We were meant to be in Portugal. The reason it just remained a plan belongs to another day. But we are glad that Saxony became the answer. We went to Stadt Wehlen, a beautiful small town on the Elbe in Saxon Switzerland.
We came for the Bastei Bridge, a sandstone arch from 1851 that joins towers of rock almost two hundred metres above the Elbe. We took a beautiful trail through the national park that leads there, and took the Malerweg or the Painters’ Way on our way back. It was named for the Romantic artists who followed these paths to paint the cliffs.
Stadt Wehlen is on both sides of the river Elbe. We had to take a small ferry service to get to the other side. There was exactly one bakery that opens early in the morning, a few coffee shops, and few lovely restaurants facing the river. Another interesting thing to note is that the main church in the town square is called the Radfahrerkirche or the Bicycler’s Church. Pretty charming, isnt it?
On our walking trail, a wall above an archway reads Letzte Einkehr vor Grund und Bastei, the last stop before the gorge and the Bastei, and beside it a verse to the town. In my translation: You sunny Wehlen, you pearl of Switzerland, you lovely little town with its own charm. You are old to me, yet always new. Sunny Wehlen, I keep faith with you.
Stadt Wehlen was a lovely surprise of pure happenstance. The river, who runs here like the girl next door, calm and unhurried and close enough to greet, carried us over as if we had been expected.
We also made friends with Noah and his lovely wife, who runs a massage spa on the Pötzscha side of the river. Also tried the Quarkkeulchen, a traditional pancake from Saxony. Charming.