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Last month when Eric and I were in Prague we tossed around the idea of trying to also visit another country. We loved everything about the city but it’s not overwhelmingly large and after spending several days there we felt like we accomplished all that we wanted to see. The great thing about Europe is, a lot of the countries are so close together that it’s like driving from NJ to PA or NY.
We thought about making a day trip to Austria but by the time we would have caught a train and logistically got there, we would have spent more time commuting than actually being able to enjoy it. I jumped on google and typed in attractions near Prague and the site for Northern Hikes came up. Their video immediately drew me in and after finding out it was only two hours from the city, they provided transportation, and part of the trip was spent in Germany—we decided it was the perfect thing for us to explore.
The funny part is the name is so confusing because this park doesn’t haven’t much to do with Switzerland, at all. The park is located in the north-west part of Czech with picturesque scenery and the Elbe River running through it. It also serves as a place where The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was filmed.
Unfortunately the day we went it was a bit dreary and damp out, but we made the best of it. After we explored the park we headed over to the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany to walk the Bastei bridge and see all of the rock formations. I loved being down in the park and close to everything but there is something about being elevated and having a view from above.
Because of the weather there was a smoky effect around the bridge and stone areas that were really cool sights to see. The foliage was just starting to change here but I could have imagined this being amazing a few weeks later. This part of Germany (which is the only part I’ve ever been to) reminded me of something out of a fairy tail. There were smaller tudor style houses and some of them were painted bright colors. It was extremely clean and very well manicured. On the way back we got to drive on the the Autobahn highway, and surprisingly, cars were not going as fast as I would have imagined. We love being outdoors and exploring nature so this adventure ticked off so many things for us, but boy did I sleep good that night.
