After a little more than a week in Berlin I had the urge to get moving again. So, I decided to visit Leipzig for a few days. Even though I used to live in Dresden, which is quite close to Leipzig, and we also had been there a couple of times, I had barely any actual memories of the city. I’m not even sure if I really had been in the city center before. So, as Leipzig is super easy to reach from Berlin (1 hour by train), I wanted to fix that.
City Center
The main station is pretty much in the middle of the city, so it’s only a short walk to reach the city center. I was quite surprised by the feeling and the style of Leipzig’s center. An interesting combination of tradition and modernism. And several sights that definitely stand out, especially the New Augusteum, a mix of university building and church. Overall the city felt very active and alive. As far as a large city goes, I enjoyed it.
Parks & Water
I explored several of Leipzig’s parks (Clara-Zetkin-Park, Palm Garden), which are quite easy to reach from the center either on foot or using one of the very convenient rental bikes that are all over the place. While the center is definitely lacking a river, the Elsterflutbett that crosses the parks does make up for it a bit. Definitely good places to be and I spent quite a lot of time walking around here, had lunch on a bench and so on.
Famous Monument & Graveyard
One thing I just had to do while in Leipzig was to visit the Monument to the Battle of the Nations. It’s truly an impressive building and very much worth a visit. The entire area feels quite serene and conveys some gravitas. Even though it’s very touristic, I didn’t mind it too much. What else would such a place be about? Climbing up the stairs all the way to the top is quite an adventure in itself and the view from the top alone is well worth the effort.
Afterwards, I did something that might mark me as a bit of a strange person, but I visited the adjoining graveyard. It’s huge and has lots and lots of old graves, crypts and is just an interesting place to explore.
Zoo
The one vivid memory I had of Leipzig was its zoo. We had been there a couple of times and it definitely left an impression. So, I could not skip it and ended up spending about 6 hours there on the third day. It has such an interesting history and really has come a long way. So many clever ideas and lots of things to see, not just animals. I am still amazed at the size of the jungle house (“Gondwanaland“). And the monkey and ape area (“Pongoland“), which I think was one of the first improvements they made, still is one of the coolest enclosures I have seen.
Summary & Photos
All in all it was great to finally visit Leipzig properly. Even though I spent most of my time in the more touristy areas, I feel like I got a much better sense of the city now. It was a good time and three days also was the right amount of time to spend there.
I did not bring my camera this time, but wanted to give my new phone a bit of a workout. The photos are not amazing, but I could get used to not carrying so much gear around. 😉
