Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [168]
Hotel Goldener Adler ( 486 60; www.goldeneradler.de; Hauptmarkt 4; s/d €75/90; ) History spills from every nook and cranny of this spiffy four-star hotel with its doesn’t-get-more-central location. Cap off a day about town with dinner or a drink in the romantic vaulted cellar.
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Eating & Drinking
If Bautzen had something like a ‘restaurant row’, it would be Schlossstrasse, where you’ll find about half a dozen internationally themed eateries.
Sam’s Bar ( 490 964; Fleischmarkt 4; dishes €5-12) For salads, sandwiches and the locally famous ‘Samburger’, come to this relaxed hang-out that stays open longer than any other place in town.
Bjesada ( 470 27; Postplatz 2; mains €7-12) With warm colours, contemporary design and backlit figures from Sorb fairy-tales, the Sorb Cultural Centre restaurant is perhaps not what you’d expect from an eatery celebrating traditional culture. However, the bilingual menu is laden with typical dishes involving herring and beef, with a few token vegie choices thrown in for good measure.
Wjelbik ( 420 60; Kornstrasse 7; mains €10-16) You can’t help but be charmed by your host here, Veronika Mahling, who will greet you, Sorbian style, with a little bread and salt and a hearty Witajće k nam! (Welcome!). Enjoy the most Sorbian of dishes, ‘Sorbian Wedding’ (braised beef with horseradish sauce) in the dining room that manages modern and traditional in one go.
Also recommended:
Bautzner Senfstube ( 598 015; Schlossstrasse 3; mains €5-13) Almost all the tasty regional dishes here contain Bautzen’s famous mustard.
Zur Apotheke ( 480 035; Schlossstrasse 21; mains €10-16) Inside an olde-worlde pharmacy, this progressive eatery takes the medicinal theme to the limit.
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Getting There & Away
Regional trains service Bautzen from Görlitz (€7.10, 30 minutes) and Dresden (€10.30, one hour). The A4 to Dresden or Görlitz runs just south of town. You can park fairly cheaply at Parkplatz Centrum on Äussere Lauenstrasse.
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GÖRLITZ
03581 / pop 56,700
Germany’s easternmost city may be somewhat overhyped as the country’s most attractive, but few can deny that Görlitz’ squares, churches and towers on the Neisse River make for an intriguing halt. It miraculously came through WWII with nary a shrapnel wound and today is a veritable encyclopaedia of European architectural styles. GDR honchos declared the entire city a protected monument, but then invested little in its upkeep. Only after reunification did huge federal cash infusions restore beauty to this ageing grande dame. Largely unmarred by the trappings of commercialisation, the nearly 4200 heritage buildings make the place feel almost like a film set. In fact Görlitz stood in for 19th-century Paris and New York in the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days, starring Jackie Chan.
The Berlin Wall may have tumbled long ago, but Görlitz is still a divided city. After WWII it was split in two when the Allies made the Neisse River the boundary between Germany and Poland. Görlitz’ former eastern suburbs are now the scruffy Polish town of Zgorzelec.
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Orientation
The Altstadt spreads to the north of the Hauptbahnhof. From here, Berliner Strasse and Jakobstrasse, the main shopping streets, run south to Postplatz. Beyond, the city is organised around a trio of squares starting with Demianiplatz in the west, followed by Obermarkt and then Untermarkt. From the latter, Neissstrasse leads down to the Neisse River and the Altstadtbrücke, the footbridge to Zgorzelec. If crossing, bring your passport just in case.
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Information
There’s a Deutsche Bank on Demianiplatz, and a Sparda-Bank on Postplatz.
Görlitz tourist office ( 475 70; www.goerlitz.de; Obermarkt 32; 9am-7pm