Berchtesgaden & The Eagles Nest

July 8, 2007

We went to Berchtesgaden this morning. The area is claimed to be some of the most beautiful in all of Europe and it also houses the Eagles Nest. It’s a house on top of a mountain that was given to Hitler as a birthday present. One of our family friends had gone there years ago and highly recommended it to us. Since it is in Bavaria, its cheap for us to get to and since there were mountains involved with it, Mike was all for it.
It’s a three hour train ride, so we had to get up really early so that we could get there in plenty of time. We had a hard time finding any information on the Eagles Nest. Anything to do with the World Wars is kept rather quite. World War I is more accepted and there are more memorials. There are a few World War II soldier memorials. Munich was one of the headquaters of the Nazi party and therefore heavily bombed. Some of the buildings are closed to public use now, some are still in use, but the past history is hidden. You can take special tours, but they are all in English. Even in museums little reference is made to World War II. The signs usually say that such and such did not survive. Or it was destroyed in 1944. The memorials that we have seen are modest. And any mention of World War II is frowned upon. So when we went into tourist information looking for information on Eagles Nest all we got was “go to Berchesgaden.” Mike finally found prices online on Friday so we could give the other two people going with us more information, but that was all we knew. The Eagles Nest was bombed during World War II and only escaped being totally destroyed after WWII by the intervention of the mayor (I think.)
So, we got up early, and crossed our fingers that we would be able to get to Eagles Nest somehow. Well, the finger crossing worked and it was easy to get to. It’s a HUGE tourist spot, so buses go up every 20 minutes. You take a public bus up to the parking lot where you buy the tickets. You can walk up to it, but the path is closed right now until the beginning of August due to trail maintenance. The buses from the parking lot to the Eagles Nest are specially made and drove up the steep mountain paths like it is nothing. Pretty amazing. The ride up was only slightly frightening as there are NO guide rails. But I suppose the rails would have to be pretty sturdy to stop a coach bus from going over the edge. But the views on the bus ride up are great. After they drop you off at the next parking lot, you can either walk up a path to the top or take the original elevator up to the top. They pack people into this elevator, but it was a quick ride up.
The Eagles Nest is now a restaurant and beer garden, but there are lots of paths all over the top with breath-taking views of the surrounding area. We were able to see Koningsee, the highest lake in Germany, and Salzburg. We were on the mountains that we had just seen last weekend, which was really neat. We spent a couple of hours walking around the top of the mountain. We of course HAD to have a beer on top of the mountain which Mike thought was amazing. Apparently there is nothing better than having a beer atop an Alpine mountain. I will admit it was a once in a lifetime event and was fun. This is one part of Bavaria that we would love to come back to. There are a lot of hikes, a National Park, small towns, lakes, etc to see in the area.
The trail from Obersalzburg to Berchtesgaden was open and everyone else thought it would be a good idea to walk back down. I wasn’t totally keen on it as apparently going up mountains also affects my sinuses. I swear ever since I hit 20 my allergies have been atrocious and now its sinuses as well. It sucks. Anyway, it was also supposed to rain. But everyone else wanted to go down, so I went. The walk down was very nice. We walked through a pretty forest and even stumbled upon some ruins. We have no idea what they are as it was not marked, but given its proximity to the Eagles Nest we assumed it had something to do with that. That and it was all reinforced concrete structures. Most people do not built huge cement structures on the side of a mountain and then leave them to ruin. It would be a lot of work for nothing. But as we were leaving the ruins, we looked through a break in the trees and saw a big rain storm in the distance. Great. But its not like we could run down the side of a steep mountain. A little bit later the sprinkling started, then the thunder started rumbling. Then it started pouring. Yeah… so the gortex wash I did on my coat (twice) did NOT work. I was soaked. At least it was relatively short lived. And the walk was nice. It just would have been nicer being dry.