Original subtitles

(dramatic upbeat music)

(bright upbeat music)

- [Narrator] We start our journey at the southern reaches

of Saxony, heading towards the historic city of Leipzig.

It's then on to Colditz Castle,

the infamous Second World War prison.

To the south lie the Ore Mountains,

whose silver deposits once brought great wealth

to the town of Freiberg.

Joining the great river Elbe at Meissen,

we follow it upstream to the capital of Saxony, Dresden.

From the splendid baroque gardens that grow Gross-Sedlitz

we head to the Saxon Switzerland National Park

that so inspired the German romantic painters.

The journey ends at the biggest mountain fortress in Europe,

Konigstein Castle.

This is Plauen, once part of the former East Germany.

On the seventh of October 1989,

the first protests against the socialist regime

took place here, marking the beginning

of a series of mass demonstrations.

It ultimately led to the reunification of Germany

after 40 years of separation from its western counterpart.

Plauen was also the first town of the former East Germany

to open a McDonald's restaurant,

as the west rushed in to exploit new business opportunities.

But as we fly across the southern region of Saxony,

decades of socialist rule can still be seen

in the swathes of concrete tenements.

These are relics of the centralized housing policy

that replaced overcrowded and deteriorating

pre-war buildings.

Despite Plauen's historic role in the downfall

of the German democratic republic,

its Saxony's second biggest city, Leipzig,

that can be considered birthplace

of the anti-communist revolution.

Just two days after the protests at Plauen,

70,000 demonstrators peacefully took to the streets

chanting wir sind das Volk, meaning we are the people.

The Monday demonstrations, as they are now known,

served as a turning point.

A month later, the Berlin wall,

the symbol of a divided Germany,

was torn down.

2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the protests,

and today Leipzig is a bustling city

of over half a million people,

living in what's considered to be the industrial

and cultural center of Saxony.

It has a long and proud association with art and music,

and has attracted some of the greatest composers in history,

such as Bach, Mendelssohn and Wagner.

And its university gave rise to some of

the finest scientific minds,

as well as Germany's first woman chancellor,

Angela Merkel.

And since reunification, it's undergone a massive program

to restore its historic landmarks.

Like the monument commemorating the 1813 Battle of Leipzig,

where a coalition of nations,

including the kingdom of Saxony,

won a crucial victory over Napoleon's army.

Over 600,000 were involved in the fighting,

making it the largest battle in Europe

prior to the First World War.

Over 90,000 soldiers were killed or injured,

and this imposing granite faced monument,

one of the tallest in Europe,

is said to stand on the spot of

some of the bloodiest fighting,

and where Napoleon ordered the retreat.

In the heart of the city lies Leipzig Central Station,

the largest railway station in Europe.

It has 24 platforms, housed in six iron train sheds,

handling an average of 150,000 passengers each day.

The city Hochhaus, or city high rise,

is the tallest building in Leipzing,

completed in 1972 during the communist era.

It was originally part of the university,

but was sold by the state to the US

investment bank Merrill Lynch.

As well as a restaurant on the top floor,

there's a roof terrace for visitors to enjoy

breathtaking views of Leipzig,

which was, in 2010, included in the New York Times

top 10 cities to visit.

Flying across the lowlands at Saxony,

you can't fail to notice the sheer number of wind farms.

Germany is the world's third largest user of wind power,

after the US and China.

With over 21,000 installations,

it also has one of the highest number

of turbines per capita.

In 2011 wind power was producing almost a tenth

of Germany's total electricity.

(dramatic music)

On a picturesque clifftop,

overlooking a medieval market town,

stands one of the most infamous fortresses in the world,

Colditz Castle.

Though there's been a castle here

for almost a thousand years,

the present complex was originally built

as a royal residence.

But after World War II, Colditz achieved notoriety

as the maximum security prisoner of war camp

declared by the Nazis to be escape-proof.

But they were wrong.

Allied officers who'd made repeated attempts

to escape from other camps were transported to Colditz.

But by bringing together the best escapees,

the Nazis effectively created an escape academy.

There were locksmiths, linguists, forgers,

tailors, engineers and spies.

Everyone had a part to play.

In the five years as Colditz as a prison

there were over 300 escape attempts.

120 of these men were recaptured after breaking out,

but by the end of the war 31 POWs

had successfully returned home.

More than any other POW camp in World War II.

One exasperated German officer wrote,

"We kept them in with rifles and machine guns,

"we searched them by day and night,

"and yet they got out."

Probably the most famous attempt at escape

was using sleeping bags to build a glider

in an attic above the castle chapel.

The idea was to catapult it from the roof

and across the valley.

However, their daring idea was never put to the test

as the war ended before the glider had been completed.

In recent years, Colditz has undergone much restoration,

and the castle now has both a museum and guided tours,

including some of the escape tunnels built by the prisoners.

(gentle music)

Less well known but just as imposing

is Augustusburg Castle,

that's been perched on this hilltop for over 400 years.

With its virtually square floor plan

and four massive tower-like corner houses,

it was designed as a hunting lodge and summer residence.

But from the 17th Century on,

the castle hardly served its original purpose

as a pleasure palace as it passed through

various hands over the years.

It was a garrison, court of justice,

prison, and a military hospital.

It was even used as an academy for Nazi leaders.

After the Second World War,

Augustusburg was returned to state administration

and today the castle enjoys a more sedate existence

as a museum complex.

One of its dungeons houses a macabre display

of torture instruments.

There is also a museum that boasts the largest

collection of motorcycles in Europe.

These are the Ore Mountains, close to the Czech border.

As the name suggests,

this region is rich in mineral deposits.

Mining for a variety of metals from tin to copper

has taken place here for centuries,

bringing great wealth to the region.

The abundant silver ore found in these mountains

was utilized to mint coins used throughout Europe

for almost 400 years.

The coin was known as a Thaler,

from which the word dollar is derived.

At the heart of the region's lucrative

mining industry was the town of Freiberg,

which became known as the silver city of Saxony.

Freiberg was founded in the 12th Century

on the site of the first discover of silver ore.

And although the town was overshadowed

by neighboring cities like Leipzig,

it's importance to the wealth and development of Saxony

from the 16th to the 19th centuries was immense.

The town grew around Freudenstein Castle.

It served not only to protect the huge

quantities of silver from robbers,

but also to administrate the new mines.

Today it's a world renowned museum,

holding one of the largest mineral collections in the world.

Freiberg's centuries old tradition runs deep,

and every summer a mining town festival is held

with a precession by the historic miners

and iron workers guilds.

Further north on the banks of the River Elbe

is the city of Meissen.

With a rich history going back over a thousand years,

Meissen is the oldest of the Saxon cities

and is often referred to as the cradle of Saxony.

Like its neighbor Freiberg, Meissen also flourished

from extensive local mineral deposits.

But instead of ore it was china clay.

In the 1700s its porcelain was almost legendary

throughout Europe, since it was the first place

outside the orient to produce fine china.

Each item was famously marked with

a crossed swords insignia.

The mark is considered to be one of

the oldest trademarks in existence.

And perched on a high rock overlooking the Elbe

is the 13th Century gothic cathedral,

though the twin steeples weren't added until the 1900s.

It's one of the smallest cathedrals in Europe.

The reason for this is that it had to

squeeze alongside Albrechtsburg Castle.

The present day castle was built in the 1500s

as a luxurious royal residence,

rather than a military fortress.

It was the first German castle built for such a purpose.

Following the Elbe we arrive at the capital of Saxony,

Dresden.

Once the residence for royals and nobles,

Dresden celebrated its 800th birthday in 2006,

a poignant reminder of having survived

one of the most ferocious aerial bombing campaigns

in military history.

The controversial blanket bombing by the allies in 1945

almost completely laid waste the historic city center,

and killed over 30,000 civilians,

though the true figure will never be known.

Though some evidence of what happened here

can still be seen,

much painstaking work has gone towards

reconstructing the historic buildings and monuments,

some of which had been reduced to rubble,

like the 18th Century Church of Our Lady.

It now serves as a symbol of reconciliation

between the former warring nations.

Each month an anglican service is held in English,

and in 2009 the church was visited by

US President Barrack Obama.

The grand Semperoper Opera House reopened its doors in 1985,

40 years after it was raised to the ground.

The statue over the entrance features

the Greek god Dionysus in a chariot pulled by panthers.

Next door is the Zwinger,

a baroque palace originally built by

the 18th Century ruler Augustus the Strong

for court festivities and tournaments.

Today the Zwinger is a museum complex

housing national treasures that had been evacuated

during the bombing of Dresden.

The center is now largely restored to its former glory

and attracts around 10 million tourists a year,

mostly from Germany.

Across the Elbe is one monument that did

survive the devastation, the Golden Rider.

The gold leaf statue gloriously depicts

the 18th Century ruler Augustus the Strong,

so called because it said he was known

for snapping horseshoes with his bare hands

and tossing foxes with a single finger.

But it was his passion for art and culture

that was to be his legacy,

and this can be seen in the city's

fine baroque architecture.

(upbeat orchestral music)

As well as the arts, Augustus the Strong had a love

of recreation and fine living.

The surrounding woodlands and lakes of Dresden

was a favorite hunting area for the ruler,

which in turn demanded a befitting hunting lodge,

Moritzburg Castle.

In 1723 August commissioned his best architects

to create this grand hunting retreat and pleasure palace

where he would entertain his court with glittering parties.

Set on a symmetrical island,

four surrounding ponds were merged

to create this magnificent lake.

A formal French style garden was added later.

Moritzburg has been home to a succession of Saxon royals.

Its last resident was Prince Ernst Heinrich,

who lived in the castle until 1945

when it was confiscated by the post-war

soviet administration.

Today, Moritzburg Castle is a popular tourist attraction,

and its museum houses the largest collection

of deer antlers and hunting trophies in Europe.

On a hill over the Elbe lies one of the most

perfectly preserved baroque gardens in Saxony,

Gross-Sedlitz.

(gentle guitar music)

It was laid out in the French style in the 1700s

for the nobleman Count Wackerbart as a pleasure garden.

The impressive gardens caught the attention

of the ever present Saxon ruler

with an eye for beauty and culture,

Augustus the Strong.

Fancying the gardens for himself,

he acquired the estate and enlisted

the best designers in the region

to finish off the work.

But when Augustus returned to his native Poland,

fun soon ran out, leaving only a third

of the gardens complete.

Today, the splendor of the gardens can still be seen.

During the summer months there are

frequent festivals and dance displays,

some dating back almost 300 years.

Following the River Elbe east,

it's now only 25 kilometers to the Czech border.

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe,

and its importance for transport and trade

over the centuries can be seen in its banks

that have given rise to farmland,

riverside palaces and towns.

One of the many picturesque settlements on the river

is the market town of Pirna,

with its 16th Century gothic church

and renaissance city hall.

An older landmark, looking over the river,

is the 15th Century Sonnenstein Castle.

In 1811 it opened as a progressive psychiatric hospital,

but in a terrible turn this complex was

used by the Nazi party for the murder

of thousands of innocent people.

In 1970 the castle was reopened as

a rehabilitation center for the disabled.

It houses a memorial site for the lives that were lost.

As well as commercial vessels,

steam paddle boats like this one

are a common sight along the Elbe river.

It's one of nine historic craft

that make up the oldest and biggest

paddle steamer fleet in the world.

The sightseeing trips take visitors upstream

towards the spectacular Elbe sandstone mountains.

It's a dramatic landscape of forest, gorge,

and bizarrely shaped rock towers,

formed by water erosion over a million years ago.

The national park has been known as

Saxon Switzerland since the 18th Century,

when two Swiss art students found the landscape

reminded them of their homeland.

Not only did the name stick,

but it inspired a rush of romantic artists

filled with the inspiration and desire

to explore the sandstone mountains for themselves.

Popularized by their paintings,

Saxon Switzerland became the embodiment

of the famous German love of the outdoors,

and the pursuit of romantic adventure.

The natural wonder of this scenery

has been attracting visitors ever since.

Today the national park offers 1200 kilometers

of waymarked paths and trails,

including the painter's trail,

one of the great walking routes of modern Germany.

It follows the footsteps of the romantics,

along the Polenz River with its impressive gorge.

The tail leads to the chocolate box town of Hohnstein.

This beautifully presented medieval settlement

is a reminder of the money that has been invested

in restoring the fabric and infrastructure

of the old East Germany.

But the best known and loved landmark of Sazon Switzerland,

dominating the banks of the Elbe,

is the Bastei.

This extraordinary array of rocks

has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years,

and today has the highest number of visitors

of all the viewing points in Saxon Switzerland.

A dizzying bridge, built in 1851 from sandstone,

takes awestruck walkers through the towers and needles.

The bridge was one of the very first

engineering constructions created solely for leisure.

The reward at the end of the bridge

is the breathtaking view from the sight

of a fortress that once stood here.

(dramatic music)

In this region of Germany that's famed for its castles,

it's fitting that our last stop is Königstein.

It's the biggest mountain fortification,

not only of Saxony, but of the whole of Europe.

Standing 240 meters above the river,

this mighty castle has never been taken

throughout its 800 years.

Impenetrable 40 meter high walls surround

60 buildings constructed at various times

during its long history.

Late gothic, renaissance, baroque,

and 19th Century neo-gothic architecture

covers a massive area of almost 10 hectares.

Königstein Castle served various roles over the centuries,

from an army garrison to a hideout

for the Saxon royals and their treasures.

During both world wars it was used

as a prisoner of war camp.

Königstein, the unconquered fortress,

finally opened its doors in 1955.

And today it's tourists in their thousands

that storm its walls to admire one of

the greatest achievements in military architecture,

as well as a spectacular view over Saxon Switzerland.

A perfect place to end this journey.

(gentle music)