Saxon Switzerland - Landscape

In the course of time, the present varied landscape forms have developed: the canyon-like Elbe valley and the narrow valleys of its tributaries; the tracts of relatively level ground lying 100-120m/330-390ft above the Elbe valley with their covering of gravel and silt, now under cultivation; the tabular hills with steep rock walls (Lilienstein, 415m/1,361ft; Pfaffenstein, 429m/1,408ft; Königstein, 361m/1,184ft; Grosser Zschirnstein, 561m/1,841ft)), remnants of a once continuous sandstone plateau; rocky areas such as the Bastei (305m/1,001ft) and the Schrammsteine (386-417m/1,266-1,368ft) - labyrinths of stone, with rock buttresses, battlements and pinnacles, gorges and defiles. Tertiary basalts are found only at a few places, for example