🇩🇪Dresden🇩🇪 to 🇨🇿Karlovy Vary🇨🇿

Day 4: Castles, Crafts, and Crossing Borders

We began the day with heartfelt goodbyes to Nico, Sabine, and their kids, Lucas and Sophie. We set off from Dresden toward Karlovy Vary about 9:00 AM.

Our first unexpected gem of the day was Frauenstein Castle, perched dramatically on a granite outcrop in the Eastern Ore Mountains. Built around 1200 as a border fortification between the March of Meissen and Bohemia, the castle once protected trade routes and the booming silver mining industry. Although now in ruins, its thick curtain walls and the 13th-century tower house known as Dicker Merten still stand proudly. We climbed through the remains, enjoying the panoramic views that once served as a ski jump slope. We also explored the adjacent Gottfried Silbermann Museum, dedicated to the legendary Baroque organ builder. The museum’s working replica of a Silbermann organ and its intricate mechanical models gave us a new appreciation for the craftsmanship behind these majestic instruments. We even learned the meaning of on “pull all the stops.”

Next, we wound our way to Seiffen, the famed “toy village” nestled in the Ore Mountains. First mentioned in 1324, Seiffen reinvented itself in the 17th century when mining declined, turning to woodcarving and toy-making as a means of survival D. Today, it’s a living postcard of German Christmas charm—nutcrackers, candle arches, and wooden pyramids fill every shop window. We had a picnic lunch at a small roadside park.

In the afternoon, we climbed the tower of St. Annenkirche in Annaberg-Buchholz. This towering Late Gothic church, built in 1499, is the largest hall church of its kind in Saxony E. The 78-meter-high steeple offered sweeping views of the Ore Mountains, and we couldn’t resist the urge to (almost) ring the bells. The climb was steep but worth every step.

Crossing into the Czech Republic, we paused at the border for a quick photo with the Czech sign, one of those small but satisfying rituals of road travel. Soon after, we arrived in Karlovy Vary, a spa town steeped in imperial elegance. We celebrated our arrival with drinks on the hotel patio before lacing up for a five-mile hike through the forested hills above the city.

Our route took us first to Peter the Great’s Lookout, where the Russian tsar famously rode a horse bareback up the rocky slope in 1712. The viewpoint, now marked by a bust and a restored platform, offered a commanding view of the town’s rooftops and wooded valleys. From there, we continued to the Diana Tower, a 40-meter-high brick observation tower built in 1914. The panoramic view from the top stretched across the spa town, the Ore Mountains, and even into Germany.

Dinner was at Velkopopovická Karlovy Vary, where hearty Czech fare and local brews hit the spot after our hike. We ended the evening with a gentle stroll back to the hotel, the cobbled streets glowing under the lamplight.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Lisa and I shared a nightcap beer on the fifth-floor balcony, watching the sky turn gold and lavender. The day had been full of scenic overlooks, but the best view might have been from the quietness of our balcony.Weiterlesen