Paul Smit | Mick Palarczyk - Features, Photos and Text : What's New?

Around Dresden, scenic drive in Germany

"Around Dresden" is a wintry exploration of the area around Saxony's capital.

Dresden received special attention the last two years due to the completion of the Frauenkirche, followed in 2006 by the town's 800th anniversary. Now the dust has settled and winter draws near we take time to have a closer look at the surroundings of Dresden.

Most prominent is the Elbe Valley, a stretch of castles and palaces along the river, in 2004 added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. Our scenic drive starts in porcelain city Meissen with a story about two inventions. Both took place in the Albrechtsburg castle: porcelain and the ribless cellular vault. The exploration ends in Zittau, near the spot where Germany, Poland and Czechia meet, with an amazing story about the Lent Cloth. On the way we visit walled Bautzen, meet artist Franz Gruss and his prehistoric animals and hike in the Elbsandsteingebirge with its table mountains and national park.

To excerpts from the article
To the pictures

Publication of the Month: The Land of Goethe, Luther and Bach in WEEKEND & VIAGGI (Italy)

For the Italian magazine Weekend & Viaggi I adapted my existing text to fit their wishes: they wanted a purely cultural-historical story. Therefore my travels through Saxony and Thuringia became an exploration of the land of Goethe, Luther and Bach.

Have a look at the other pages of this publication.

Excerpt of the Month: Tea break.

Our climb to the Cader Idris begins in a luscious forest. While we are taking a break we are passed by a group of plucky old men, who berate us youngsters: “Not even out of the forest yet and resting already?!” Not much later it is our turn to pass them, clearly getting ready for a break of their own. “Gentlemen, only just out of the forest and resting already?” The oldest, with the unmistakable appearance of a lord, points at his watch and corrects me: “Tea break.” He takes a flowery porcelain teacup from his bag, followed by the saucer and a thermos. In response to our surprised looks, he says: “Don’t think we are fatigued. We are just upholding our culture. The empire may have fallen, but we still stick to our tea.”

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Excerpt from Back to Snowdonia, about the Welsh national park.

Picture of the Month: Brown café in Leiden

Dutch historical cities are known for their brown cafés and Rembrandt's native town Leiden is no exception. One I really like is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed around 1900 as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Haagse School showing Dutch landscapes and cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises. (Photo Paul Smit).

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This picture is part of the feature Leiden.