Hike Bastei Bridge - starting point Rathen an der Elbe
- Written by Portal Editor
Our tour to the Czech Republic was supposed to lead via Dresden, so that we wanted to visit the Bastei Bridge again following the Elbe, this time as a hike directly from the Elbe bank.
We parked our vehicle directly at the pier of the Sächsische Dampfschifffahrt and first observed the hustle and bustle on the Oberrathen - Niederrathen ferry for a while, which was probably due to the travel date around Father's Day.
Along the street "Am Grünbach" we went past the village shop Rathen immediately left into the Amselgrund to the Wehlgrund junction. Here, immediately left again into the sometimes steep Basteiweg, which ultimately also leads to the Bastei Bridge.
The ascent from Rathen to the bastion leads past the open-air museum on the Slavic settlement of the area and the junction to the Rathen rock stage. Unfortunately, more and more clouds came up, but it stayed dry.
More and more people were on the way, the closer we got to the Bastei Bridge. Maybe the wrong date?
The Bastei is one of the most striking vantage points in Saxon Switzerland and has around 1.5 million visitors a year. There is no other point in the German national parks with such a high visitor density.
As early as 1819, August von Goethe praised the view: "Here, where you can see the Elbe from the most rugged rock faces, where in the small distance the Lilienstein, Königstein and Pfaffenstein lie picturesquely grouped and generally represent a whole to the eye, which can never be described in words".
Once at the top, we wanted to at least take some photos of the imposing rock domes that the Elbe Sandstone Mountains are so well known for.
Initially, the bastion was only relatively easy to reach from Wehlen and Lohmen. Numerous artists reached the bastion via the Malerweg. Caspar David Friedrich painted his well-known picture of the rocks in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains based on bastion motifs.
Ludwig Richter also drew at the bastion. Access from Rathen was more difficult, since 1814 a staircase with 487 steps led from here from the Wehlgrund over the "Vogeltelle" to the rock.
From the bastion, you can also reach the Felsenburg Neurathen, the largest rock castle in Saxon Switzerland, via the Bastei bridge.
The remains of the castle, such as beam folds and rooms hewn out of the rock, a cistern and found stone balls from medieval slingshots or catapults can be viewed on a separate tour.
A reconstructed slingshot was set up in the Felsenburg in 1986. Finds from the excavations carried out, especially pottery, can also be seen.
It was simply too much crowded for us, so we decided to head back to the vehicle as quickly as possible.
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