Salzburg, Austria; Berchtesgaden, Eagles Nest And More

My train upon arriving to Salzburg! On this trip as soon as we crossed the Austrian border from Hungary, the Border Patrol was onboard the train checking passports. That happened one other time traveling between Switzerland and France.

Mirabell Palace – Mirabell means beautiful view

Looking up at Hohensalzburg fortress from Mirabell gardens

Andrakirche Salzburg. The two towers once had points on them but the bombing of WWII destroyed much of it

Art that was in the church

Getreidegasse which is a street and translates to grain alley. It is very picturesque!

Eagles Nest and views from up there as well as on the way up Berchtesgaden/Eagles Nest was a bus tour with Panoramic Tours, a very professional and well run company who also does a Sound of Music tour among others….I haven’t done that one (yet).
It is a short jont to Germany from Salzburg, just over the border and this time no passport check!
The tour started out with our funny, older (probably my age), Bavarian guide, wearing a scaled down version of the regional attire, and as we ascended the mountains, we were given a little history and then it wasn’t long before the views of the Bavarian Alps were all around.

Eagles Nest is the first stop – the tour bus stops at a parking lot where everyone gets out and takes shuttle buses to the top. It is VERY organized And systematic and timely-

There are 6 shuttle buses and they say: bus 1, bus 2, etc. and they all leave Exactly at a certain time and follow each other going up the very narrow, one way mountain road. There’s a certain spot that the group of 6 buses Going Down, pull off and stop, letting The group of 6 buses, keep going up, without slowing down!
It’s all very precise and unbelievably timed!

(By the way you could drive there from the other side of that mountain)(but I’m not sure you would want to).

We get out of the shuttle buses and go like cattle, to the elevator that goes directly up to ‘The House’ called Eagles Nest.
We find out on the way down the mountain with our group, that He, (Hitler) was only there only 14 times because he was afraid of heights!! He actually lived in a location close by, the area that got bombed extensively during WWII; the house Hitler lived in part-time is there. Why that isn’t on the tour I don’t know maybe it’s not that interesting…?

Eagles Nest was used for entertainment and is currently a restaurant and quite frankly I couldn’t get a feel for it being ‘a house’ as it was Very crowded. So, no photos. Nor were photos allowed.
I actually did not have that great of a feeling being up there, due to the energy of the past is my guess.

But outside was the fun part anyway.
It was like being on top of the world. With quite a few friends!!😃

Then we were expected (it was like the gestapo)! – to get on the shuttle bus no later than ‘X’ because those buses leave at certain times!! so that we could leave with our tour group on our bus, at a certain time. Whew, quite the ‘tourist’ experience. There were vibes there and so the views were great but it was good to get to ….

The Next stop which was Berchtesgaden, a Bavarian town. (Germany vs. Austria). I learned that there are a lot of different delicious schnapps!! Which now I know is what Bob’s uncle served us when we visited Kiefersfelden back in 1995. I always wondered what that was we were drinking that he served us in a small amount and seemed so precious and special. It is a refined version of whatever I have had in the U.S.

I chose to walk around and see the town, take some photos versus eat lunch at Berchtesgaden, as I have learned on previous tours that you either eat lunch or explore the town, it is really one or the other despite what the tour guide may say (that you have time after lunch, not)
Then we went back to Salzburg. Got back shortly before 2pm so a half day.

A fun time. I also sat next to many people as there were the shuttle buses, our bus, and many many Americans! Some Scottish people are there for some games.

Berchtesgaden

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