from Dresden and the Saxon Switzerland.
First we stayed in Dresden for 3 days, than we followed the river Elbe upwards and made Rathen our base camp for some hiking and photographing tours.
While the weather in Dresden was perfect, but it was quite cold (between 0°C and +10°C). Thus, we saw a lot of the old town, like Zwinger, Semper Oper (Opera House), Frauenkirche, Residence Chateau and so on. Everything is reachable by foot, although the city is way bigger. But these historic parts are all on a few square kilometers along the river Elbe.
Once Dresden was the capital of the Saxon kingdom. The last king had to resign in fall 1918.
At the end of WWII all these buildings were destroyed by the allied air-force bombs, but after the war they were rebuild and reconstructed. The last reconstructed building was the Frauenkirche from 1994 – 2005. The reconstruction costed about 180 million Euro. Donators collected 115 million Euro, while the city government and the state government covered the remaining 65 million Euro.
In Rathen, instead, we didn’t have had such a good luck with the weather. It was raining constantly with only few dry moments. The clouds also were on a very low level. Thus we were nearly unable to see the most impressive mountainous parts, this region is famous for. 😦 And, the worst part of this: our goal was to see and photograph these famous mountainous region. Sad, sad thing.
Fortunately, we were able to use one of the rare moments ,when the rain only was drizzling, and started our hike uphill to the Bastei. Over a short distance, you have to cope about 200m height from the village to the (former castle) above the river Elbe. A very, very impressive sight, even with the bad sight as a result of fog, drizzling rain and the low clouds. About 3 hours later, we arrived back in the village at our starting point. Glad, that we made the trip, because of the fantastic sights. Despite we were outside for about 3 hours on our roundtrip uphill to the Bastei and back by the Schwedenlöcher, we weren’t wet. Reality was better than the weather forecast. And, I know, I have to return (with better weather!).
Nevertheless, I have some photos for you in the gallery below.
Enjoy!
MyBlog - solaner 
Beautiful beautiful pictures. Sad about the rain…it’s quite annoying when you are all prepared to hike and take photographs. But the shots you did get are amazing. Maybe sometime if we go back to Germany, we might visit this region.
yes, it is, Namz.
It’s very annoying and disappointing being dammed to sit in your hotel room after having traveled to a place. One bad day is ok, but bad weather for a complete stay is disappointing. I’m happy about the fog, but I wished for a blue sky over the mountains.
Welcome back! Gorgeous photographs. Those rock formations almost look like they’ve been sculpted by man – not unlike the Dolomites in Italy – and I love the autumn colours. Fine city too.
Thanks, Fatima.
These gorgeous rocks embedded in fall morning fog below a bright blue sun rise sky were our goal for this trip. You see, the rocks are already there. Also the fog. But, the fog overshoot the target. Nevertheless, made the best of it. 🙂
the clouds and fog add a great touch of mystery!
That’s exactly what I feel, Cybele!
Thanks!