Saturday 3rd October – Winkl, Germany

Today we took the bus in the opposite direction to Bad Reichenhall, a royal spa town 11 km north of Winkl. We called in at the Tourist Information Office and got a map and a town trail leaflet that allowed us to investigate the towns sights. Today is German Reunification Day, a public holiday, and all of the shops were closed. Fortunately, most bars, cafés and restaurants were open.
Bad Reichenhall’s wealth is based on salt production, in fact its name is based on the German for ‘rich in salt’. Four thousand years ago salt was produced from naturally occurring brine springs and the exploitation continued over the millennia. In 1834, following a major fire in the town, Ludwig I ordered that a new salt works was to be built, now named ‘Alte Saline’. It is a magnificent building and the salt works complex is huge – an indication of how important and how valuable the salt trade was. Even though production of salt was moved to the new salt works in the 20^th century, brine is still pumped up from deep springs in Alte Saline. This brine is used for the spa and health centres in the town.
Our walk took us past the Alte Saline to the small old town with some interesting houses. Walking back through the town on the main shopping street we did some window shopping. Being a spa town, there are many wealthy people living or visiting the town and this is reflected in the shops that are keen to relieve them of their money. Traditional dress is still very popular in Bavaria and there are plenty of opportunities to buy it in Bad Reichenhall. It doesn’t come cheap – a woman’s dirndl dress can easily cost €1,000 and the men’s lederhosen (long leather shorts) are even more expensive.
The Royal Spa Garden was both beautiful and interesting. The flower beds were full of colour and the Royal Spa House was well worth seeing but the most intriguing was the Gradierhaus (Graduation House) – an open-air inhalatorium. The Gradierhaus is a huge structure, 160 metres long and 13 metres high and was designed to enable people to breath in the brine. Brine from the springs under Alte Saline trickles down from the top over blackthorn twigs “enriching the air with Alpine brine ……. which cleanses and moisturizes the airways, regenerating the mucous membranes and the immune system”. Fascinating, but it didn’t do anything for me. Having said that, the advice is to inhale the brine for 30 minutes every day (whilst staying in very expensive spa hotels and spending lots of money in the shops, perhaps?). It is possible to inhale more brine by sitting around the large brine spring in front of the Gradierhaus and we gave that a go too. We also went into the spa room where I was able to sample cold brine (salty but acceptable) and hot brine (more salty and less pleasant). I am sure that I am now cured of all of those complaints that I didn’t know that I had.
Photos: The Alte Saline; Painted house in the old town; Lederhosen €3,900, whole men’s outfit a snip at €5,333 (some items were reduced in the sale!) – it was a good job that the shop was closed, otherwise I might have bought it but would they have it in my size?; The brine inhalation promenade of the Gradierhaus; The brine spring in front of the Gradierhaus.

Friday 2nd October – Winkl, Germany

Last night, we booked a round trip on an electric boat on Konigssee lake. We chose the 11:20 boat and caught the 09:40 bus from the stop on the main road, just a five minute walk away. The good news is that the tourist tax that we had paid entitled us to free bus travel and we just flashed our electronic passes as we boarded.
We arrived at Schonau am Konigssee and walked past the souvenir shops, cafés and restaurants to the lake harbour where the ferries are based. I asked at the booking office about stopping off at the St. Bartholemew Church and she explained that we could do that on the way or the way back and continue the journey on any ferry. She also said that we did not have to wait for the 11:20 ferry, so we were able to take one half an hour earlier.
We were advised to go first to Salet, the furthest stop at the far end of the lake. A guide on the boat gave a very amusing talk about the lake but it was lost to us as it was all in German. However, we stopped at a cliff where there is a very impressive echo and the guide played a tune on a trumpet where each short phrase that he played was repeated by the echo and it sounded really good. I took a video of him playing but, although we could hear the echo, the phone did not pick it up.
It was a very pleasant ride down the lake and, even though the weather was overcast, the views were still good. We saw a barge full of cows being transported to Schonau and afterwards we read that this happens at this time of the year when the cows are taken off the mountains before winter sets in.
Arriving at Salet, we disembarked and walked the short distance to the small lake, Obersee, where the reflections in the mirror-like water were beautiful.
Catching a ferry back, we stopped at St. Bartholemew that was buzzing with people as many only go as far as this rather than going on to Salet. The church is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage destination but the church itself is not very inspiring. The National Park has a couple of buildings that explain how water affects the local environment and we chatted to a couple of the staff about the birds and butterflies in the park.
Returning to Schonau, we walked again past the souvenir shops and were intrigued by many boards with pictures of marmots accompanied by the word ‘Murmeltiersalbe’. Marmots are a large rodent that lives in the mountains here and ‘Murmeltiersalbe’ is a ointment that is produced from the fat of the animal. Apparently, the ointment reduces inflammation but there is no medical proof of its efficacy. Allegedly, the product is only produced from marmots that have been culled to control the population. I think that I am happy to leave the fat with the marmots.
Photos: One of the 19 electric boats passing one of the few unwooded sections of the Konigssee banks; Reflections in Obersee; Konigssee close to Salet; Approaching St. Bartholomew.

Thursday 1st October – Winkl, Germany

We wanted to visit the Berchesgaden area in the furthest South East corner of Bavaria surrounded by Austria. We selected Camping Winkl-Landthal from the ASCI book priced at €27 per night plus taxes. There is talk about moderate visitor taxes in England at the moment, something that I have a lot of sympathy for but taxes in Winkl are on a different scale. The tourist tax was €3.10 per person, rubbish tax €0.50 and Ecotax (environmental) €3.50, all per night bringing the total charge to €37.70! It is a very pleasant campsite with lovely views of the mountains but the pitches reserved for ACSI customers suffer from road noise. We took the option to pay an extra €2 per night for a better pitch near the river, which was much quieter.

Photos: Settled into our pitch at Camping Winkl-Landthal.

Wednesday 30th September – Seebruck, Chiemsee, Germany

The Tourist Information Office supplied lots of free pamphlets and maps including one of cycle routes in the area of Seebruck. I decided against the one around the lake at 53 km and went for a more achievable Archaeological Circular Route at 23 km with an extension to Seeon. Jane stayed at the campsite to use the washing machine and relax before we met at the museum in Seebruck.
There was a separate leaflet that covered the archaeological route and indicated where the sites were. I entered the route into the Komoot app so that it would give me voice prompts for the turns but the route was very clearly signposted. I visited a Celtic earthwork, a Mediaeval refuge, Hallstatt (Bronze Age) burial mound, site of a Bronze age hoard, an ancient field system and a section of recreated Roman road. I took the diversion to Seeon where there is a small, pretty lake with an impressive monastery on a peninsula. In addition, there were the lovely villages that I passed through, my favourite being Truchtlaching with its blue plaques explaining the history of the old buildings. It was a lovely bike ride in great weather and lots of interest on the route.
I met Jane outside the museum in Seebruck just after it reopened at 14:00. Although it was only a minor Roman town, the present inhabitants are very proud of their Roman history. All of the tourist signs are in Latin with German translations below and the museum is largely devoted to the Roman period, although Celtic history is also covered. It is a small museum but very well presented and lots to interest children as well as adults. They also put on many events, even outside of school holidays. Chatting to the curator, it appears that only a couple of mosaic tesserae have been found – there were no high status villas in the town.
Photos: Reconstruction of the gateway for a Celtic earthwork; Hallstatt burial mound (the bicycle is modern!); I came across a closed road and thought that I was facing a long diversion but the cycle track was still open; Some very expensive houses overlooking the lake at Seeon; The Seeon Monastery; A beautifully decorated early Iron Age Hallstatt plate in the Seebruck museum.