Roadtrip Around Germany 2015 – Part 1: Through the Wild East

Prologue

During last year’s Didimobile roadtrip to Mount Grossglockner we came across a leaflet for a VW bus convention near Zurich in 2015. The “foster son” still loves the Didimobile and I do not seem to have scared him off yet, so the idea of another roadtrip to the mountains arose with the final destination being set in Zwillikon near Zurich.

The VW bus convention is scheduled for the weekend from August, 14th till August, 16th, 2015. School holidays commence three weeks before, enough time to explore a bit of the world. The son would love to go to Saxonian Switzerland, Lake Chiemsee and to Heidelberg, I want to drive along a small Italian mountain pass. That will perfectly fit if we do it on a small round trip and so the Didimobile is filled up on Monday morning, the obligatory box of Fritz Kola stowed and we try to find the only non-expired potato salad at the local EDEKA-supermarket.

Into The Unknown

Monday, 27.07.2015

With a delay of a fair half an hour the roadtrip into the unknown begins. At first off to the son who is already waiting impatiently, but he should know by now that preparing the Didimobile always takes longer than expected.

The first day shall take us southbound along Elbe River. Small, little-used roads along forgotten hamlets immediately give us a pure holiday feeling.

We do our first stop at the old Dömitz railway bridge. The bridge was partly destroyed during World War II and has not been rebuilt due to the German seperation. Since then it spans across the Elbe River as a memorial.

This sparsely populated German region only attracts very few tourists. Along a stretch of some 100 kilometers down Elbe River there are only one single bridge and two tiny ferries offering the possibility to cross the river. This might be one of the reasons why the railway line has not been reconstructed after the German reunification. During our twenty minute stay we do not meet any other person. Therefore a thunderstorm is coming up on the horizon.

We continue southwards, the thunderstorm following us. Actually we want to try to get until near Halle/Leipzig, but since the Didimobile is slower than you always think we only make it up to Schönebeck (Elbe) near Magdeburg.

Eventually it is the signpost which makes us stay here, we are not really sure about it. (“Biere” means “beers” in English) 😉

The Schönebeck caravan site lies in an abandoned harbour area, directly at the banks of Elbe River which gives it a very special atmosphere. It is kept quite simple, but tidy. Although we nearly seem to be the only guests we still get a delicious sausage with potato salad and a delicious beer at the temporary food van for small money. During dinner the short but intense thunderstorm reaches the caravan site.

Off to the Valley Of The Clueless

Tuesday, 28.07.2015

The first night in the Didimobile is the best in every holiday. We sleep till far past ten o’clock until the silent burble of the Elbe and some waterbirds wake us up softly. What a wonderful holiday morning.

For breakfast we drive to a huge shopping center in Magdeburg where the son can furthermore get a filter for his camera before we head for the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, this time via the Autobahn.

On the road we do a short toilet stop at the probably most beautiful toilet house on German Autobahns:

Unfortunately there are regions in Germany where racism, xenophobia and misanthropy have come to a new climax during the last few weeks. One of these birthplaces of a rising right-wing radicalisation is the region around Dresden, especially the suburb of Freital. Therefore we decide to settle outside of Saxonia for the next few nights.

Interestingly, during the times of the GDR this region was called “The Valley Of The Clueless” (Tal der Ahnungslosen), because the areas south and east of Dresden were not able to receive western German television. Today it seems as if the people there were still kind of clueless.

On our way we pass along the beautiful town of Hohnstein with its old castle.

Leaving Hohnstein we cross the border to Czech Republic into Bohemia Switzerland, where we have found a campsite for 9,-€ the night including half board on the internet.

The campsite is quite busy and we are lucky to get the last available caravan site. We even get some dinner although the clock already shows 8pm. We have garlic soup and a dish with Bohemian dumplings which tastes rather ok, but you cannot complain for that price at all. With a pint of the local art of brewing for 70 cents we let the day fade away.