The Elbe river 2020 - not just water levels

[notamermaid]

The fleet of steamships is saved. A Swiss company will take over. Article in German: https://binnenschifffahrt-online.de/2020/09/featured/16302/straubhaar-rettet-saechsische-dampfschifffahrt/

"United Rivers AG" also owns KD - short for "Köln Düsseldorfer". They operate excursion boats on the Rhine including the old paddle wheeler "MS Goethe".

 

The river level at Dresden is 158cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Let us have a look at the Elbe downstream and another ship. Am emotional moment for many people at Hamburg this last weekend: The "Peking" has returned home! She had been docked in New York for over 40 years and went back to Germany in 2016. After a 38-million-euro renovation at a shipyard in Schleswig-Holstein she arrived at Hamburg to become a showpiece, or rather quite literally the flagship, of the new (still in the planning process) German harbour museum. Here is an article with video of the ship leaving South Street seaport: https://www.hamburg.com/sights/maritime/13195372/peking/

And with the renovation completed she arrived in Hamburg last weekend, greeted by boats and many spectators (German report by NDR): https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Segelschiff-Peking-ist-zurueck-in-Hamburg,peking1810.html

 

Just to mention this again for newcomers to this thread: while the preferred North-American route on the Elbe river is Prague (extension) to Berlin (extension) and CroisiEurope offering the same route on many dates throughout the year - fully cruised all the way by them - a few other companies (German mostly) and also CroisiEurope offer itineraries that sail downstream on the river towards the North. Some of those "turn left" and cross Germany to the West, but Hamburg is a port stop or embarkation point on a few dates. Here is an example: https://www.croisieuroperivercruises.com/cruise/berlin-hamburg-classic#

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

Hamburg is beautiful. We made a stop there 2 years ago, on a Silversea cruise. One highlight was a harbor cruise at night. But, I arranged this by myself.

 

What I did was buy a group ticket for the public ferries (I was able to do that from my smartphone), so once the cruise ship docked, we hopped off and jumped right on to the ferry. We rode around the harbor, enjoying the beautiful views, until we decided to go back to the ship. It was a great night!

[notamermaid]

Deutsche Welle's series "Germany A - Z" for "P" was in Potsdam. Potsdam is not on the Elbe but on the Havel. The capital of the state of Brandenburg, it is visited by CroisiEurope ships coming from Berlin for example. Potsdam is most famous perhaps for its palace called "SansSouci": https://www.dw.com/en/germany-from-a-to-z-potsdam/g-54837468

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Let us have a brief look at the Elbe again. The last month of recording water levels has been up and down, but overall the Elbe at Dresden has been doing better than we had feared earlier in the year. This is the graph:

At 165cm it is just a bit below the mean. Rain over the weekend and into next week should keep it from falling too fast again. There is hope that a navigable level can be maintained for the companies that are sailing - CroisiEurope and some German ones.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Good news from Dresden. They have finalized the plans for the Strietzelmarkt - the Christmas market. This year the market will expand to the river bank to give more space: https://www.dresden.de/en/tourism/attractions/events/christmas-season.php

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

And now for something completely different to Christmas markets and the big cities. The Lüneburg Heath. A unique area for nature lovers, it is rural with few towns and low population density. On a cool, Autumn day the landscape can look bleak, but it is also beautiful in its own way. In these times it is perfect for getting away from crowds. But also people that are sick of the noise in cities move there. So, far away from river cruise ports? No, not really. From Geesthacht, the area can be reached by car in just 45 minutes. But you cannot get to all places in the heath by car! It is a nature park and traffic is much restricted!

 

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-lüneburg-heath-a-relaxing-destination-for-nature-lovers/a-55297868

 

The ship SansSouci sails to Hamburg, stopping at Geesthacht on itineraries. And in past years there have even been offered excursions into the heather with the ship Saxonia. It is certainly possible to organize such an excursion by a river cruise company if it wishes to do so.

 

In 2021, CroisiEurope will also have a stop in Geesthacht with the MS Mona Lisa.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

When ships ride in a lift

 

Let's stay in the area of Lüneburg. From Magdeburg there are two ways for river cruise ships to sail to Hamburg - via the Elbe or the Elbe Lateral Canal. Along the Elbe Lateral Canal you get close to Lüneburg and at Scharnebeck, Northeast of Lüneburg, ships take a lift. It is the Scharnebeck twin ship lift: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scharnebeck_twin_ship_lift

 

As it is not a route often sailed you might not have seen how this works (there are of course a few others like it scattered along canals around the world). Here is one of the just a handful of river cruise ships that sail the Elbe Lateral Canal, the MS Saxonia, being lifted up (speeded-up video):

 

An itinerary that goes through the Canal is this one by CroisiEurope from Hamburg to Berlin. Remember, with CroisiEurope you can actually sail into Berlin with a ship on some itineraries, like this one: https://www.croisieurope.travel/en/cruise/hamburg-berlin-discover-medieval-charms-hanseatic-cities-classic#

 

notamermaid

 

[NAGooner]

Notamermaid,

 

Thanks for posting the video of the Scharnebeck twin ship lift, it brought bck fond memories of a day trip quite a few years ago - the thing I remember most about the visit was having to climb the long set of stairs to reach the top (it felt long at the time - it is a 38.00m rise between the lower and upper parts of the canal).  We had to stop at a suitable locale after our visit to recharge on coffee and cake!!!

 

NAGooner 

[notamermaid]

A photo gallery by Deutsche Welle takes us on a short visual trip through Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt. Quaint place? No! Old? Yes! Magdeburg is very much a mix spanning 1,200 years of history: https://m.dw.com/en/ten-reasons-and-more-for-magdeburg/g-55344826

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Not too far from the Elbe and doable as a long excursion on a river cruise, lie the Ore Mountains. In that area is the famous wooden toy village of Seiffen. To light up our hearts and lift our spirits - in German we have the phrase "etwas für's Gemüt" - here is a report from Seiffen: https://www.dw.com/en/toy-village-of-seiffen-in-the-german-ore-mountains/av-55988078

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

To wrap up a season, that never was. The Elbe in 2020 did not see many, if any, cruise ships. When the season was about to start, Covid tackled and grounded the ships. The first lockdown in spring, closure of the border to Czechia stopped the season until summer. Viking, market leader on the Elbe called off all of their sailings this year, as well as some of the smaller companies. CroisiEurope did announce, they wanted some cruises to sail, though I doubt they did in the end (not certain though). After all, the passengers had to be able to get to Germany and Czechia and back home.

 

For the files. It was not the river this year. Unlike 2018 and 2019 the water levels were sound and would have allowed sailings throughout the year.

[notamermaid]

Thank you very much for your assessment and taking us along through the year. The Elbe would indeed have been a nice river to sail on this year. Like the Rhine by the way. The Danube struggled a bit more, but was also better than in the past two years. It would have been nice just to have had to deal with low water levels...

 

And with that I will also close this chapter of 2020 on the Elbe.

 

A Thank You to all for following along.

 

@AnhaltER1960 Thank you again, all the best, excellent health and hope you will join us again in the thread of 2021.

 

notamermaid