Malerweg 2 - Wehlen-Hohnstein

The 2nd stage of the Malerweg begins at the marketplace in Wehlen. From here, you follow Meinickestraße along the Elbe. You already have a view of the Bastei massif from here (later from there a view of Wehlen). A particularly beautiful photographic motif occurs when a steamboat moves along this impressive river landscape. Meinickestraße is also the Elbe cycle path here; so be careful when changing sides of the street! After 500 meters, there is an information board and the Malerweg signpost on the left. On the ancient coarse stone Schwarzberggrundweg, you now go 250 meters uphill through mixed forest to a stone wall, which we cross to the right. The stone wall protects the buildings further down from mud and debris during heavy rain. If you follow the path straight ahead, you are on the Haldenweg! Therefore, immediately after the wall, turn left up the stairs steeply on the Malerweg. As soon as the path flattens again, we come upon the beautiful Schwarzberg viewpoint between birches and pines. From here you have a view of Wehlen and the Große Bärenstein opposite. Further uphill it goes again through beech forest and after just over a kilometer you reach the "Steinerner Tisch" (Stone Table). The stone table and benches were installed in 1710 on the occasion of a hunt (after a forestry land demarcation). In the immediate vicinity is the currently unused forest inn "Steinerner Tisch". Following the path further, you soon reach a souvenir shop with snack bar... we are at the Bastei. Of course, still on Basteistraße; but from here it's only 250 meters to the spectacular Bastei viewpoint. You should actually forget all gastronomy and souvenir shops at first and go straight to the viewpoint. Despite mass tourism at the Bastei, this viewpoint is an absolute MUST for every Malerweg hiker!

Particularly impressive is the rock world of the Bastei area directly in front of us. The rock face of the Bastei viewpoint is 194 meters high. The Bastei Bridge below the viewpoint leads to further viewpoints and to the rock castle Neurathen. You can enjoy an excellent panoramic view here. The Elbe valley below us and the table mountains of the Saxon Switzerland form a "picturesque" backdrop. Here the "Schweizreisenden" and artists from Dresden found enough motifs and inspiration for their artworks.

Via the Basteiweg, it goes down into the Amselgrund. The town of Rathen is left on the right. In the valley we first encounter the entrance gate and the ticket booth for the open-air stage. After a few meters, you reach the Amselsee. Here you can rent a rowboat or pedal boat. The lake is always stocked with rainbow trout in summer. If you fall out of the boat, you can hardly drown due to the shallow water depth... what the trout do with a bathing guest is uncertain...

You continue along the left shore of the lake and shortly afterwards reach on the left side the junction of the hiking trail from the Sweden holes. This path would have been a good alternative for the descent from the Bastei. However, it is not part of the new Malerweg, as it is often impassable due to storm damage. Now it goes uphill on coarse, huge cobblestones from centuries ago to the Amselfallbaude. Attention: the Amselfallbaude has been closed due to danger of rockfall. A reopening is planned in the medium term. The Amselfall, similar to the Lichtenhainer Waterfall, is manually operated in dry months. Usually, however, the natural water flow is sufficient to provide an impressive photo motif.

From the Amselfall, it first goes up steps and later along a forest path along the Grünbach. This part of the Amselgrund is visited by significantly fewer tourists. The Amselgrund becomes wild-romantic here. Crosswise trees over the whole valley and the Grünbach flowing below in the valley invite you to dream. At about one kilometer distance from the Amselfall, we finally reach the village of Rathewalde. The entrance to the village from the valley offers a fairy-tale view: the slowly restored "Rathewalder Mühle" with beer garden over the years. The "chapel" belonging to the mill on the mountainside is a so-called Berganlehnhaus (also seen in Tilol), which previously served as a sleeping place for hikers or guests of the mill. However, the clock was only added later. On the opposite side is a rentable holiday home with a rock terrace accessible by stone stairs. And so it continues with architectural curiosities: a farmhouse standing directly on the steep slope and another holiday home with probably the lowest real estate costs in the village; the small house is built directly over the Grünbach in a bridge-like manner.

You now reach the village square with a guesthouse, church and parking lot. The Malerweg sign points us out of the village again towards Hohnstein. We follow the hiking trail to Hohnsteiner Straße. This street is heavily trafficked, so the hiking trail runs parallel to the street in the green. We follow this street course for 700 meters and reach the large intersection at the former race track. Here is also the Hocksteinschänke.

If you have the opportunity to return to this point by car or motorcycle, you can drive a demanding winding route on the historic circuit of the former Deutschlandring here. This race track was built between 1933 and 1939 (partly by concentration camp prisoners from Hohnstein) but was closed again in the same year due to the war. The track length is 10 kilometers and goes from here down via hairpin bends on Wartenbergstraße into the Polenztal. From here, it goes partly along the Polenz to Heeselicht and from there back over the diagonally expanded Kaiserstraße, past Hohburkersdorf, back to the Hocksteinschänke. In the area between the Hocksteinschänke and Hohburkersdorf, the huge grandstands were planned... There were always illegal races here in the post-war period, which are now almost impossible due to traffic-calming measures (speed bumps, bays).

From the Hocksteinschänke, it goes a few meters downhill parallel to Wartenbergstraße to the Hockstein parking lot. Here you also find the usual Malerweg signs again. After 250 meters you reach a small stone bridge and then the shelter at the Hockstein. The small Hockstein viewpoint can be reached after a few meters at the outer rock edge (in front of the vertical gorge). Looking directly down from this "pulpit," we see the Polenz stream and the "Polenztal guesthouse."

As expected, it now goes steeply down from here into the Polenztal. Via the legendary Wolfsschlucht (which was an artistic inspiration for the opera "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber), it goes down steel stairs. The rock walls stand so close together here that you have to skillfully agree with oncoming hikers. Once down, it's best not to lose time and climb up the "Schindergraben" to the castle town of Hohnstein. The last hiking section leads us past the Bärengarten. Here you can see remains of walls and. Here you can still find wall remains of the former bear enclosure. From the 17th to 18th century, bears were kept here for electoral hunts (in the Dresden castle courtyard!). We are now standing below the castle of Hohnstein, which is perched on a huge rock. After a few minutes, we are also directly on the marketplace of the romantic small town of Hohnstein.

If you still have time before the return trip, you should definitely visit the interior of the castle and also the town church built according to plans by George Bähr.

(c) The hiking description is the property of the Elbsandsteingebirge publishing house