Our walking tour of Dresden this morning, led by expert local guide Claudia, focused on the very compact historic city center.
Prior to German unification in1871 Dresden, on the River Elbe, was the capital of independent Saxony, enjoying a long history as the royal residence of the Electors & Kings whose building & patronage led to the city’s nickname of ‘the Jewel Box’ due of its magnificent baroque & rococo city center. The entire city center was destroyed in the controversial Allied bombings during World War II but after the war restoration work helped to reconstruct many parts of the historic inner city, including the Catholic Court Church, the Zwinger & the famous Semperoper. Our tour visited all of these as well as the rebuilt Frauenkirche.
There was free time for lunch & sightseeing after our tour, during which most of the group took the opportunity to visit the Green Vault or the Zwinger’s Old Masters Gallery.
We regrouped later this afternoon for a matinee/early evening performance of our final opera - Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the Semperoper.
Following the five hour performance we celebrated with a farewell dinner this evening, with many memories to share at the end of our European adventure.
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