Bad Schandau, Saxony, GermanySaxon Switzerland
Finding Breakfast
we decided to have breakfast on the go and use up our Polish
Zloty – so soon on the autobahn Paul discovered a sign: 35 km McDonald – ok so
that will be it. We did see the sign on the left site of the highway – what we
didn't know was that it was not on the Autobahn... so after we were by the exit
it was too late... good thing there is a burger king. After going out and
checking we discovered that Burger king doesn't have breakfast – but right near
it was a buffet style restaurant... so that's what we had....
Welcome to Germany:
We left Burger king and 2 km later we entered Germany and an
hour later we were at already at our destination for today:
Why is Switzerland in Saxon?
- it is a German National park and it goes over the border and it is the Elbsandsteingebirge and the Boehmische Schweiz in the Czech Republic
- Porous rock became bizarre columns, battered cliffs and tabletop mountains with deep valleys, hilltops with castles - The peaks are only 723 m high – it’s not exactly the Alps
- During the 18th century artists were lured into this romantic area among it were 2 swiss landscape artists to teach at the Dresden academy – they both felt that the area resemble their homeland: the Swiss Jura and voila the phrase Saxon Switzerland was born
- And the Capital of the Saxon Switzerland is Bad Schandau
the Bastei Bridge
every saw pictures of it? then you know exactly why we come
here. And it always was on Gine’s bucket list and now weare here.... after
turning there was a parking but it looks like cars continue driving and so we
do too... and see there is another parking spot.
From there a short walk by the souvenir shops and we are at
the first view point to see the sandstone cliffs... and then a viewpoint with
view on the bridge! Unbelievable – you only wonder why someone built a bridge
there right? Also you don't know from which cliff you should take a picture,
because they are all so cool!!! so let's take a lot – that means Paul goes
ahead and Gine is slower behind....
then we enter the famous old Bastei Bridge and have even more
gigantic views: so you wonder which are the best on the river – on the
sandstone rock formations or only up the rocks or between the rocks? Overall it was awesome – besides having
another hundreds of tourists. It’s not a wide bridge – but looks super cool
when you look at it and it is amazing to walk over it and regardless where you
are you always have the view on the Elbe Valley. At the end you kind of go
through some the rock formations.
What is so special about a bridge?
- t’s a sandstone bridge built in 1851: 76.5 m long, which goes through the rock formations to a partly reconstructed medieval caste: Felsenburg Neurathen
- It Is the most famous stone formation in the Saxon Switzerland
Neurathen Castle:
Then Gine convinced Paul, that we have to explore the castle:
At the end of the bridge we go toexplore the old “Castle” - ok so there is no
more castle, I even think you need a vivid imagination to see a castle (We did
see a picture on how the castle could have looked like) – because you walk over
the sand stones and cliffs and they have signs where some parts of the castle were....
and you wonder again: why would someone built here a castle? Ok, maybe the main
reason is, because no-one can come here unless you cross this cool bridge.. one
thing is for sure the people living here a long time ago they had and
incredible view.
I think it is amazing you go over a lot of bridges – up
stairs and over another bridge and down… and you wonder how could they had here
a castle and lived here and where the space was for the castle. They even had a
catapult reconstructed with big stone balls to defend the castle. From all
those bridges we had some great views on the surrounding rock formations – on
the bridge and also down the steep rocks. And at one end there was some writing
in the rock – which they say is from 1700 and part of an original wall.
And back over the famous bridge – with such great weather we
need an ice cream!!!
What is so unique about this castle?
- It is a castle built on the sand stone rock formations – it is a rock castle: it in cooperates natural rock, to such an extent that the rock formation defines the structure of the castle
- Built in the early 13th century it was used until 1469
- From 1982-84 several mountain climbers helped to made it accessible
Bad Schandau: Boatride on the Elbe all the way to the
Czech republic
Gine asked Paul: what would you like to do and he got 3
options: 1) boat ride to the Czech republic, 2)tram ride and waterfalls or 3) a
tower? And Paul decided on the Boat ride: so we went to Bad Schandau – the capital
of the Saxon Switzerland.... the boat will go in another 45 Min a perfect
timeframe to get a pop and ice cream, sitting along the Elbe river and enjoy
the view and the hot sun, watching the ferry coming and going, a Viking river
cruise ship docking and a lot of tourists walking along.
Our boat ride: 1 hour to the Czech republic river up and then
45 Min back (with the flow)– on the way there it was sunny and not a lot of
people on board: that means a lot of running back and forth – awesome to see
everything from every ankle – on the way back cloudy overcast and the boat was
full- so we sat on the right side and had a great view on the cliffs... And
what did we see: we saw some remote houses, some of the typical sandstone
cliffs, the old border to the Czech Republic, campers along the river, some
really super cute houses.
our Air bnb
When we were looking for an Airbnb in Dresden we discovered
in Dresden it is pricy and busy… so why don’t we go in the country side where
it is nice and quiet and let’s not forget cheap. And overall regardless where
you are you always need to take the Subway (or in our case the train) into the
center… and so we were choosing Heidenau – it is near Pirma and there we have a
huge room in the basement with our own entrance as well as our own bathroom...
and we can use the fridge and have our own hot-water kettle... what more do you
need? An Aldi so we can get an Aldi phone cart... did I mention that we had a
great view from out little balcony to watch sunsets
German Supper
And for supper we went into town to a tiny little local
restaurant: the Drogenmuehle – we really liked it because we were sitting in a
cute courtyard – some kitty’s came by and we had nice German supper. Tonight we
went early to bed. We had a long day behind us and tomorrow it will be another
busy day.
2025-05-23