Lausche

From the starting point at the Hubertusbaude, the Upper Lusatian mountain path marked with a blue line leads slightly uphill. As soon as you reach the end of the ski slope above the Hubertusbaude, we leave the blue-marked ridge path and follow the green-marked path to the Lausche summit. The steadily ascending path quickly gains altitude, and after about half an hour you reach the summit plateau of the volcanic phonolite cone. The German-Czech border runs right over the summit of the Lausche. In Czech, the mountain is called "Luž". At 793 m height, depending on the weather, a fantastic view opens over Upper Lusatia and the Lusatian Highlands, the Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland and the Bohemian Highlands. Unfortunately, the free view to the southeast is quite limited by tall beeches towards the Jizera Mountains and the Giant Mountains. After a short rest on the Lausche, we leave the plateau and choose the descent via switchbacks, later flat and straight to Oberlichtenwalde (Horní Světlá). This is now marked with a red triangle. The path leads down to the small settlement of Myslivny (Jägerdörfel), where you can, for example, stop at the Lužická Bouda (Lusatian Baude) or the Bergbaude Luž/Lausche. The path continues, now marked with a red line, over the scarcely trafficked road down to Oberlichtenwalde (Horní Světlá). At the height of the "Ceska Chalupa" restaurant on the left, we cross left to Nieder Lichtenwalde (Dolní Světlá). Here we turn left onto the village street, passing the "Schmeling House".

I quote an article from the Sächsische Zeitung from 10.02.2005: "At first glance, the “Pension Svetla” hardly differs from the other houses in Dolni Světlá (Niederlichtenwalde), located south of the spa town of Jonsdorf in the Zittau Mountains. The common people call the pension the “Max-Schmeling-Haus” – not without reason. In 1930, the newly crowned boxing world champion bought the tourist hotel "Deutsches Haus" operating under this name and gave it to his three years older brother Rudolf. The occasion was his wedding to the Zittau native Nanni Niesek on September 2, 1930. The celebration took place – as it should – in the hotel that had just been purchased. However, how long the “Deutsche Haus” remained in Rudolf Schmeling's possession is unknown."

Unfortunately, the “Schmeling House” looks quite deserted today. Shortly thereafter, two restaurants follow: the "Celnice" (Customs House) and behind it the "Hospoda Unas". Immediately next to it stands the small village church of Dolni Světlá as the last building on the left. Behind the church, we walk half-left on a concrete slab path up to the tourist border crossing "An der Wache".

Halfway, we pass the edge of the "Brazilka Nature Monument – The Lausche Raised Moor." In 1999, revitalization of a mosaic of wet meadows, heaths and water areas began, which had been mercilessly drained until 1988. Funding from the Saxon State Ministry for Environment and Agriculture made this step possible. In 2002, the 9-hectare meadow was finally declared a protected natural monument.

Just a few more steps and we return to Germany “An der Wache”. Here, at the Rübezahlbaude, we follow the track marked with a blue line or green dot to the starting point of our hike at the Hubertusbaude, 300 m away.