It’s time
to leave the amazing city of Dresden and
keep exploring Saxony.
When Artur
was born three years ago, I got two guidebooks – Poland with a child and Europe with a chilled. I browsed quickly through them and put them aside
on a shelf with a label for use somewhere
in the future. This year I reminded myself of having them, the Europe one in particular, and decided to give them a
closer look in search for information on fun places to see with a three year
old. And it was then when I encountered (or even bumped into) Bastei and
thought to myself I have to see it for
myself. It is situated south-east of Dresden
and being so close to it, I simply had to go there!
Bastei is a
major landmark of the Saxon
Switzerland National
Park. It’s a rock formation that is towering
above the Elbe River (almost 200 m) reaching the height of
over 300 metres
above sea level.
It’s hard
to believe that it’s been a tourist attraction for over 200 years! First, there
was a wooden bridge there, but in the mid-19th century it was
replaced with the sandstone Bastei
Bridge (the one that is
up there up to these days). It’s so marvellous and picturesque! The views, the
colours, the river below, the rocks sticking out of forests…
But the
bridge itself is not the only tourist attraction up there. Strangely enough,
people used to live there in the Middle Ages!
Felsenburg
Neurathen (Neurathen
Castle) is what the place
is called. Well, the place or what’s left of it. Sightseeing is cheap
(money-wise), but expensive (nerves-wise). Only available for those with strong
nerves and no acrophobia. You no longer walk on a solid bridge there. You walk
on footbridges, way higher than the bridge, really narrow ones, connecting
various rocks (well, they say they’re remnants of that castle and I have to
believe them). A kind of a self-conducted circular walk. With a great view of
the Bastei Bridge, I might add. The views honestly
are breathtaking! And Neurathen
Castle was once the
largest rock castle in the region!
I have to
add that the day we spent in Bastei and then on the way to our next stop was
really, really, really hot! 31
Celsius degrees at 7 pm! Talk about a hot day… Luckily,
up there in the mountains and the woods, it must have been a bit colder than
down there, where we left our car and where we headed off to later on.
Oh, yes.
One more thing! I wanted to write how to get to Bastei! We drove by the brown
signs (the tourist attraction informative signs) that lead to a car park (quite
big, if I can recall it correctly. We had no problem in leaving our car there
somewhere around 11-12 o’clock) where you can leave your car (right before the ‘no
car’ zone). If I can remember correctly, it’s somewhere near a place called
Rathen… But I can’t be sure of that. Once again, we drove as the signs told us
to. From there you can either walk to Bastei (the first part was along the
field, so no shade, folks. Not until you get to the forest) or take a shuttle
bus. We chose the second option (it was really hot, so when we saw the no-shade
part, we resigned from walking. Plus there was so much walking up there that we
turned out absolutely content with our choice). The shuttle bus costs 1 EUR
(adult, a return ticket). The ride takes literally a few minutes (5?). I can’t
remember the cost of the car park itself.
The first view of the Bastei Bridge
Views over the Elbe River
All the "important places" in the castle had such German-English signs
Views from the castle on the bridge
One of the footbridges. On one of the pictures below you can see what they looked like "from below"
Next time
we’re driving south-west to a wonderful state of Bavaria. Stay tuned!
