8-22-13 Dresden to Krippen

This is one of 3 castles that sit next to each other.  I couldn' get them in one pic so I picked the best one.  We left Dresden heading toward Prague.  After about 4k the City stops and we are in a flood plain for 20k until the valley closes in.  The trail was quite crowded until we got to above Pirna.  We are headed upstream. 

This is the Blaubrucke for obvious reasons.  This was an engineering marvel when it was built in 1895 with middle span of 147 meters.  Somehow it didn't get bombed I guess.

Schloss Pillnitz, a restored baroque castle on the shores of the Elbe.  It was the summer residence of the many of the Electors and Kings of Saxony

The river Elbe from the trail.

As you ride along the Elbe you can look up and see the pinnacles and in between is a bridge.  This is the Basteibrucke, a sandstone bridge built on the backside of the spires.  the first was a wooded bridge built in 1826 and then replaced with the stone bridge in 1851.  It is 76 meters long and has 7 arches and is 40 meters above the gorge.  Oddly enough there is a biergarten  nearby.

We crossed the river on this ferry at Konigstein.  There was a beer garten above the landing so naturally we stopped and had a beer and some kurbis soup.  At the patio there was a 2002 high water mark about head high where we were sitting and we were 30 feet above the river.  The 2013 flood wasn't as high as the 2002 one.

This is Konigstein castle and not a great pic.  One of the few castles that were never taken by invaders.  The wall completely rings the hilltop and the slopes are steep.  The ramparts are 1800 meters long and surround 9.5 hectares with the walls up to 42 meters high.  There is a 153 meter well.  It is a tourist attraction now but prior uses were a prison, stalag and for the storage of artworks of Dresden during various wars.  Google it for a better view

 

We got into Bad Schandau in the late afternoon and there weren't any rooms available in our price range so we ended up at a restored mill in the village of Krippen.   We are still in Germany and will cross the Czech border tomorrow.