Julia Bradbury's German Wanderlust - Saxon Switzerland

Julia Bradbury takes her boots and backpack to the Continent to explore the landscape of Germany and the cultural movement that made it famous - Romanticism. The Germans enjoy a relationship with walking that has lasted over 200 years. The exploration of their landscape has inspired music, literature and art, and Romanticism has even helped shape the modern German nation, as Julia discovers. By walking in four very different parts of Germany, she explores river valleys, coastlines, mountains and gorges, following in the footsteps of Richard Wagner, Caspar David Friedrich, Johannes Brahms as well as British Romantics like William Turner and Lord Byron. This is Julia's chance to discover her own sense of wanderlust. Julia's final adventure takes her deep into the former East Germany. Saxony is a largely unknown destination for UK walkers, but, as Julia discovers, it contains some remarkable landscape. The sandstone mountains, set alongside the mighty Elbe river, are a bizarre mix of forest, gorge and rock towers. Two hundred years ago, they were the focal point for a rush of Romantic artists filled with a new desire to explore landscape for themselves. The wonder of local nature has been attracting visitors ever since.