We’re going to have to keep an eye on Altenberg for the time being. And I very well may have to rewrite this webpage on this Saxon town one day, which is located in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge in German).
The Ore Mountains should be your first tip-off that mining was big industry. So much in fact, that the entire Erzgebirge Mining Region is now a proposed UNESCO site, which is why I said that I may have to update this page.
Wouldn’t it be nice to say that Altenberg is a World Heritage Site? :-)
In the meantime, you’ll just have to visit Altenberg’s Mining Museum and the Besucherbergwerk (real mines with around 3km of trails going towards the Czech Republic’s border) without the designation.
Speaking of kilometers of hiking trails, you could always climb to the highest peak — the infamous Kahleberg — to a whopping 905-meters above sea level. Do we even need to discuss the views of the Saxon countryside from this vantage point?
The mountainsides of Altenberg are just as active in winter as they are in summer. Maybe more so with all the downhill skiing trails (with lifts, ’cause otherwise how you gonna get up there), cross-country skiing trails, and a luge & bobsled track. For the truly crazy (I mean, adventurous) there’s a skeleton track. ;-)
Summer’s great for mountain biking, camping, or taking a jaunt over to the waterpark.
Anyone out there thinking this is just too much activity to do at one time? I do, so try breaking your sports up with a visit to the Botanical Gardens, the Saxon Milestones, and the Jagdschloss Rehefeld. Or, a quiet stagecoach ride around town.
Oh yeah, and to get yourselves all kinds of cordials at the liqueur factory.
Funny, you’d have thought that I would have to rewrite this page after hitting up all the different varieties there instead of waiting for UNESCO. ;-)
