Thursday 2 October 2008

Sunday 28th September 2008 – Bad Tolz, Germany





Another glorious morning with the views beautifully clear and no clouds obscuring the peaks. We said goodbye to Zell am Ziller and set off north up down the Ziller Valley. We soon crossed the Inn Valley and started climbing rapidly until we arrived at Achensee. This is a long, thin and extremely pretty lake and obviously popular with tourists as we saw two large trip boats plying the waters. This road is also a popular border crossing as it is a obvious route from Munich directly into the Austrian Tyrol. We saw many other motorhomes, mostly heading south, and also a large number of motorbikes. We found a lay-by and it was now so warm that we sat outside to have our picnic lunch, watching the butterflies feed or the flowers and listening to the grasshoppers. Whilst we were there we watched three German Ferraris travelling in convoy, leapfrogging the other cars with a deep roar of acceleration. From just beyond the lay-by there was a lovely view up and down the lake. Soon after Achensee we crossed the border into Germany and suddenly it was Autumn. There were different trees on the German side and many were already in their Autumn colours, lighting up the landscape with their bright yellows and reds.
We had planned three short journeys for the next three days and today we had decided to stop at a camperstop in Bad Tolz. This was one of the finds of the Odyssey. The motorhome car park was located next to the wide, shallow and fast flowing river Isar and just five minutes walk from the town centre. The camperstop was very popular but even though there were close to 30 motorhomes by the end of the day, it wasn't crowded. It was only early afternoon, so we had plenty of time to explore the town. Walking over the bridge we came to the beautiful main street full of lovely architecture, made to look even more pretty by the fact that it was on hill, giving an excellent view of all of the buildings. We found the tourist information office and obtained a map. They recommended a circular walk and, as it went right past the camperstop and we had done a third of it already, we decided to follow the remainder of it. It took us up to a church that we had seen as we approached Bad Tolz. The impressive-looking church of Kalvarienburg is perched on the edge of the hill high above the Isar and next to it on a low knoll is a full-size model of the Calvary. It was particularly well constructed and carved and was very impressive. The interior of the church, built in the early 18th century, was intriguing as it had three separate altars at different levels in line east-west. The first altar was raised above ground level with the body of Christ lying in a cave below it. The second and third altars were accessed through corridors either side of the first altar, with three staircases leading up to the second altar, higher than the first and shorts steps leading on and down to the third altar below the level of the first. I have never seen a church of this design.
We continued on the walk going through woods and descending to the river where a bridge took us the other bank close to the camperstop. We stopped to watch the locals playing a game like curling or bowls that we had not seen before. It was played on an asphalt surface and involved sliding down large metal and plastic objects flatter than those used in curling. As with bowls, the objective was to be closest to the 'jack' that was placed at the other end. It looked like great fun and was a very sociable game played in this case by 10 people. Anyone know what it is called? If you do, please add a comment to this entry.
Photos: A trip boat plies the waters of Auchesee; One of the painted buildings in Bad Tolz with the main street going up the hill on the left; The Kalvarienburg Church's first altar; A view up the Isar River – the camperstop is on the right bank, hidden behind the trees.

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