This weekend, I went hiking with some friends to the famous Bastei rock formations of an area called the Sächsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland). Despite the name, it is not a part of Switzerland. It is in Saxony, the state in which I live in here in Germany. It was given this name long ago because the mountains and lakes bear some resemblance to the landscape in Switzerland. Let's take a closer look at this area!
The Sächsische Schweiz is special because of the landscape. While most of northern and eastern Germany is relatively flat, this area is relatively mountainous and full of sandstone rock formations reaching hundreds of meters above sea level.
People began settling in this area thousands of years ago and the Bastei rock formations were used to provide a vantage point to see oncoming armies in wars like the Thirty Years War. However, people didn't live on the rock formations and instead built villages along the river. The village we visited was called Rathen. It has only 500 residents and is spread across both sides of the river.
