Central Europe 2019

History, architecture, art, music, and a little nature

On most of my trips I have tried to mix visits to urban areas, complete with their wealth of cultural experiences, and time to enjoy the outdoors in places of scenic beauty.

This trip emphasized the former and had little of the latter. In fact, all my destinations were cities, and except for one day trip to a national park, I had a very small taste of nature.

The saving grace was that the large cities were magnificent, and the smaller cities had their own visual charms.

Prague and Berlin had been at or near the top of my bucket list for a while, so when I decided to build a trip including those two cities, it was an easy decision to include Poland. In the end, fully half the trip was in Poland.

I flew into Prague and started with several days there. Next was Dresden, with day trips to Leipzig and Saxon Switzerland. From there I went to Berlin, and I made a day trip to Potsdam while I was there.

The rest of the trip was in Poland: Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, Torun, and Gdansk, with a day trip to Malbork.


Photo Albums

As usual, I took way too many photos, but I have made some highlight albums for those who don’t want to see the same thing from every possible angle. Just be aware that there are a lot of great pictures that didn’t make it into the “Best Of” albums, so limit yourself at your own peril!

Prague (291 items)
Dresden (148 items)
Leipzig (89 items)
Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland (172 items)
Görlitz (32 items)
Berlin (335 items)
Potsdam (72 items)
Warsaw (228 items)
Krakow (205 items)
Wrocław (85 items)
Wrocław’s Dwarfs (19 items)
Torun (108 items)
Gdansk (189 items)
Malbork (94 items)

Top 100

Best of Prague (96 items)
Best of Dresden (29 items)
Best of Leipzig (23 items)
Best of Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland (24 items)
Best of Berlin (86 items)
Best of Potsdam (15 items)
Best of Warsaw (83 items)
Best of Krakow (55 items)
Best of Wrocław (28 items)
Best of Torun (29 items)
Best of Gdansk (35 items)

Blog Posts

  • Sleep Deprivation Prague-style

    Monday, April 1, 10:00 pm It is difficult to believe I’ve only been here in Prague for a day and a half. That’s partly because I have been on the go so much and seen and done so many things already. It’s also , though, because I have hardly slept, so it’s been one-and-a-half very long days.…

  • Prague Wrap-up

    I’m in Dresden now. I’m just bad at keeping up with the blog. Either I’m on the go, too tired, or busy planning what to do next. So I’ll give a few highlights from my last two days in Prague. I’m gonna blow through it quickly and touch on the things that I really don’t want…

  • Dresden

    Monday, April 8, 4:00 pm Today is my last day in Dresden. I’m taking an afternoon break after a short (very short) day trip to Görlitz, a town on the Polish border I’d heard was worth visiting. I found that not to be the case. I was also told when I asked some folks for input on…

  • Berlin Story

    I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. —Christopher Isherwood Sometimes when I’m traveling, I feel that way. I like to observe a little from a distance. I like seeing what I see. My actual camera helps with the recording. But I try to stay out of the frame. The…

  • Berlin Retrospective

    It’s Sunday, April 14. I’m currently on a train from Berlin to Warsaw. We just departed, and the journey will be over six hours, so I have plenty of time to make up for not blogging during most of my five-and-a-half days in Berlin. I kept thinking I would find time to blog, but then…

  • First day in Warsaw

    I have to confess, as I was getting toward the end of my visit to Berlin, I was starting to have doubts about having planned a four-week trip. I found myself getting worn out and worn down. And I was a little concerned that I was running out of steam just halfway through my trip. Now…

  • Warsaw Wrap-up

    I was trying to pick a representative photo for the “featured image” of this post, and I settled on the Palace of Science and Culture, perhaps the ugliest building I’ve ever see. Built in the early 1950s, the locals consider it a harsh reminder of the Soviet occupation of Poland and an affront to the…

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau

    I have very little to say about my visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I took only the one photo, at the entrance to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. What kind of monsters can perpetrate crimes of such enormity, of such depravity?

  • Random Krakow

    Planty The Old Town of Krakow used to be surrounded by a wall, and that wall used to be surrounded by a moat. In the early 19th century they tore down most of the wall and filled in the moat, creating what is today a lovely garden called Planty Park. On Friday afternoon, after my…

  • Heroes

    Note: I began writing this post while I was traveling in Poland in April 2019. I didn’t finish during the trip, and have finally completed writing about these heroes now in July. Most of my research comes from Wikipedia.

  • Pretty Cities, Plus History

    If I had to pick my two favorite things to discover when I travel, it would be beauty and history. Though I’d give the edge to natural beauty over urban beauty, I’m happy to have ended this trip in some of the pretty urban landscapes I’ve seen anywhere: Torun and Gdansk. (Properly I’d write Toruń…