Goerlitz, or Görlitz or even Görliwood!

[Cossie]

As requested in a another post, here are some pictures from the fabulous town of Gorlitz south east of Berlin on the border with Poland. People say it has been saved twice, firstly during WWII it was just out of reach of bombers flying from the UK, otherwise it may have ended up with the same fate as Dresden which is about 100km to the west. Also by the time the Soviets had arrived, the war had officially ended.

Then as the wall came down and Germany was reunified, here was a real chance that t would have been razed and started again due to the neglect suffered over the previous40 plus years.

Firstly some shots from when we first visited in 2007, purely by chance, the famous building used as the hotel in in Grand Budapest Hotel was still operating as a department store complete with stunning stained glass windows, wish I'd taken more photos.



There was also a film being shot in the Untermarkt, didn't know anything about it being a popular spot for shooting films, this I presume were rehearsals.




That is Poland over the river and a couple of shots from the middle of the bridge pointing back into Germany. At this time there was still an active customs/immigration post between the two countries and as we had left our passports back at the hotel, we couldn't cross.

Görlitz - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Film info here. Görlitz Film Locations Walk - filmfantravel.com

 

[Cossie]

Some more from 2007, not many Trabbies about now.

 

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2007 continued, a lot of buildings in a rundown condition.



Others are being restored.

 

[Cossie]

2018 I had some time time to fill between a few rallies and found myself back in the south east of the old DDR. Some things had changed quite a bit in the preceding 11 years, I stayed at the same guest house, which hadn't changed at all and wandered over to Poland to have dinner. Proper borscht soup made with beetroot. MrsC is of German/Ukranian and German background with a Polish surname, when she makes her borscht, she doesn't have beetroot in it, so I don't think it's the real thing.
I was using my mobile phone to take photos, and nearly everyone was blurred.



Don't know why these houses are boarded up, quite a bit of work seems to have gone into restoring them, they are on the Polish side.



The restaurant is the blurry bit in the middle of this photo.



Like most places close to the euro zone, they take euros or local currency. 10 Zloty is about 2.3 euro. Can't remember what I had besides the soup, as you can see prices are very reasonable.




After dinner I had a wander on the German side.

 

[Major]

Almost a bit of a time warp. Great buildings

I'm glad they survived.

 

[Cossie]

So the famous old department store last year and this year,

 

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More various buildings and doorways from 2018.

 

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Some friends stayed there the weekend just gone, again there was very close to no accomodation available, lot's of things happening.




This last building is the town Rathaus, town hall.

 

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Jump to this year, an Opel car show was happening as well.

 

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Various pieces of sculpture are dotted about the place.

 

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Some more.




Great Christmas shop, the boss was in there for hours, or so it seemed! The 'star' out the front is a famous product from a town just south of Goerlitz called Herrnhut, they are still making them. Herrnhut - Wikipedia and MyBrilliantStar - The original Herrnhut Star from Germany

 

[Cossie]

A few from around the Untermarkt, (lower market), we had problems getting a room, the first time this year we stayed across from the Borse Hotel, although it was connected to that hotel and we had breakfast there. The entry to the room we had there and the second time we stayed was though this door which always has people whispering to each other.
There is also a very highly rated restaurant in the complex, but the first night we ate in Poland and the second night at the Kartoffel Haus.
There are no shortage of places to eat in this town.

 

[Cossie]

Even though there is all this activity happening, like a lot of places in the world, the young are moving away as there isn't enough work. During the DDR days there was a lot of manufacturing work done here and in the area, including a truck factory and a locomotive works.

Now there is a Birkenstock factory and shop on the outskirts.

 

[Cossie]

If you get the chance to visit this area, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, there may not be anything like Neuschwanstein, but there aren't anywhere near as many tourists either. Prague is only a couple of hours from here and Poland has many sites neaarby including castles as well.

There are many other pleasant towns, including Eissenach, Naumberg, Zwickau (Trabbie Museum), Colditz isn't far away and you can stay in that castle. Dresden and Leipzig need no introduction and the area along the border with Poland is called the Saxon Switzerland.

This trip was meant to include Krakow, but we didn't make it, too many detours taken.

 

[Cossie]

Found a few more, so this should be the last ones and of course the wedding.

 

[OZDUCK]

Lovely photos and certainly makes me want to visit next year when we will be in Germany. However, where are the people? It looks absolutely deserted in places, yet I often read recommendations to visit it on sites like TripAdvisor.

 

[Cossie]

Interesting, I hadn't noticed the lack of people, although I do try to take shots without too many people. This trip we were there both times on a Saturday night, so a lot of photos are from Sunday. Nearly everything is closed on Sundays in Germany, except cafes, petrol stations and the like.

There are many people offering tours of the old city, in fact we had to do 'excuse me' a couple of times to get into ours digs through the 'whispering' door.

Also these are mainly from the old city, there are quite a large 'new' city as well. Our friends had trouble getting a room last weekend and I'm sure the first visit this year we got the last room available in the old part of town, hence we booked for our return visit. I'll go through them again an see what I can find.

Glad you liked the photos, I'm in awe of people that can do extensive trip reports with information as well as photos, I don't have that sort of perseverance.

 

[OZDUCK]

Interesting, I hadn't noticed the lack of people, although I do try to take shots without too many people. This trip we were there both times on a Saturday night, so a lot of photos are from Sunday. Nearly everything is closed on Sundays in Germany, except cafes, petrol stations and the like.

There are many people offering tours of the old city, in fact we had to do 'excuse me' a couple of times to get into ours digs through the 'whispering' door.

Also these are mainly from the old city, there are quite a large 'new' city as well. Our friends had trouble getting a room last weekend and I'm sure the first visit this year we got the last room available in the old part of town, hence we booked for our return visit. I'll go through them again an see what I can find.

Glad you liked the photos, I'm in awe of people that can do extensive trip reports with information as well as photos, I don't have that sort of perseverance.

Thanks for the details. We will be forced to be there in peak season next year, due to a family reunion in Berlin, so we will have to book well ahead.

The Sunday shutdown in Germany (and France) always makes me laugh when various retail companies complain about shopping hours in Western Australia being restricted. While I am happy for them to be extended they are are nowhere as limited as is often claimed.

 

[Cossie]

..................... and the area along the border with Poland is called the Saxon Switzerland. ......................

That of course should say "and the area along the border with the Czech Republic is called the Saxon Switzerland"

never mind all the other spelling mistakes I've noticed on rereading! I'll have to find a new editor.