Hohnstein Castle (German: Burg Hohnstein) is a medieval castle in the village of the same name, Hohnstein in Saxon Switzerland in the Free State of Sachsen in eastern Germany.
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646 m
Hohnstein is a town located in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district of Saxony, in eastern Germany. As of 2020, its population numbered a total of 3,262.
2.3 km
The Lokomotive is a striking climbing rock north of Kurort Rathen in Saxon Switzerland in Germany. The rock, which resembles a steam locomotive in appearance, is also known as Große Ruine, is about 30 metres high and is divided into two parts: known as Lokomotive-Dom and Lokomotive-Esse. The ridge between the two is called the Kesselgrat, the rock teeth next to the Esse as Pfeife. For a short time there was a weather vane on the dome in the shape of a wheel. The Lokomotive rises on the massif of the Honigsteine.
The Dome of the Lokomotive was first climbed in 1886 by Friedrich Hartmann and Robert Kappmeier. In the history of free climbing in Saxon Switzerland the climb of the Esse on 7 June 1903 by Albert Kunze and Oliver Perry-Smith was the first ascent of the Esse and the first step in climbing the open face. Until then climbers had focussed on chimneys and crevices. The first ascent of the grade V Lokomotivüberfall climbing route on the Esse unleashed an intensive period of climbing in Saxon Switzerland that lasted until 1910, during which climbers like Kunze, Perry-Smith and Rudolf Fehrmann made the first ascent of many important climbing peaks, like the Barbarine, the Große Herkulessäule, the Jungfer or the Teufelsturm.
2.4 km
The Amselgrund is the name given to the valley of the Grünbach stream in the heart of Saxon Switzerland in Eastern Germany. It runs from Niederrathen upstream to Rathewalde. The valley takes hikers through the Rathen rock basin with its bizarre rock formations. Its touristic high points are the lake of Amselsee and the Amsel Falls, that trickles over the grotto called the Amselloch. The valley bottom that is densely wooded is surrounded by a backdrop of rocks. To the west tower the rocks of the Gansfelsen, to the south the Feldsteine and the Türkenkopf, and to the east rise the Honigsteine rocks with the striking Lokomotive. The middle of the valley bottom is dominated by the striking Talwächter.
Whilst the character of the valley profile in its upper reaches is rather ravine-like, between its entrance to the Schwedenlöcher and Niederrathen it is a steep valley. On the stream bed ripple marks may be seen. Above the Amsel Falls, large, fallen sandstone boulders block the watercourse, so that the rather lower water quantities of the Grünbach have to find their way past them.
2.5 km
The Amselsee is a small reservoir in the spa town of Rathen in Saxon Switzerland. It is located in the Free State of Saxony in Eastern Germany.
2.6 km
The Amsel Falls are a waterfall in Saxon Switzerland in East Germany, roughly a kilometre north of the famous Bastei crags.
As the Grünbach stream passes through a particularly narrow, gorge-like section of the Amselgrund valley it plunges over the largest step in the river bed - roughly 10 m high - forming a wide spray of water that pours over the Amselloch, a collapsed cave. The roof of this 15-metre-long cave was made of sandstone blocks that have collapsed. In the ravine and in the cave potholes and kolks bear witness to the meltwaters that coursed down into the River Elbe during earlier ice ages.
The original stream flowed almost entirely through the cave, but in the 19th century it had been diverted over the top of the cave to the cascade site. The waterfall was additionally, like the Lichtenhain Waterfall, arranged to flow through a small, controllable weir wicket in order to produce a stream-like torrent, in order to enhance its touristic attraction. In the immediate vicinity of the waterfall is the Amselfall mountain hut with an inn and next to it is the information office of the Saxon Switzerland National Park opened in 1992. It is open from April to October, but closed in winter.
As one of the first artists, who captured the beauty of Saxon Switzerland along the so-called Artists' Way, Christian Gottlob Hammer painted the Amsel Falls.