Destination: Dresden
National Geographic Traveler‘s November/December issue includes a “top 20” list of hot destinations, from London to Sri Lanka, Sonoma and … Pittsburgh. Also on the list — and featured in the opening spread, below — is Dresden, one of my favorite German cities. My piece for the magazine about the city isn’t online, but it’s on p. 86 of the print magazine, available just about anywhere print magazines are sold.
It’s hard to find a greater concentration of excellent museums in a city of Dresden’s eminently manageable size. As if the dozen or so museums that make up the Staatliche Kunstsammlung weren’t enough, there’s also the unforgettable (and unforgettably named) German Hygiene Museum and the brand-new German Military History museum, with an addition by designed by Daniel Liebeskind. For porcelain freaks, there’s also the Meissen factory just a few kilometers upriver. I’ve written about Dresden a lot, and it’s always a pleasure.
Weirdly, because it’s only a few hours from Berlin, I’ve only stayed the night there once. I will have to correct that some time soon. My recommendation to anyone traveling from Berlin to Prague: get off the train in Dresden, for a few hours or a few days.
