Salzburg
The Salzach River divides Salzburg between the Old Town and the New Town. Looking over this ancient city is the Hohensalzburg Fortress, atop the Mönchsberg. Most of the historical sites are located in the Old Town, or Altstadt, beneath the Fortress. Our hotel was located in the New Town, or Neustadt. Several bridges cross the river making each side very accessible to visit.
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Salzburg also marked the start of our 12-day journey through the Alps. The timing for our vacation was before peak summer tourist season. Activities at each destination started to operate, but they weren't yet swarmed with vacationers.
Hohensalzburg Fortress
​We used our Salzburg cards to ride the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It was super fast and took less than a minute. We admired the view from the fortress grounds and then took the audio tour.
The best part of this short tour, was that it brought us to the highest point of the fortress. There was an amazing 360° view of the city, accompanied with a much welcomed, cool breeze from the mountains.
Berchtesgaden & the Eagle's Nest Tour
Pick up bus #840 on the outskirts of the Old Town and ride 40 minutes to Berchtesgaden. About half way through the journey, you cross back into Germany. There was a small border crossing sign, but otherwise you wouldn't even realize you entered a different country.
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The actual town of Berchtesgaden sits atop a steep hill approximately 10 minutes from the bus stop. There's a stunning view of the mountains in every direction. With a little time before the start of our tour, we settled down at an outdoor restaurant at the Gasthaus Watzmann. We split a traditional dish of spaetzle in a gravy sauce with a cold dunkel and radler. A radler is a refreshing mixture comprised of a pilsner or lager beer and lemon-lime soda.
The Eagle’s Nest Historical Tour is a fantastic four hour, fact-laden tour through the Obersalzburg region with pit stops at the Dokumentation Center, underground bunkers, and the ever-anticipated Eagle’s Nest, or as it’s more commonly known today, the Kehlsteinhaus. Reserve your seats well in advance. A number of us from the Rick Steves group went on this same tour and it gave us an early chance to, unexpectedly to me, bond.
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Amy, our well-versed tour guide, handed out these iPod-like receivers that transmitted her voice through our ear buds without requiring us to stand nearby within listening range. The tour began with a drive up into the mountains where Adolf Hitler had his home in the area. Amy pointed out the locations for some of the other high-ranking officers who lived nearby as well.
The Dokumentation Center was our first opportunity off the bus. Amy took us into the Dokumentation Center and explained about some of the propaganda Hitler used back in the day. The Dokumentation Center is a small museum primarily all in German, so her briefer summary was helpful. Below ground, you can access the underground bunkers. Today they are stripped and in rough shape when they used to be quite luxurious. Post-war, the soldiers from the winning side let the local people take anything from the bunkers in order to help rebuild and start again. All that’s left today is the exoskeleton and a few wooden floorboards trapped under an overturned safe (that’s empty in case you’re wondering).
Nearby, the next set of buses were waiting to take our group and others to the Eagle’s Nest. The drive up was a 15-minute ride on a one-way road that twisted against the mountain. It was built in such a way with the intent it would be nearly impossible to see from below. The road came to an end but we weren’t at the top just yet.
We entered as a group into a long, cold, damp hallway. Hitler was chauffeured in the previously heated hallway all the way to the end. Off the hallway there was a round brick room adjacent to the brass elevator that would take us to the peak. Hitler, claustrophobic, had few people ride with him as he sat on the elevator’s bench. We were crammed in like sardines but the splendor of the elevator remains.
Amy gave us the rundown on the former tearoom, now fashioned into a restaurant. Then she set us loose with about 50 minutes to explore the building and outside surrounding area. A thunderstorm was beginning to roll in so Dan and I scrambled to the adjacent peak marked with a cross. We took in the beautiful, panoramic views. We were fortunate because more often than not, clouds surround this 6,000 ft peak.
Wiener Schnitzel Anyone?
When in Austria, everyone must try the national dish: wiener schnitzel. I was the first to give it a try on our first evening in Austria at the Zum fidelen Affen. It tasted as delicious as the picture above looks.
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Dan tried the goulash. For dessert, we kept the Austrian theme going with an apple strudel, which was very good. Their dessert menu was listed creatively on a rolling pin.
It was Dan's turn to try out the wiener schnitzel the following night. We ventured up the Mönchsberg lift, hiked around the fortress wall, and found a table with a view at the Stadtalm Café. The Stadtalm Café is part restaurant and part guesthouse that offers views of the Old and New Town of Salzburg.
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I had farmer's ham with boiled potatoes and asparagus. Again, the meal was fantastic and you can't beat a gorgeous view during dinner. (Website header showcases the stunning view.)
