooflines, is to witness one of the most extraordinary acts of collective rebuilding in modern European history.

John slipped away in the morning for a free concert at the Frauenkirche, the great Lutheran church whose reconstruction became the symbol of the entire Altstadt revival. Originally designed by George Bahr and completed in 1743, the church collapsed two days after the bombing, its massive sandstone dome unable to survive the heat of the fires. For decades, its ruins stood in the heart of the city as a deliberate memorial to the destruction. Reconstruction finally began in 1994, financed almost entirely by private donations from Germany and abroad, and the church was reconsecrated in 2005. Nearly half of the original stones were recovered, cataloged, and reincorporated into the new structure; they are still visible today, darker than the surrounding sandstone, embedded in the walls like a visible record of what was lost and what was saved. Sitting inside and listening to music fill that rebuilt space is an experience that is difficult to put into words.

We gathered together after lunch and walked across the river to another Christmas market, exploring in smaller groups as the afternoon stretched on. Helena found an Italian restaurant on the far bank and secured a reservation for the evening. It was a brisk walk across the bridge, but the city at night was beautiful enough to make the cold feel incidental. Dinner was warm and unhurried, the kind of meal that benefits from good company as much as good food.

We ended the night back at the medieval Stallhof market. In the evening, with the torchlight against the old stone and the music drifting up into the cold air, it was genuinely enchanting. A perfect Dresden night.

Dec 20

Farewell Dresden: Breakfast and Two Taxis

We made the most of the hotel's breakfast buffet before checking out, the kind of slow, well-stocked morning spread that makes departure feel slightly less abrupt. The Hilton arranged two taxis to the Hauptbahnhof, which meant no scramble this time, a lesson from Bamberg well applied.

The train to Berlin had no toddler compartment, but we chose a family car that gave Leona the room to be herself. She moved freely, charmed fellow passengers, and treated the journey as her personal stage. By now, the toy train collection was growing, and the ritual of acquiring a new one from the restaurant car had become the highlight of every departure. On to Berlin.