Bohemian/Saxon Switzerland National Park

After seeing photos of this park and reading the reviews of this tour I knew this was something I wanted to do but of course the idea of booking a hiking tour was uncomfortable for me. I booked what they called "the easy tour," however, after doing "easy" hikes with Ryan I've become cautious of what other people consider easy. We did end up hiking about 6 miles, but it was relatively flat and I would consider it easier than the hike I did in Wales the week before. 

Our guide, Valdemer, picked me up at my hotel at 8:00 and from there we picked up a family of three at another hotel. We were a small group, but they never take more than 7 people on each tour. The drive to the park was about two hours from Prague mostly along the same route I had traveled the day before to Dresden. Valdemer is from the area of the park so he was able to give us a lot of history throughout the day. 

The name of the park is definitely misleading; none of it is actually in Switzerland. Instead, two Swiss painters "discovered" the park and loved it so much they decided to call it Little Switzerland. The Bohemian part of the name refers to the side of the park that is in the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic and the Saxon part refers to the section of the park in the Saxon region of Germany. We visited both sides on this tour. 

Our first stop was in the Bohemian side and was our primary hike.  We walked along the water in the Gorges of Kamenice to a place where the trail ends and a boat is needed to continue on. From there we took a dinghy ride through the gorge and spent some time at the other end before returning the way we came. You could continue to hike from there but the trail becomes steep and rugged as it exits the gorge. Along the way Valdemer picked wild clover and blueberries for us to eat. This area only became a national park within the last decade and before was an area where he and a his friends would play and explore in the summer as children. It was a beautiful area that reminded me a lot of the Nantahala Gorge in North Carolina. 

After our hike we drove to a traditional Czech restaurant for lunch. While we were there another group led by the same company arrived. They were not doing the easy tour and they looked exhausted! After lunch we drove to the Saxon part of the park in Germany to see the Bastei Bridge and Neurathen ruins. The sandstone structures in this part of the park are massive. Photos can't give justice to the scale of this area. Although this wasn't considered hiking it was the most challenging part of the day for me as it was much hotter and there were a lot of stairs. There once was a wooden structure or fortress here but the origin or history of that structure is unknown. You can see steps carved into the side of the rock and places where the wooden bridges and buildings were supported. Now there's a beautiful stone bridge replacing the wooden one allowing access to the archeological site. One of the first people noted to visit this area was a photographer who is remembered by a quote etched into the side of the rock saying he "painted here with light." This area also has fantastic views of the Elbe River valley. 

Once back in Prague it was dinner at the hotel, shower, and bed for me! It was a long, tiring, but very fun day!