This week's last topic offers an opportunity for plenty of exercise. We are heading down the Elbe by bicycle, from Dresden all the way to Hamburg. Germany's second longest river offers beautiful cycle trails along its banks. The tour starts in the picturesque Elbe Sandstone Mountains, through which the Elbe has cut its spectacular course over the millennia. Further downriver, in Dresden, we make a detour to some of the town's historic sights, such as the famous Semper Opera House. The cycle trail continues to Magdeburg, which has had a new landmark ever since the 1999 National Horticultural Show, the Millennium Tower. After this we continue through the Prignitz. Here, the Elbe river once marked the border between East and West Germany, but today the nature reserve attracts the lovers of untouched nature and wildlife. The little town of Lauenburg just outside Hamburg tells of the days in which the river played a key role in the salt trade, when salt was known as white gold. And when the Alster river merges with the Elbe 50 kilometres further downstream, in Hamburg, the holiday cyclists have reached their final port of call.
Tourist Information Dresden
Prager Str. 10
D-01069 Dresden
Tel: +49 (0)351-491920
Fax: +49 (0)341-35247
Additional sources of information:
Jahrtausendturm Magdeburg
Elbauenpark
TIM
Julius-Bremer-Str. 10
D-39116 Magdeburg
Tel: +49 (0)391 - 540 - 4903
Fax: +49 (0)391 - 540 - 4910
Semperoper Dresden
Theaterplatz 2
D-01067 Dresden
Tel: +49 (0)351- 4911-450
Fax: +49 (0)0351- 49 11698
Elbschiffahrtsmuseum Lauenburg
Elbstrasse 59
D-21481 Lauenburg, Elbe
Tel: +49 (0)4153 - 51251
Fax: +49 (0)4153 - 55 07 54