These boots are made for walking...

We spent the next three days in the Elbsandsteingebirge, another "mountain range" that doesn't really deserve the name, but this one was more impressive and picturesque than the Erzgebirge, in our humble opinion.

The big thing here are so called table mountains. Now, you might think of the famous one in Cape Town, South Africa, and technically you would be right. Now downsize a little. A little more. No, not quite there yet, some more..., now you've got it! 

The Königstein Fortress

Lilienstein

They dot the landscape whichever way you look. In between you have some crazy sandstone pillars and formations, all surrounded by beautiful forest. 

And because my human liked it so much, we spent three days here, exploring the areas around Königstein, Rathen and Bad Schandau, each offering a variety of routes and hikes into the surroundings. 

The Rock Labyrinth

Barbarine, one of the landmarks of the area, a 43 meters free standing pillar

Bad Schandau fames itself with the only tram line in Europe which drives into a National Park, the Kirschnitztalbahn. It's celebrating it's 125th birthday this year. Sounds a bit more spectacular than it really is, but it's still a nice little ride.

The stairway to haven; well, I hope not!

The Cowshed, 11m high, 17m wide

The town also sports a thermal spa with sauna, always a nice end to a long hiking day. My human disappeared for four hours and came back in a great mood with a silly grin on her face, all rosy cheeked.

They have a special pool in there: round, lightly salted water and in a separated dark corner with a cupola over the middle where light installations are displayed and soothing music plays - under water! Very relaxing, she says.

It shouldnˋt come as a surprise, but there is a lot of sand in the ElbSANDsteingebirge

The Bastion, another land mark and must see

Carmelo enjoying the view

Rathen, a lovely little town

Since we had spent a week in Germany, it was now time to cross the border again and get back into the Czech Republic. 

Decin is a good starting point to explore "Bohemian Switzerland", as it is called.
This city is the lowest point in the Republic, 135 meters above sea level. 

A very cool feature here is a large rock face on which you can climb 16 different Via Ferratas, right on the banks of the river Elbe, with great views from the top.

My human managed three before her hands started to hurt and a couple of blisters appeared. Not used to this kind of exercise.

See the tiny human up there seemingly standing on thin air? Well, itˋs not much more than that, just a wobbly steel rope bridge

Close by are the Prebisch Arch, a 26,5m high rock arch, a 6km long cliff hike and a couple of gorges. Unfortunately, a raving fire has destroyed a lot of the forest surrounding these sights only last year, since then most of look outs and routes are closed due to the risk of falling trees. 

Prebisch Arch; the largest rock arch in the Elbsandsteingebirge, 26,5m high

This is the closest you can get to it from the other side right now

Divoka Gorge

They do like look out towers here

Hrensko, border town

That night we spent on the grounds of an outdoor swimming pool, some 5 meters next to the actual pool. There are also some little huts here you can hire and the place seems very popular with locals, there are three large, and rather rowdy groups. One of them has put up a chicken rotisserie, an actual espresso machine and is currently putting up a rather large fire. 

It's not a very private place, but what a great idea! 

We spent a couple of days around Ceska Kameniche and Krasna Lipa, still part of Bohemia, to do some more hiking up and down the hills. The highest elevation gained was 566m on the Karlshöhe, not all that much but good enough for a view.

Fire seems to have played a role in these parts as well and there are wide spread deforestation works, so not all is pretty and parts of the tracks were a bit bleak, but still, beauty arises all around.

Karlshöhe

Getting very close to the border to Germany again, we covered some distance and drove to Adrspach; finally an opportunity for me to stretch my legs properly.

Here you can find the "Rock Town", part of a nature reserve since 1933.

Tourists have come here since the 17th century to marvel at the huge sandstone pillars and formations. Most of them have been given names during the past centuries, some more obvious than others.

                                                        The Lovers

The mayor and the mayoress

The Sugarloaf

Very helpful to keep this rock from falling

There is a 3,5km long circuit taking you past and through some of the most spectacular sights. It's a real tourist magnet, so if you ever go, and you really should, come very early or rather late. 

You can also walk around a small flooded rock quarry. The water is of a beautiful color and the whole setting somehow made my human think of Canada, not that she's ever been there.

We found another nice spot to spend the night. A thing we had cherished in Great Britain, parking next to a pub for the night in exchange for a meal and a drink (or two), what a sacrifice, seems to become popular here in the Czech Republic as well.

And so we stood behind a nice restaurant on a grassy little car park, a little stream running behind me and only a short distance away one could see some of the sandstone pillars this region is famous for.

The food was also excellent and the three girls running the service all spoke good English and were happy to chat

A circumstance my human noticed in the past weeks: so far she could communicate more or less well in all the countries we have been to. Speaking Spanish obviously helped in Spain, but also made life easier in France and Portugal. And last year on the island it was even easier. 

Now we are in a linguistic bind. Although most of the younger people speak English to a certain extend, it is a lot more difficult to get in touch with people. The spontaneous road side conversations she had enjoyed so much on the past trips don't really happen, which is logical, but also a little sad.