The historical paddle steamers of the “Saxonian Steamship Company”, the oldest and largest paddle wheel steamer fleet in the world, spread a taste of the Mississippi. These charming majestic giants glide upriver to Bad Schandau and downriver to Meißen – accompanied only by the silent whooshing of the paddle wheels and the regular wheezing of the steam engines. The trip underneath bridges is quite an adventure – some of them are of restricted height and the steamers have to pull down their chimneystacks to fit through.

You can select between a short trip to Loschwitz, a tour of the palaces, or a trip through the sandstone hills of the Elbe to Saxonian Switzerland, depending, of course, on your time and budget. All the ships depart from the Terrace harbour below the Bruehl Terrace.

As are most of the sights in and around Dresden, also the Schloss Moritzburg exists thanks to the ruler August the Strong. The striking round towers of the baroque 200-room palatial complex can be seen from a long way away.

Particularly the feather room with its bed canopy made of hundreds of thousands of coloured feathers and the gilded leather wall hangings will quite astound you.

A large protected landscape area of 40 hectares surrounds the palace, containing pheasants, deer and wild boar – an ideal location for an extensive ramble far away from the noise and goings-on in the town.

Who has not seen the two crossed blue swords that ennoble the “white gold” of the town of Meißen. It was as early as 1710 when the Meißener Porzellan-Manufaktur (“China Factory Meißen”) was the first to be established on the instructions of August the Strong. Since then its reputation has been legendary. Nowadays at the factory you can not only admire their most valuable display cases, but also observe their manufacture in the viewing workshop.

But it is not only for the china that Meißen is worth a look. Exaltedly throning a steep rock plateau the late gothic Albrechtsburg is the first palace to have been built in Germany and is a true landmark of the town. And no less impressive is the magnificent gothic cathedral with its two unequal towers of sandstone.

There are crooked traders houses, vine covered walls and cosy inner courtyards as well as masterfully renovated patrician houses to be found in the winding streets of the medieval town centre. The late gothic town hall, lovingly restored to its original splendour, is also worth a look. For the 13,000 square metre roof alone 52,000 gothic plain tiles were manufactured from shattered pieces that remained.

Although not large the Saxonian wine growing area is all the older and more worth seeing: The smallest of the 13 German wine regions only stretches out over 449 hectares along the Elbe from Pirna, via Dresden, Radebeul and Meißen up to the Diesbar-Seußlitz Elbe wine village. Winegrowing has taken place here for over 800 years, for the most part manually. This is because 55 per cent of the area consists of hillsides and steep locations where access for machinery is impossible.

The largest and best known vineyard in the area is Schloss Wackerbarth in front of the gates of Dresden. Europe’s first experience vineyard is at the same location where August the Strong held glorious celebrations in the past. It resembles a painting, surrounded by a long terraced Baroque garden, at the foot of a vine growing estate. Wine and champagne tours take place daily and include tasting. You can learn many things worth knowing about the manual grape harvest and the careful processing.

The nicest stage of the Saxonian wine tour route leads past the Wackerbarth palace along the Radeberg Weinberg street, past stone walls and historical villas up to the Hoflössnitz vineyard with its vineyard museum in Radebeul and then further onward to Dresden.

This ups the heartbeat of car lovers. The glass factory at the edge of the Great Garden cost the Volkswagen group 186 million Euro to build. The result is a natural light floodlit, transparent example of a factory with a futuristic ambience, through which one can observe the workers carrying out the production and assembly works. There is also a techno world with an automobile configurator, car stage and interactive drive simulator. You can take refreshment in the bar/restaurant Lesage, an establishment that has the distinction of having gained an entry in the Gourmet guide for 2006.

This is a place where you can feel that you are taking part in a story from one thousand and one nights: Only a few minutes away from the grand buildings on the Elbe bank, the tobacco factory Yenidze, built in the style of a mosque in 1912, entrances its visitors. Its dome, glazed in many colours, its colourful tiles and minaret-style chimneystack make the Yenidze one of the most unusual landmarks in Dresden. You can visit the oriental dome for a story reading or partake of an oriental menu accompanied by breathtaking belly dancers. This is an unforgettable experience.