Giessen Falls / Starkenstein Castle

Higher up the valley from Nesslau is Germen, where road 16 runs through a narrow wooded pass, with the two Giessen Falls on the Thur (hydro-electric station). It then winds its way uphill to the little vacation spot of Stein (860 m/2,823ft) and continues up through the Starkenbach Pass (894 m/2,933ft; on the right the ruins of Starkenstein castle) into the Alpine high valley of Obertoggenburg, with innumerable farms and huts dotting its green meadow-covered slopes. To the right is the jagged ridge of the Churfirsten; to the left is a first glimpse of the Wildhauser Schafberg.