A walking tour of Bad Reichenhall and a real steak for dinner

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Wednesday 15th September
A walking tour of Bad Reichenhall and a real steak for dinner
After the long day of yesterday we have decided to stay local today and there seems enough historic stuff to keep us interested in Bad Reichenhall(hereafter called BR) for a few of hours.
Our very well equipped apartment is actually at a small village of Bayerich Gmain(hereafter called BG)and about 4km from BR.
The apartment and BG is right on the German/Austrian border.So close in fact that we only have to cross the road and a small bridge over a stream and we are in Austria.Of course today there are no real borders and if you didn’t spot the two small notices on poles you wouldn’t even know that you had left one country and entered another.
So to get supplies in for breakfast we shall walk over to Austria where the Spa shop is.Thank goodness for the Euro!!
It is a well stocked Spar shop for such a small village and the first thing we spy is bacon!!We can smell it cooking already to go with the eggs and toast.Our apartment is so well equipped that it has a 4 element hob with stove and a microwave to boot!!We haven’t had such luxuries to cook with since our time in Settle,England 3 months ago in June.
Breakfast was grand and we were well ready for the trip to BR.Was it going to be car or walking?Although we stopped a lot yesterday to take photos we didn’t really walk very far and so we have decided to walk the 4km to BR which will mean 4km walk home too and we hope we don’t regret that side of the idea.
BG is up the hill from BR so it’s all downhill on the journey in with a good part of it being along pathways that skirt a large green meadow.We took some time to admire the mountains that surround the town of BR as well as the long cableway that travels up to a hotel perched on the top of a high point above the town.
We started the self guided walk around the town at the Rathaus or Town Hall and went up past the building that is now a museum centring on the old salt mine that is beneath the town area.The old town area has original buildings from the 1500’s with plaques giving the year they were built.There is a lovely little square with a fountain which gives so much ambience to the scene.
The walk then took us down the main shopping area which is a pedestrian mall and at the Reber cafe, which is devoted to a Mozart theme,we stopped for a coffee and some cake for lunch.
As we entered it was like stepping back in time and we were taken back to times when our mothers used to take us as children to James Smith or Kirkcaldy and Stains in Wellington for morning tea where you always had to be on your best behaviour or other tea takers would give you and your mother the eye.
We sat down and waited for one of the many waitresses in their white and red uniforms to come to our aid and explain how we went about ordering coffee and a cake from the German only menu.Sure enough one took pity on us and helped us with the procedure.She would get the coffee while we went over to a large cabinet where dozens of tempting cakes were on display.Gretchen chose a strudel while I went for a richly decadent piece of chocolate cake to which the lady serving us added a huge dollop of cream.We didn’t however get handed the plates with the cakes to take back to our seats.Instead they were passed through a little window slot and the waitress who had helped us with the menu bought them to our table.Such service!!
It was a unique experience and well worth the nearly €13 for two coffees and cakes!!
As we went to leave and return to our self guided walk we went through another door that took us into the a shop which was a blaze of Mozart red made up from thousand of boxes ,in all shapes and sizes, of chocolates.We gazed open mouthed at the selection and were overcome.We couldn’t leave without something red in our pocket so we brought a couple of large chocolate pieces,wrapped in red,for supper tonight.
The walk took us further down through the town and past the hotel area which had a couple of swanky looking joints with expansive gardens onto one of the three churches we would call into on the walk.The first had been a monastery and was now a small cathedral of fairly plain design inside.The second was also a cathedral and apart from some very ornate paintings above the main alter was quite plain in design.
Before we got to the third we found the supermarket we needed to buy meat for dinner.It was an Aldi which we don’t enthuse over too much as the selection of whats on offer is very much hit and miss.The stores give the appearance in part of selling stuff that the company has brought up cheap and is clearing at bargain prices which are in the main cheaper than other supermarket chains.
We struck gold in the meat chiller with some very tasty looking steak at an excellent price as well as a chicken for €2.49,a real bargain.!!With a full hob and an oven and some proper meat(the steak wherever we had it last was of very dubious background)we shall be able to cook up meat and three veges no problem.
With groceries now to carry home,uphill for 2km,we picked up the pace to visit the last couple of places on the walking tour which were located on our homeward journey anyway.
The third church we went into was the oldest in the town dating back to the 1100’s and by the look of the interior it hadn’t had a lot done to the original design and was quite different to the other two much larger churches we had been inside.The artwork was quite beautiful and painted over a large area on the ceiling and part of the front of the church.A very dramatic cross with Christ was visually quite stunning above the alter.
The sun had broken through a bit more on the walk up the hill and there was less shadow to walk in to keep out of the low 20’s warmth of the afternoon.A cup of tea on our arrival home was most welcome and we calculated that we must have covered well over 10km today making up for a few quiet days of any distance walking recently.
The steak for dinner was just delicious and it was great to have three vege on the plate including broccoli(they don’t seem to big on greens in this part of the world).Coffee with our Mozart chocolates rounded off a good day of exercise and experience at the Reber cafe and our walking tour of BD.

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Comments

[Rin]

You were VERY lucky to have the luxury of meat and 3 veg in Germany. When we were there for almost a week in November 05 (winter) I had my lifetime's fill of sausages and *preserved meats* and not one veg! I don't know how they don't have a higher incidence of scurvy there! ;-P