Colditz

 Colditz, a beautiful town in Saxony was a stop off point on the drive to Dresden on our 2018 road trip. Following a visit to the famous castle which stands above the town it was nice to relax and explore a little before setting off.

In the main square there was a fabulous bakery and café where we bought some delicious cakes and then we ate them sat by the fountain. It was just as well that we did because on the next stage of our trip which should have taken about an hour, allowing us plenty of time to find our hotel, explore Dresden and find a nice restaurant, actually took us almost 7 hours. There was a terrific storm but this unfortunately caused a landslide which blocked the motorway leaving us stuck for 6 hours. This was certainly an unexpected adventure and by the time we reached our hotel in Dresden everything was closed and we went to bed hungry but grateful for the delicious cake we had eaten earlier in the day.

Around The Castle Courtyard

These are all shots from around the courtyard of Colditz Castle in Saxony. It was a lovely sunny day and the sunlight reflecting off the castle walls filled the grounds. There were only a few shady spots and as you can see from the final shot a couple of old guys were taking full advantage while their partners were off exploring.

With the bright colours and with everything so calm and quiet it was hard to think of this place as it once was, an oppressive prisoner of war camp, and before that a psychiatric hospital.

There were some really interesting exhibitions inside and lots of good views to capture so we spent a good few hours here.

Renaissance

Canon EF24 - 105 mm F/4 L IS USM

ISO 125  50 mm F/14  1/250 sec

ISO 125  28 mm  F/14  1/250 sec

After three days in Sweden our roadtrip continued into Germany with Dresden being our main destination but on the way we stopped off in Colditz.

If wasn't for the TV series that I watched as a child or the book that I read about the prisoner of war camp located in the castle here it is more than likely that we would have just driven past but having seen that the town lay almost on our route I was keen to take the small detour and have a look at this renaissance town in Saxony. It was definitely worth it. The architecture was really beautiful, the castle was imposing and atmospheric and the cake we bought in the bakery in the square was really delicious.

These shots show the tower of the church which overlooked the square and was on the route up to the castle. It was quite a simple building but for the tower with its dome and spire.  If you are ever in Saxony I would definitely recommend visiting Colditz.