After departing Dresden during the night, the next morning we continued sailing upstream towards our next stop at Bad Schandau. Along the way, we caught sight of another Christmas cruise on the Elbe, though on a much smaller vessel!
The excursion for this day of the cruise was a visit to the National Park of Saxon Switzerland, which is what this mountainous area of Saxony was dubbed by two Swiss artists at the Dresden Academy of Art in the late 1700s as it reminded them of the Swiss Alps.
Entrance to the National Park 
Graffitti from long-ago tourists 
A view down to the Elbe River 
Rugged terrain in the park
The Bastei rock formation, or Bastion, is a highlight of the park. A rock castle once occupied a nearby site. The Bastei rocks have been a tourist destination for over 200 years, and an early wooden bridge between them was replaced with today’s stone bridge in 1851.
After returning to our docking location at Bad Schandau, we continued on to our last stop on the Astrild at the Czech Republic town of Děčín. From there we had a view of an illuminated restaurant at the top of Schäferwand or the Shepherd’s Wall:
On our last night on-board, we tried to make the most of our Silver Spirits drink package and ended up closing the bar talking with that night’s bartender, Paulina.
Up next: On to Prague!
Halfway There Travelers 