Eastern Germany

Eastern Germany includes most of the states that used to belong to the former country of East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR). The highlight is the metropolitan capital of Germany, Berlin. Regions Regions of Eastern Germany Berlin Brandenburg Saxony (Sachsen) Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) Cities Berlin Dresden Halle Leipzig Magdeburg Potsdam Other destinations Understand Talk The official language is German, spoken both in the form of standard German and various local dialects depending on the area. For example, there is a local dialect in Berlin but quite few native speakers remain, while in rural and to a lesser extent urban Saxony the local Saxon dialect is the majority language. Although the vast majority of Germans can speak standard German, it is for many of them not the native language, and one should note that German dialects are as different as separate languages. While Germany is not the most English-proficient country in Europe, English-speaking Germans are still a majority, and especially younger people are often fluent. That said, German is not a difficult language to learn and Germans are very tolerant with non-native speakers so feel free to try some phrases. During communist times older people in the former East Germany had to learn Russian at school and you might find someone who is still able to speak the language, but it is increasingly uncommon. The small minority of the Sorbs is living in the rural areas at the border between the federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony. Those cities and villages are bi-lingual using both German and Sorbian, which is similar to Polish. Get in By plane The major airports in the region are in Berlin, Leipzig/Halle (airport code: LEJ) and Dresden. Berlin currently has two airports, Berlin-Tegel (TXL) and Berlin-Schoenefeld (SXF). Currently Schönefeld is extended to become Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport (BBI), which is planned to open in 2013 and replace the existing airports. The extensive construction site is a tourist sight in its own right.. Major international airports outside Eastern Germany but somewhat close would be Hamburg, Prague and Warsaw. By train Germany has an extensive train network, and the area is well connected with trains from all over Germany and the bordering countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Berlin Central Station functions as hub of train transport in Eastern Germany. The most prestigeous line of the German train company Deutsche Bahn is the high-speed line Hamburg-Berlin, where hourly InterCityExpresses can go up to 300km/h fast. Other major inter city connections connected by EuroCity-trains or InterCityExpresses would be Kopenhagen-Hamburg-Berlin-Dresden-Prague, Warsaw-Berlin, Berlin-Leipzig-Munich and Leipzig-Frankfurt/Main. Besides that there is an extensive network of regional trains servicing smaller cities. By car Germany is famous for its network of motorways and since the reunion of 1990 the network has been extended and upgraded. You can get into the area from everywhere in Germany quite fast and convenient, however, the connections from neighbouring Poland or the Czech Republic are still in development and you might find a massive difference in road quality on both sides of the German border. Get around By car You can rent cars in all major airports and will find renting outlets in most bigger cities. Traveling by car is the most flexible and the network of motorways and major roads is sufficient to bring you anywhere in Eastern Germany within hours. It tends to be fairly expensive as well. Note however that most car rentals deny having their cars taken to eastern European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic. If you plan to visit these countries as well, you might chose to rent your car there, as those limitations do not apply the other way round. By train If you have a sufficient sense of adventure and at least a small grip on the German language you can take regional trains that connect almost every small city with major hubs like Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. There are train tickets intended only for use on regional trains, that are called Ländertickets (state tickets) and come as "Sachsen Ticket" or "Brandenburg Ticket" and are only valid on regional trains in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt) or Brandendenburg, respectively. To get around by train gives you the possibility of getting in touch with the locals. Younger people and students are the most likely to speak English, so approach them for a chat and they might tell you about hidden gems worth visiting that no guidebook would ever cover. See the German capital Berlin, a metropolis with extensive nightlife, cultural life and an interesting younger history the castle Sanssouci close to Potsdam, that has been build as a copy of the French Versailles the city of Dresden with its magnificient old town, which has been called the "Florence of the North" the Erzgebirge mountains with its century-old heritage of mining and wonderful forests and unspoilt landscape hidden gems like the Spreewald area, a network of channels and lakes in the Lower Lausitz, 200 km south of Berlin, or the Upper Lausitz area with beautifully reconstructed cities like Bautzen or Goerlitz Do Brandenburg and Berlin visit Berlin, the capital of Germany and undoubted centre of nightlife and culture in Central Europe. visit the Sorbs, a Slawic minority in Germany, that settle in the rural areas between Berlin and Dresden and preserved their old heritage and culture. Try to be there for the Easter celebrations. get a bike and go along the Oder-Neisse-Bike-Trail, a long-distance biking trail from Zittau by the Czech-border to Ruegen at the Baltic Sea. Saxony visit Dresden, the capital of the federal state of Saxony and go to hike up the Bastei in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains visit the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) in Leipzig, that remembers the fight between Germany, Russia and Napoleonic France, and was erected solely by means of donations (if you fancy): go to Leipzig in Saxony for the annual Wave-Gothic-Treffen during Pentecost, a meeting of fans of dark music styles such as Wave, Gothic music and EBM. spend some time in a small city off the beaten track to soak up the culture and the life in Eastern Germany. Try Bautzen, Cottbus or Goerlitz for a starter visit the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) in Saxony and go to Freiberg, a city with a 800-year heritage of mining and a university that is world-renowned for its competence in Geo-sciences. When being there you should visit the mine that is run by the Freiberg university. It's used for training future Geo-scientists and open to visitors. Saxony-Anhalt go hiking in the Harz mountains, part of the "green heart" of Germany visit the former inner-German-border, that in parts has been preserved as historical monuments Wittenberg Wernigerode Eat Drink Stay safe Police Like the rest of Germany, the whole area of Eastern Germany is a very safe place to travel. The laws are strictly enforced, the police are easily approachable and very likely to help. In the course of the Football World Championship 2006 the police force of the major cities received enough training to even deal with foreigners in English. In smaller cities you will find the need to talk German. The emergency phone number is 112 for every type of emergency. Non-white visitors While large cities such as Berlin and (to a smaller extent) Leipzig and Dresden have become multi-ethnical and have large immigrant communities living there, in smaller cities and in the countryside, non-white visitors might sometimes attract wary looks. In some places there are right-wing Neo-Nazis, which may look for trouble, especially when drunk in the evenings. Act with common sense, and in doubt stick to bigger crowds of 'regular' people. Don't be afraid of calling the police when feeling uneasy. Sadly, not all hate crimes are committed by Neo-Nazis. Beggars and Pickpockets While the German social systems allow everyone a reasonably decent living from social welfare, bigger cities such as Berlin or Hamburg have their share of beggars and homeless on the streets. Those people are harmless and closely watched by the police. Especially in the vicinity of train stations or in growded pedestrian zones you should be aware of pickpockets. Again, there is nothing extraordinary, and common traveller's sense will suffice. Homosexual travellers Germany is relatively open-minded towards homosexuals. Nowadays Germany even has a gay foreign minister and the city of Berlin is ruled by a gay mayor. Current law is in a process of change and gay/lesbian couples can even have same-sex marriages with a number of fiscal rights attributed to that. Overt display of homosexuality is relatively safe in gay neighborhoods in big cities such as Berlin. In the countryside and in dangerous neighborhoods, displays of homosexuality can attract wary looks, and with Neo-Nazis and Muslim extremists around may result in insults or worse. You are better off, applying common sense. Get out to the North visit the shores of the Baltic sea, 250km north of Berlin go to the north west and visit Hamburg, the centre of Northern Germany, thereby stop in historical small cities like Luebeck or Lüneburg. go to the north east and visit the three Polish cities Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot at the Baltic Sea that form a metropolis called Tri-City ('Trojmiasto' in Polish) To the East get on a train to Warsaw in Poland. There is a convenient connection from Berlin Central that runs daily and takes about four hours visit the old cities of Silesia in Poland, namely Wroclaw, Legnica, Kattowice, Opole, and witness their newly found beauty since the end of the Communist era To the South get on a train to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. There are several connections daily from Berlin via Dresden, that take 5 hours from Berlin and 2.5 hours from Dresden visit the Bohemian cities of Karlovy Vary, home to the famous liquor "Becherovka", or Budejowice and Plzen, homes to equally famous Bohemian beers To the West get a regional train to Thuringia and start a hiking tour of the mountains, called "The green heart of Germany" travel to the south west and go to Bayreuth in Franconia, home of the famous German composer Richard Wagner, and further to Munich, the capital of Bavaria This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!