Saxony-Anhalt
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217 Saxony-Anhalt Ask a Bavarian or Berliner about Saxony-Anhalt and they’ll likely talk about the timeworn (and largely outdated) stereotypes: the industrial legacy, the slag heaps, the high unemploy- ment and the architectural sins committed by GDR town planners. But ask a local about their state, and they’ll wax lyrical about its treasures. There’ll be talk about taking a gondola ride through the gentle splendours of Wörlitz Park. They’ll be proud of the whimsy of the Hundertwasser buildings in Magdeburg and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. They’ll encourage you to get on your bike and explore the grandeur of the Elbe River. And they’ll toast you with a glass of bubbly made from grapes grown on the sunny slopes around Freyburg. In the 20 years since reunification, Saxony-Anhalt has gone from humdrum to, well, not quite hip but certainly more happening than its reputation would suggest. Open your eyes and you’ll find deep wellsprings of beauty, ingenuity and historical magnitude. After all, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, is buried in Magdeburg, Martin Luther kick-started the Reformation in Wittenberg and, centuries later, the Bauhaus school revolutionised modern design and architecture from its base in Dessau during its most creative period. Saxony-Anhalt may not quite have the pulling power of other states but it still packs a punch. Don’t just travel through on your way to somewhere else. Lose your preconceptions, unleash your curiosity and you’ll discover unique places that’ll still resonate with you long after you’re back home. HIGHLIGHTS Grand Visions Study the origins of modernist architecture by touring Dessau’s SAXONY-ANHALT refurbished Bauhaus gems ( p224 ) Sweet Dreams Spend the night inside cult architect Hundertwasser’s wacky Magdeburg building, Grüne Zitadelle ( p219 ) Magdeburg River Rides Soak up the mystique of one of Germany’s grandest rivers while pedalling Dessau-Rosslau Lutherstadt along the Elbe River Bike Trail ( p228 ) Wittenberg Pious Peregrinations Channel Martin Luther Lutherstadt while walking in his footsteps in Eisleben Eisleben ( p236 ) and Wittenberg ( p229 ) Grape Escape Sample the local product Freyburg while hopping between small wine estates around Freyburg ( p239 ). Offbeat Journey Float high above the Elbe River in one of the world’s strangest bridges near Magdeburg ( p221 ) POPULATION: 2.41 MILLION AREA : 20,446 SQ KM 218 SAXONY-ANHALT •• Magdeburg lonelyplanet.com 0 50 km SAXONY-ANHALT 0 30 miles B5 B96 A7 B71 B248 LOWER A24 SAXONY Salzwedel Oranienburg B191 B189 Elbe River B71 B107 B5 A10 Celle Falkensee Stendal Tangermünde BRANDENBURG To Berlin B188 (18km) Brandenburg Potsdam Genthin B4 Wolfsburg A2 B1 To Hanover A10 (10km) Haldensleben A2 Helmstedt Braunschweig Salzgitter Wolfenbüttel Hildesheim Schöningen Magdeburg B246 A395 A9 Schönebeck Elbe River A14 Zerbst B82 Goslar B81 Lutherstadt B71 Rosslau Wittenberg Harz Halberstadt Wörlitz NP Bad Dessau- Wörlitz Harzburg Wernigerode Bernburg Rosslau Park Quedlinburg B107 B187 A7 B243 Harz Mountains Hochharz NP Blankenburg Ferropolis B100 Aschersleben Gräfenhainichen B4 Hettstedt Bad Lauterberg Bitterfeld B27 Lutherstadt Delitzsch Torgau Eisleben Mulde B87 Göttingen B243 Nordhausen A143 Sangerhausen Halle A9 B80 SAXONY A38 River Artern B91 Wurzen Sondershausen Leipzig Bad Merseburg Leipzig-Halle THURINGIA Frankenhausen Unstrut Airport Oschatz B247 B4 Laucha A14 To Dresden B249 River Freyburg A38 (40km) Mühlhausen Grimma Bad Weissenfels B95 Kösen B87 Döbeln B85 Naumburg Borna A71 Zeitz B84 B180 Ilm River Saale River Weimar To Nuremberg Altenburg Eisenach Erfurt (215km) Information version for solo travellers costs €19. Another For advance planning, consult the website good deal is the Hopper-Ticket (€6) which is valid maintained by the state tourist office at www for a day return to any town within 50km of SAXONY-ANHALT SAXONY-ANHALT .sachsen-anhalt-tourismus.de, which comes your starting point. All tickets costs €2 more with a room booking function. if bought from a train station agent instead of a vending machine. Getting Around Trains are supplemented by local bus net- MAGDEBURG works and an efficient road system. There are %0391 / pop 230,000 two good-value discount train tickets available There’s no denying that much of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt. The Sachsen-Anhalt-Ticket is aesthetically challenged, thanks to (€28) entitles groups of up to five people to WWII bombs and socialist city planners one day of unlimited public transport within in love with wide boulevards and prefab the state from 9am to 3am the following day concrete apartment blocks, the so-called (midnight to 3am the following day on week- Plattenbauten. But don’t let this deter you: ends). It is valid in 2nd class on RE, RB and the capital of Saxony-Anhalt has plenty of S-Bahn trains as well as buses and trams. The surprises in store. This is, after all, one of .