Bad Schandau / Schrammsteine Hike

A few months ago, Jon and I started a shared Trello board to brainstorm ideas for our trip. Jon posted a few places that have shown up as backgrounds in my new Chrome tabs (I use Momentum), and one of them was en route from Berlin to Prague. So we left Berlin in the morning and set off for Bad Schandau, gateway to the National Park Sächsische Schweitz, Saxon Switzerland National Park. Our train wound through Dresden and into the Elbe valley, glimpses of sandstone cliffs sometimes cutting through the thickly forested valley. Eventually, we hopped off the train, applied sunscreen, and caught a ferry for a 10 minute cruise upriver to Bad Schandau. 

the Elbe river valley

Tourism is a long-time industry in Germany longer than anywhere else I’ve been. From Medieval pilgrimages to 18th century train travel, Germans have been flocking to interesting places. By the time trains could get people there, the massive sandstone formations were oohed and awed over by masses. When Jon and I arrived, toting our packs and already puffing, we found our way directly to the info center. The lady behind the desk gave me a look of relief when I offered to speak German (even though I’d just heard her give directions to two other hikers in English), and immediately gestured next to the desk for our packs. Then she asked if we had at least 3 hours and if we wanted to see the epic stone formation that was displayed on the side of a tote bag hanging behind her. At my enthusiastic "Ja, bitte!", she pulled a map off her stack and highlighted the route. We grabbed our packs of full water and headed out into the flood of heat filled the Elbe valley.

 The walls of the valley didn't so much slope as shot directly up into the sky. Houses were nestled under or even built into the walls in places, in other spots chunks of sandstone loomed precipitously over the cottages. We followed a narrow stream uphill, crossing it to follow stairs up, between, up, and through massive boulders. Despite a light breeze and cool shade, we were sweating by the time we reached the plateau of the valley and had a nice wander through the forest. Suddenly, after a fork in the trail, another level of sandstone walls appeared before us. These had a series of stairs cut into the rock and iron grating (like you find on tours of old battleships) winding through a narrow gorge. There were several spots where Jon had to twist his shoulders to fit between the stones!

Finally, we came into the open air on the Seussian towers that made the ridge of the Schrammsteine Aussicht (Viewpoint). Hikers snacked and snapped photos, or just sat on soft, warm stone and took in the spread of German countryside, cliffs, and forest below. We re-fueled, rested, and took it all in for a while before swinging along down along another trail. While the way down was a little easier on our glutes, the narrow ladders looked even steeper when we stood at the top of them! 

Looking up the Elbe towards the Czech Rep!

An icy foot bath at the bottom of the hill. Our legs were grateful!

 We were early for dinner but too ravenous to wait, and we stopped at the first restaurant that was open and had a local menu. I ordered my first Knedliky ("serviettenknoedel," auf Deutsch) of the trip as a side to a local meat roll delicacy. Beef wrapped wrapped around bacon wrapped around a pickle? Whatever it was, I was in heaven. Of course, we followed our meal with a stop at the Eis shop across the street before catching the boat, back to the train, on to the Czech Republic!