A cruise through Germany (From Echo)

A cruise through Germany

10:51am Tuesday 18th December 2007 in Leisure By David Mastin

OUR Dresden tour guide - small, feisty, and very feminine - has just told us that she once wanted to be a cobblestone.

However, that was before the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification when she lived in Dresden in the East but dreamt of freedom in the West.

It all becomes clear when she explains that the city, once fired by allied bombers, was drab and penniless like its people, and one way they made money was to export their street cobbles to the rich West.

She never made it as a cobblestone but eventually blossomed into a knowledgeable tour guide with her finger firmly on this region's exciting pulse.

After the 1990 reunification, "a light came into our lives," she says. That light is reflected now in the buoyancy of the people, their enthusiasm for life, the cheerful facades of old and new buildings and the pride shown in leading visitors round this most wonderful part of Germany.

We had arrived in Dresden to join the MV Dresden, a five-star river cruiser that was to sail down the River Elbe to Hamburg, partly through the region known as Saxon Switzerland and stopping for us to explore jewels such as Meissen, home of the porcelain, Martin Luther's Wittenberg, and Magdeburg, capital of the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The Elbe rises as a little spring in a mountain range in the Czech Republic and flows in a north-westerly direction through Germany, emptying into the North Sea at Cuxhaven. It is Europe's third longest river after the Danube and the Rhine with 500 navigable miles.

We had to wait a while in Dresden for the water to rise but that was no hardship - as our arrival coincided with a weekend riverside festival of music and dance, where every next person seemed to be eating something made with sausage. All this was followed by a sail-past of paddleboats and a fireworks display.

Leaving the party atmosphere behind, we boarded our air-conditioned cruiser, which was operated by Peter Deilmann Cruises. Being German run, everything was done super efficiently and exactly to time.

As an organisation it was faultless and, as a first-time experience of river cruising, fascinating.

As the river wound its way through the countryside, there was so much to see and do and it was very different from ocean cruising, when you can be days at sea without seeing more than a cargo boat.

They have a saying in this part of Germany: "If you wanted a beach holiday you should have come a thousand, million years ago."

Those words would echo round the fingers of towering sandstone that rose from forests of oak, as we explored the riverside region near the lovely town of Bad Schandau.

The occasional rock-climber was spotted, eagles soared, a rare black stork was seen and wild boar, neither seen nor heard by us, were said to roam the woods.

Nary a thought of a beach holiday but a feeling, almost of awe, as the majestic countryside unfolded before us.

We journeyed off river to Konigstein, a mountain top fortress near Dresden which for centuries was used as a state prison and which originally belonged to the kings of Bohemia, passing in 1408 to the Dukes of Saxony.

Konigstein was never taken, even during World War II, (unless you count the exploit of a chimney sweep's son who shinned up its rock face 150 years ago!) and has its own water supply, food and livestock.

The Germans held British, French and Polish prisoners of war in the fortress, with only one ever recorded escape by a French general. A very impressive place.

I have to mention the medieval town of Meissen - a wonderful old-world place, amazingly untouched by war, steeped in history and anecdotes and with nearly every property having its own wine vaults.

The place once boasted a village 'guardian' whose job was to sit atop the church tower and boredom often drove him down to drink. He had a candle to light his way back but was so unsteady after refreshments that he couldn't hold it straight and it always went out.

Some bright spark invented the first gyroscope for him, into which he put his candle and thereafter it always stayed up straight and never went out. So the story goes anyway...

Our week on the MV Dresden was also an opportunity for passengers to work in a visit to that magical city of Prague. We journeyed there in two-and-a-half hours by coach from the ship and could pack in the highlights during one day, which included a short bus tour, a walking tour and lunch.

When the ship docked at Magdeburg a day later we decided to take the option of a day trip to Berlin. Only four of us, all English speakers, went - the rest of the passengers were German and all seemed to have been to the capital before.

This worked out well though, because we had a mini-bus, driver and bi-lingual tour guide to ourselves and, again with typical German efficiency, managed to see all that we should have done in a day.

The Olympic stadium, built in 1936 and where Hitler addressed the throng from a balcony was the starting point. A little eerie, the balcony long gone but an impressive mini-museum remained.

We did the lot, Potsdam Square in the new heart of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, the remaining sections of The Wall, the Reichstag, the seat of parliament building, Checkpoint Charlie, the legendary border control point between East and West and in all the spy books, and of course, no escape from this one - the famous shopping avenue, the Kurfurstendamm.

All in all, a very easy and civilised way to see such an amazing capital - our comfortable floating 'hotel' meanwhile had sailed on from Magdeburg and we re-joined her further downstream, just in time for our five-course dinner.

This was a seven-day cruise and after alternating between gourmet meals, relaxing on the vast sundeck, exploring the medieval riverside towns where we moored, nipping off to Berlin and Prague, I can honestly say it whetted our appetites to discover more of Europe by river.

Peter Deilmann Cruises offer seven night voyages on MV Dresden from Dresden to Hamburg from £715 per person (based on two sharing). The cruise-only price includes all on-board meals, shipboard entertainment and port taxes.

Peter Deilmann operates eight five-star river ships on 12 rivers across 14 European countries.

For more information, call Peter Deilmann on 0845 310 4400.