With the border going straight through the national park, one can easily do a two-country-hike. The Czechs don’t call it Sächsische Schweiz though, for them its České Švýcarsko. Which is unpronouncable for Germans, so they call it Böhmische Schweiz. Plenty of Swisses. Our apartment was surrounded on three sides by national park and also just a few kilometres from the border. Many reasons to leave the car where it was and start the hike at the doorstep.

Checkout at 11:00, return of the car at 22:00. That leaves a fair bit of time for in-between-activities. For a start, a visit to the Weifbergturm, a viewing platform towering over the village. Looking over the village in a southerly direction View towards Bad Schandau, Schrammsteine on the left Next stop, while we’re at exploring the German countryside: Spreewald. We both like pickles, so that’s a must-see anyway. The town of Lübben seems fairly relaxed and served good food and coffee.

The April trip had shown me one of the highlights of Sächsische Schweiz: the Schrammsteine. Given that it’s a highlight and you can walk it in two directions, why not go again? We drove the car to Beuthenfall and… discovered that we needed €5 in change for the parking ticket. The things you don’t think about when you always travel on public transport. Got that sorted though. Shortly into the hike, we got the first “woah, nice” moment at the Affensteine range.

Already back after less than four months. Should give the dear reader an idea of how much I liked it the last time. No train travel involved this time. We rented a car in Berlin and drove it down to the last corner of the republic: Hinterhermsdorf. “Am Arsch der Welt”, as the Germans phrase it, or “donde Cristo perdió la chancla” in Spanish. Arrived in the early afternoon and checked into the apartment (Ferienwohnung).

Did somebody say “Stairway to Heaven”?