jaro gruber ;-): sachsen-anhalt, DE

Saturday, September 16, 2023

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: