Saxony Switzerland
This weekend we drove down to Switzerland. Well not exactly Switzerland, but Sächsische Schweiz - an area near the Czech border along the Elbe River that is famous for its scenery, hiking, rock climbing and general ambience for those looking to get out of the big cities and into the countryside. We stayed in a huge family sized suite at a lovely little guest house in Ostauer called the Ostauer Ferienhof. It was a barn conversion with a fantastic breakfast nook that stuck out from the side of the building in Ostauer, a little village above the town of Bad Schandau and we spent the weekend walking the banks of the Elbe, climbing up Bastei, crusing the river on a paddle steamer and relaxing in the Toskana Therme (a spa and health club in Bad Schandau).
The first night we were there we arrived reasonably late after the drive down and were not very hopeful of being able to grab any food for dinner. We wandered the streets (well street is actually more accurate a description) of Ostauer looking for somewhere still serving food at 9.30 at night. As luck would have it we stumbled across a tiny bar and beer place in a spot not too far from our guest house where the locals were having a few beers watching a Euro 2008 match on a small TV in the corner of the room. It was really just someone's garage that had been converted to a small cafe and beer garden and after some pretty rudimentary German we got across the concept that we'd like a bit of food and maybe a few beers if that was OK. It ended up being a really great night - everyone in there knew each other except for us but we were an entertaining intrusion on the normal Friday night card game and beers with our various levels of German, convoluted stories about who was from where and how we were living in Leipzig and of course Josie charmed the pants off the owners. These are the sort of experiences that make travelling really worthwhile and the warmth with which we were welcomed into their company for the night was very unexpected and memorable.
The highlights of the Saxony Switzerland area were definitely the scenery:
the bushwhacking we had to do to get through some sections of the path along the river:
the rock formations up around Rathen:
and the Toskana Therme which amongst its many pools and spa baths had a large circular pool called Liquid Sound. This pool was in a darkened room and had a really high salt content in the water so that you floated really well. You lay on your back looking at the light show on the ceiling while listening to the trippy trance music being piped underwater. It was really relaxing and the closest thing I've experienced to a float tank on a large scale. It was a very popular spot in the spa complex for couples to guide each other around the pool with one person standing up and moving their floating partner by feet or shoulders, kind of like a trust experiment in the water. Or you could just make out near the edges. Whichever works best!.
A photo set of the trip is up on Flickr.
On the way home we stopped off in Dresden which is quite an incredible city. After being next to completely razed at the end of the second world war it has been rebuilt almost brick by brick to what it looked like before the English bombing campaign. We'd like to get back and explore it a bit more - luckily while we were there we stumbled onto a music and street festival in the NeuStadt (the New Town which is ironically mostly older than the rebuilt centre of the old town). There were bands playing on street corners, all the streets were closed to traffic for about 8 square blocks and there were a lot of people recovering from the big party the night before, passed out on couches set out in the street or just wandering through the crowds getting ready to do it all over again that evening. We stumbled across a really good modern jazz band on one street corner, and heard an all female choir singing in the main square near the church. On the other side of the church was another stage which of course had a death metal band playing simultaneously with the choir so it was an interesting contrast in styles! We set up camp in a local coffee shop on the square and endured the vocal gymnastics of the death metal band (they had very big amplifiers - the choir, not so much) over a great coffee, some cakes and apple strudel. As a very family friendly free trade organic coffee shop mixed in with a bookstore it was pretty much my ideal place to kick back and relax - shame about all the screaming and yelling going on 100 yards away...
We had a pretty jam packed weekend all in all and can highly recommend going for a visit to the area. I think we'll be back in Dresden at some stage to take in some more of the sights and buildings in the centre of town that have been rebuilt from the rubble and maybe we'll pop back in to that coffee shop and grab another strudel - this time without the musical accompaniement.
The first night we were there we arrived reasonably late after the drive down and were not very hopeful of being able to grab any food for dinner. We wandered the streets (well street is actually more accurate a description) of Ostauer looking for somewhere still serving food at 9.30 at night. As luck would have it we stumbled across a tiny bar and beer place in a spot not too far from our guest house where the locals were having a few beers watching a Euro 2008 match on a small TV in the corner of the room. It was really just someone's garage that had been converted to a small cafe and beer garden and after some pretty rudimentary German we got across the concept that we'd like a bit of food and maybe a few beers if that was OK. It ended up being a really great night - everyone in there knew each other except for us but we were an entertaining intrusion on the normal Friday night card game and beers with our various levels of German, convoluted stories about who was from where and how we were living in Leipzig and of course Josie charmed the pants off the owners. These are the sort of experiences that make travelling really worthwhile and the warmth with which we were welcomed into their company for the night was very unexpected and memorable.
The highlights of the Saxony Switzerland area were definitely the scenery:
the bushwhacking we had to do to get through some sections of the path along the river:
the rock formations up around Rathen:
and the Toskana Therme which amongst its many pools and spa baths had a large circular pool called Liquid Sound. This pool was in a darkened room and had a really high salt content in the water so that you floated really well. You lay on your back looking at the light show on the ceiling while listening to the trippy trance music being piped underwater. It was really relaxing and the closest thing I've experienced to a float tank on a large scale. It was a very popular spot in the spa complex for couples to guide each other around the pool with one person standing up and moving their floating partner by feet or shoulders, kind of like a trust experiment in the water. Or you could just make out near the edges. Whichever works best!.
A photo set of the trip is up on Flickr.
On the way home we stopped off in Dresden which is quite an incredible city. After being next to completely razed at the end of the second world war it has been rebuilt almost brick by brick to what it looked like before the English bombing campaign. We'd like to get back and explore it a bit more - luckily while we were there we stumbled onto a music and street festival in the NeuStadt (the New Town which is ironically mostly older than the rebuilt centre of the old town). There were bands playing on street corners, all the streets were closed to traffic for about 8 square blocks and there were a lot of people recovering from the big party the night before, passed out on couches set out in the street or just wandering through the crowds getting ready to do it all over again that evening. We stumbled across a really good modern jazz band on one street corner, and heard an all female choir singing in the main square near the church. On the other side of the church was another stage which of course had a death metal band playing simultaneously with the choir so it was an interesting contrast in styles! We set up camp in a local coffee shop on the square and endured the vocal gymnastics of the death metal band (they had very big amplifiers - the choir, not so much) over a great coffee, some cakes and apple strudel. As a very family friendly free trade organic coffee shop mixed in with a bookstore it was pretty much my ideal place to kick back and relax - shame about all the screaming and yelling going on 100 yards away...
We had a pretty jam packed weekend all in all and can highly recommend going for a visit to the area. I think we'll be back in Dresden at some stage to take in some more of the sights and buildings in the centre of town that have been rebuilt from the rubble and maybe we'll pop back in to that coffee shop and grab another strudel - this time without the musical accompaniement.
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