Hiking in the Swiss Saxony (part 2)

In May, Valerie and I took the commuter train from Dresden to the Bastei. We got off the train right at the base of the cliffs and took a ferry across the Elbe to begin our climb on the Big Stairmaster (tm).

It was a beautiful day for a climb, sunny and cool. All around the main cliffs are other spires and cliffs of the same limestone. Here's one of the Bastei's smaller brothers from a few stories up the steps.

The spires are perfect for technical rock climbers as the stone is solid and does not easily crumble.

Here's Valerie on the steps. We're about 50 stories up now. Some of the steps are logs embedded in the mountain soil, but much of the climb is on stone steps either quarried or carved directly into the rock face.

As you approach the top of the first set of spires, it becomes apparent that the view is going to be spectacular.

And indeed it is. This stone bridge is part of the original fortifications, leading from near the plateau on the top over to a set of breathtaking spires. Taking this picture, I'm standing on a spire that is maybe 4 meters across at the top. There are steel bridges linking the spires so that you can walk from one to another.

If you look carefully in the upper left hand part of the pictures you can see nearly vertical stair carved into the rock face where defenders carried stones up the spire to the top where there were catapults overlooking the river.

It's hard to give a sense of how vertiginous these cliffs appear from the top. The bridge has a drop of nearly 1000 feet directly below it.

Standing on the same spire and looking to the right you can see one of the taller spires near the plateau. If you look carefully at the far upper left corner of the picture you'll see people on another outlook. And somewhere in the middle of this picture is a climber.

Let's zoom in and now he's a bit more visible.

Zoom in a little more and there he is, about halfway up his ascent. I hope he's brought enough rope.

The catwalks between the spires are sturdy, but not for the faint of heart. Valerie is out there following a German tourist to the next outlook.

Here's a picture over the railing from one of the catwalks. That's my shoe to give you a sense of scale.

Here's Valerie posing on a catwalk. The latest in Saxon fashion.

On top of one of the (nearly) inaccessible spires is a statue of monk that was hauled up recently by some climbers.

Here's a life-size model of one of the catapults that was used to hurl rocks down on enemy boats.

Here's a view from the stone bridge back towards Dresden. As you can see from the height of the outlook point at the top, there are still plenty more steps to go.

This is a view of the stone bridge from the top of the spire where we saw the climber. This is from close to the top of the plateau.

And here's a view southeast from the same outlook. The spires below are where the pictures from the catwalks were taken. In the distance are the hills of the Czech Republic.

Next up is a visit to Old Vienna; city of coffee, art and music.