Nikolaikirche contains the Nail Cross of Coventry, made from pieces of the city after it was bombed during the Second World War. My indefatigable guide, Birgit, had lived through 40 years of communism and talked about waiting 15 years for a car, and five for a phone. It's a massive monument of early 20th-century architecture.These days, as much building is going on in Leipzig as as in Berlin; everybody is striving to embrace capitalism. Named after the linden tree, Leipzig was built in Roman times on a swamp at a crossroads of the Via Imperii and the Via Regia. A trading centre, it became, in 1497, the first German town to win the right back from the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to hold a trade fair, and it was its trade-fair tradition that helped to create the city's unique system of 18th- and 19th-century arcades. Come by train and it will deliver you to the Hauptbahnhof, into the buzz of the world's largest dead-end passenger station (and one of Europe's largest railway termini) with 26 platforms.
Arriving in the outskirts of Leipzig in the old East Germany, it's easy to lose the city of Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Wagner, Schumann and Mendelssohn in the greyness that persists from Communist times. Travel further in, however, and its historic riches are revealed. Leipzig is Prague before it became fashionable; an architectural jewel that is still affordable and authentic. No single supplement applies.Prices correct at time of going to press and are per person based on two sharing, unless stated Subject to availability.
The trip departs on 25 June and the price includes return flights to Hanoi, transfers, b&b, meals, activities, entrance fees and the services of a tour guide. Flights cost extra.£1,255Explore the mountains and meet the hill tribes in the north east of Vietnam on a 16-day escorted tour with Gecko Travel (023-9225 8859). The price is the total price for rental of the property for the week commencing 25 June and includes a maid service. £199 £199 Depart tomorrow for a week at the newly opened Ottoman Residence in Akyaka, Turkey with Anatolian Sky Holidays (08708 504 040). The price includes return flights from Gatwick, transfers and seven nights' self-catering accommodation.£490Is the price for a week's rental of the Casa da Escola Velha, a property sleeping up to six in the Portuguese resort of Albufeira West with The Villa Agency (01273 747 811).
