Saxon Switzerland & Königstein Fortress

Today started badly! We took a taxi to the meeting point for our trip to Saxon Switzerland, and just after the taxi had gone I discovered that my backpack (with food and my iPad) was still in the taxi’s boot. Marie Thérèse was gold: she tracked down the taxi company, and they contacted the driver. Unfortunately he already had another fare, and I watched my iPad (with Find My Devices) moving around central Dresden as we left the city. After about an hour my phone said the backpack was at our hotel. Phew!!

Our two storey bus (we were on the top with great views) took us through some beautiful villages and countryside, everything very green and springlike. The driver’s commentary was an apparently excellent, but it was a real challenge to our German language skills. I got the occasional word and phrase, but relied on Marie Thérèse to keep us up with most of the play. This really upset a woman a couple of seats in front of us, glaring, “Shhh!”, and a face like the old Whitby Lakes lady that I beat with a couple of 7-letter words at Scrabble!

The Geopark “Saxon Switzerland gets its name from groups of amazing 10-million year old sandstone formations. There are cliffs more than half a kilometre high! It was a Swiss artist may years ago who first coined the phrase “Saxon Switzerland!.”

Sandstone was quarried here, and transported via the Elbe River for buildings not only in Dresden, and also in Berlin.

One of the interesting features of this sandstone is that it naturally develops a black coating. As the stone weathers, magnesium salts in the stone cover the stone, and being harder than the sandstone, they protect it.

Back in the bus, we headed for a huge fortress in the area, the Festung Königstein (“KingRock”). This enormous castle has a commanding view of the Elbe River which flows past it, as well as the surrounding geography. Today the Fortress is reached easily by a “Panorama” (management’s word) lift - much easier than the endless stairs.

We really enjoyed our visit - we walked right round the walls which are staggering in height.Read more