Montag, 12. November 2012

Let's rock...


...in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains / Elbsandsteingebirge!


Doesn't it look like a scenery of Tolkien's Middle-earth!?


This picturesque place is known as the Bastei, a spectacular rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany.


The Bastei has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years. In 1824, a wooden bridge was constructed to link several rocks for the visitors. This bridge was replaced in 1851 by the present Bastei Bridge made of sandstone. The rock formations and vistas have inspired several well-known artists, among them Caspar David Friedrich.


Viewing from the Bastei bridge to the east you have a look on the towering rocks in the old defensive ring around Neurathen Castle. This was once the largest rock castle in the region, but today only the rooms carved out of the rock, passages, the cistern and rebates for the timber of the former wooden superstructure have survived. In the years 1982–1984 parts of the extensive castle were used to build the open air museum.



The famous city of Dresden is only 30 km away from the Bastei and a great basis to explore the Elbe Sandstone Mountains (after having visited the marvellous old town).


5 Kommentare:

  1. Hey Hey Hey!
    I have visited both places, ha!
    Not only visited, I lived in Dresden for 6 months... And I enjoyed it so much, Uwe!
    Im sure you have taken amazing photos on the SemperOper and Altstadt... Oder?
    I was very impressed by the sandstone park as well.
    Cheers to Saxony!
    Rgds,
    Márcia

    AntwortenLöschen
  2. Thanks a lot for your friendly comment, Mārcia! We were just one short day at Dresden (next to many other places in Saxony), but of course I took photos of all important and famous buildings there. In the evening we visited a ballet in the Semper Opera, so I was able to collect impressions from inside and outside of this fantastic and impressive opera house. Have an enjoyable weekend, regards from good (c)old Germany,
    Uwe.

    AntwortenLöschen
  3. Wow, and wow! What a spectacular scenes! There’s nothing so moving as the nature’s work, the combination of the towering rock formations and autumn colors. Thanks for sharing this wonder of nature, Uwe. Have a nice week.

    Yoko

    AntwortenLöschen
  4. gorgeous sceneries!

    AntwortenLöschen
  5. Thanks for your kind comments, ladies. Currently we have fog, fog and, err, fog (!) in our part of planet Earth and there's not too much to take photos about. But I've still some tens of thousands photos worth reworking and posting. So I'm not really afraid of running out of motifs within the next years... ;-)
    Have a pleasant week,
    Uwe.

    AntwortenLöschen