Radtour Quer durch Böhmen

The sun was shining from a cloudless sky, and there were fresh rolls and fresh milk from a bakery nearby for breakfast, so the day couldn't have started any better. The Elbe cycle path in Germany is also a pleasure, although it was blocked shortly after the start at Kleinschachwitz, so we had to take a ferry across the Elbe and continue to Pirna on the other side where there were small roads to cycle on after a steep climb out of the river valley. In Pirna we held a lunch break overlooking the beautiful town hall square, which is like the naturalist painter Canaletto painted it in a famous painting. Only the parked cars are a disturbing feature. After lunch we went for a little walk into and around the massive church before we continued our bike ride, now on the right side of the river again. We cycled into a marvelous landscape with weathered sandstone cliffs, into which the river has cut a deep valley and around which it curves violently to flow in its course. A huge S around Koenigstein with a beautiful castle on the top of the cliff and Lilienstein it is. The Germans call it the Elbsandsteingebirge (Elbe sandstone mountains), but they continue on the Czech side, where they are called Labské pískovce. In Czech, the Elbe is called Labe.