Elbe Bike Day 1: Dresden to Bad Schandau
Dresden to Bad Schandau, Germany, 47km
Yipii… today is our first biking day!
Blue sky, mild temperature.
We aimed to start biking at around 9 am.
But then, it took a bit longer than we thought to adjust the luggage on our bikes. My backpack is around 8kg in total and its contents fit perfectly well in the two bike bags hanging on both sides of my bicycle rack. Somehow Doris’ backpack was a bit reluctant and did not want to stay tight on her bike but preferred to gently sway to one side.
We left Dresden smoothly. The designated bike path goes along the Elbe river and soon we left Dresden’s beautiful skyline behind us.
After roughly 11 km we came to the very green Pillnitz Palace and Park at the riverside. It turned out to be a quite large palace with an expansive, delightful flower garden. The garden was blooming with flowers and made our visit very enjoyable.
At the palace, we crossed the river by boat to continue on the bike lane on the other side. There are many such places and small boats take passengers and bikes from one shore to the other.
We had lunch in an Italian joint in a charming village square of Pirna. By the time we finished our lunch, it was already 3 pm and we still had more than half of today’s distance….
For the last 24 km, we biked through the National Park of Saxon Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz in German). The area is full of impressive rugged sandstone rocks and peaks. We had to hold tight on our handle, looking up at these magnificent views : )
Apparently, the region is a treasure land of many great hikes and I would like to come back here another time!
Finally crossing the bridge to the other side of the Elbe we arrived at today’s destination Bad Schandau, a cute riverside resort town.
We made it! We were happy to hit the hotel’s sauna room and put our feet up.
Fly, Hike & Travel. 