greding, franconia, BY

greding in bavaria (bayern), BY was our last stopover at our germany 'roundtrip' in september. well, we just went to 'our' beloved ostrich farm in the uckermark for a week, but spent almost a week on the road there and back, you know?

why greding? basically, we were hungry😄. the 2nd important reason were the franconian timber-framed houses i like so much and which we do not have in munich ... unfortunatelly, i haven't find a single timber framed house in greding! just one barn (scheune) or some other kind of an outbuilding. maybe is middle franconia (mittelfranken) already to close to oberbayern (upper bavaria) and to munich. what do you think? 

of course, we knew the highway exit greding really well. at our frequent tours to nuremberg (in franconia / franken), we often take some break in this area, e.g. in berching, beilngries, lake pfraundorfer see. but we've never been in the historic center of this small nice bavarian medieval city before.

market square with church and town hall. of course, in subservient germany is the ukrainian flag the most important mark out there. with the begin of the war in gaza it was joined by the isreali flag in the most german cities. the NATO message is presented to the world. such a shame!

so true 😎

town hall

market square, greding

finally, dinner time

can you see that timber framed outbuilding in the middle?

upper city gate

the way out from the historic city center 🚗

very few more pictures here.

sachsen-anhalt, DE

    saxony-anhalt (sachsen-anhalt), ST, is a federal state in germany which i do not really know. well, we have been to the water castle kropstädt + unesco heritage oranienbaum-wörlitz + luther city of wittenberg few years ago. unfortunatelly, always only for few hours or max one night at our way from/to the lakes of uckermark or the polish baltic sea. but never longer and yes, it was the same this time. i dont know why, i always thought sachsen-anhalt is a very very small federal state, but it is rather of average size of about 20 thousand km2.

    it was strange, but i somehow liked these fucked up east german industrial cities. did they remind me of my native slovakia? anyway, i thought about coming here maybe for a week to the harz mountains and to visit halle, magdeburg, quedlinburg, the devils wall teufelsmauer + the wernigerode castle at that occasion, too ... we will see 😇

the 26m high tower pegelturm moves up and down with the tide / high water.

bitterfeld, lake großer goitzschesee

this time we have seen:

• bitterfeld - sad fucked up chemical industry city with a very small historic core. its former I.G. Farben industrial site was bombed in january 1945. due to east german DDR chemistry hub located here, you will find former reports calling bitterfeld the scummiest (dreckigste) city in europe. at least they've a nice 48m deep lake großer goitzschesee. is it a natural paradise as it away was? nope, it used to be a brown coal open pit mine and was fluted in 1998. okay, they've started in 1998 via the mulde river and thought it will take 10 years. than there was a flood in 2002 and the lake was full in few days 🌊

• dessau - sad fucked up WWII victim as probably just the town hall (rathaus) and the church marienkirche were built up again. the us army in may 1944 + january 1945 and especially the british on march 7th, 1945 in the last weeks of the war, damaged not just the junkers airplanes factory, but also 80% of the city according to wikipedia. dessau is surrounded by the rivers mulde and elbe. there is also an unesco heritage site about the bauhaus construction style from 1925. imho it is sooo ugly, that we didnt go there at all 😃

• schlosshotel schkopau castle close to halle - a beautiful private castle probably from 9th century. first mentioned in 1215 and used as a hotel & wedding location since 2001 till today.

• naumburg (saale) - nice, too! here we have enjoyed the unesco heritage dome in the city center and could not understand the so unfriendly waitress at the market square restaurant ... she did not sell us as a 2nd dish a children's menu even if we agreed to pay the double price for that. what a stupid goose! after just 1 cocktail + 1 beer we went for dinner somewhere else.

• the saale river - we have seen this river many times. the nicest experience was probably at the schkopau castle. the sad one was the sooo ugly artificial lake talsperre bleiloch close to saalburg. this area does not belong to sachsen-anhalt, but already to the federal state of thuringia (thüringen). at least the staff at the beach bistro42 were really friendly. btw, i've found someone's wallet at the floor out there. honest me, i gave it back at the counter and the happy owner gave us a 10 euro bill for the next drink short after that 🍻

enjoy few pictures:

villa am bernsteinsee, bitterfeld

marina, bitterfeld

hotel kaiserhof, bitterfeld

#1 bitterfeld today

#1 bitterfeld before

#2 now (church)

#3 now (town hall, rathaus)

#2 and #3 before (church + town hall)

hotel central, bitterfeld

bitterfeld, coat of arms

on the road in east germanny

johannbau, the not destructed western part of the former dessau castle

church marienkirche 

dessau town hall (rathaus)

dessauer kartoffelhaus, a historical restaurant in a modern building

dessau at the picture? a picture in dessau? both? 😃

halle

historical halle

schlosshotel schkopau castle

schlosshotel schkopau castle opened in 2001

as a hotel guest, you are allowed to climb up the bernfried tower

best of all wives

the saale river at schkopau castle

good-bye, schlosshotel schkopau, it was a really nice stay here 💖

naumburg, sachsen-anhalt

the dome, unesco heritage site

naumburg, sachsen-anhalt

simson-haus (house), 1574

hell, i've forgot who were this 2 ladies ...

... maybe the holy elisabeth from hungary? or some warrioress?

rathaus (town hall) + market square, naumburg, sachsenanhalt

house from 1525, the wisdom timeless 😀

really low water and much algae in the artificial lake talsperre bleiloch

(at saale river?) in saalburg (thuringia)

well, between all these stop-overs at the way back and forth was my mobile work week spent in the lakes area of the uckermark 🐋😏💻🍀

more pictures here.