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Published: October 8th 2011
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We slept in a bit this morning so that we could hit the Steigl brewery on the way out of Salzburg. They opened at 10am, and we were there eager and waiting. It was a very nice place with outdoor seating, a museum (which we didn’t go through) and a gift shop which we dropped $100 at in souvenirs (what can we say…we love zee beer!). You know the saying ‘When in Rome?’ well…when in Germany, do as the Germans do and drink beer at 10:30am!! Hahaha! After we purchased our souvenirs, we had to sit and enjoy their outside area and partake. Matt of course had the Weisse (wheat beer), and I tried their grapefruit radler which was oh so yummy!
Berchtesgaden, Germany is only 30 min from Salzburg, but within 10 min of leaving the city you are once again swept into the world of the Alps towering above you. Pure beauty….We went straight to our hotel, Hotel Zum Turken which has quite the history! Let’s first talk about location. It is in Obersalzberg area and literally right next door to where Hitler’s Berghof mountain home was located. When we arrived, we were greeted by Frau Ingrid Sharfenberg,
who is now 80 years old and still runs the hotel. It was originally her grandfathers who purchased it in 1911. The guesthouse was extremely popular and was visited by some very prominent and famous guests. In 1933, Martin Bormann (who was Hitler’s like #3) visited the inn several times and attempted to purchase it. All offers fell on deaf ears, so naturally the Nazis did what you would expect…they forced her grandfather to sell it at a ridiculous price, and then sent him to Dachau (the concentration camp we visited on day 1) where he died a year later. The SS made the Zum Turken their Obersalzberg headquarters and the entire area was considered “off limits” due to Hitler’s residence. In 1945, the hotel was hit in the bombing by American forces. The property remained “confiscated” by the Allied Forces until 1947 when it was given back to the Bavarian government. In 1951, the decision to blow up all remains from the 3rd Reich was made (i.e. Hitler’s Berghof), yet at the last minute they spared Zum Turken and sold it back to Ingrid’s mother.
Walking into the place is like a time warp. It has the feel
of a large old school, and the key to the front door as well as our room are large skeleton keys. Matt says it is the first place he has ever stayed where you can truly peep through the keyhole, LOL! Ingrid is absolutely adorable as well, with perfect English and is probably 5’ tall at best. She gave us a small tour, told us about taking the 7:40am employee bus up to the Eagle’s Nest to beat the crowds, and just kept saying “treat this like your home, you are home when you are here.”
The hotel also sits above part of the bunker system used by the Nazi’s and Ingrid still mans the entrance daily. Once we got settled we met her down there and she got us our maps, acquainted with some surrounding sites and we began our decent down the spiral staircase into bunkers. These bunkers were used by the 3rd Reich and were amazing and creepy all at the same time. You could see the metal clips on the wall that held the electrical wiring, and machine gun shelters which they used to protect the bunker system. Naturally they have long bricked it off,
but you can see the tunnel that used to lead to Hiter’s Berghof and the bunkers of his private guards.
After exploring the bunkers we walked to where the Berghof once was. All that remains is a foundational wall that is built into the hillside. You can certainly see why Hitler chose to spend a third of his time here, the views are amazing! (Did I mention the view from our room balcony is the same as the Berghofs, and we look down on the old driveway?) A small hike on a trail leads you to The Documentation Center, which I would imagine is one of the only Nazi informational museums in all of Germany. You could spend hours in there if you wanted listening to the audio guide tell the story of Hitler’s rise to power all the way to the end of the war and his defeat/death. The Documentation Center also sits above a set of bunkers which were much much larger in size. You could drive a military vehicle through most of them if you chose to, whereas the bunkers below Zum Turken are only walkable. We had a bite to eat and decided we should
ask at the bus ticket station about the employee bus up to the Eagle’s Nest that Ingrid told us about, just to be sure. Thank goodness we did because I thought the ticket guy kept saying “no, no,” which he kind of was, but what he was saying was “snow, snow” as in NO buses tomorrow because of snow! Unbelievable as it sounds, it is 72 here right now we caught the last bus up to the Eagles Nest (which sits at 6000f) for some incredible views of the Alps….incredible! The Eagle’s Nest was a gift from the state to Hitler on his 50th birthday and it is a 4 mile drive straight up with your ears popping a million times, but worth it. You then take an elevator (which is all brass on the inside) up to the tippy top. The “house” itself is now a restaurant, but completely original inside. It was really cool to see old photos of it virtually looking exactly the same, including the light fixtures.
We did some more walking around the area after our ride back down and explored some old abandoned coal bunkers used by the Nazi’s. We were able to
sit and enjoy a couple of Steigl beers out on our little balcony and watch the sunset over the Alps, before having a late dinner down in town. Everybody’s definition of “paradise” differs…for most I feel it’s sitting on a beach, or being somewhere tropical. I can tell you that sitting on that balcony here in Germany, looking at the sun go down behind the most magnificent mountains I have ever seen, with the lush green valley and town below….that’s our paradise. We will never forget it….
Matt wants me to type that our paradise was like Hitler’s paradise…I guess we both had good taste.
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Tom & Linda
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Eagles Nest
Your best blog yet, very interesting. I would have enjoyed this trip....info and beer...paradise