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Published: January 1st 2007
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Berchtesgaden and the Salt Mines
Today we awoke with a plan in mind. The plan was to head to Berchtesgaden to see one of the salt mines and possibly see Hitler’s Eagles Nest.
Shower Struggles As I’ve told you in previous blogs, it’s always a crap shoot when it comes to bathroom facilities in Europe. We’ve been lucky since we left Spain and have always had good running water and stand up, glassed in showers. Because of the fact that all has been hunky-dory since Spain I haven’t commented on this often.
Well, here we do have good, hot running water, but we have a stand up shower in a bathtub with no shower curtain. Why you would have a standup shower in a small bathroom without a shower curtain, I don’t know!! As I struggled not to spray water all over the room this morning all I could do was curse who ever decided this was a good idea. Just imagine me dancing around the shower trying to get shampooed without water going everywhere. It should be a funny image…but still very annoying!
The Salt Mine Berchtesgaden is
only 15 km (roughly 12 miles) from Salzburg but is actually in Germany. Salzburg, as you could probably figure out on your own, is right on the border with Germany; so close that Germans regularly travel across the boarder to get gas because it’s 10 cents cheaper in Austria.
We took back roads instead of highways because the trip takes only a few minutes any way so why not actually see some of the surrounding country. With Tom Tom (and Kel Kel) as our faithful guide we set off in search of adventure.
Our first stop was the Berchtesgaden salt mine. We arrived and bought our ticket to the mine tour and waited the 45 minutes before our tour started. We figured that it would be a light tourist day because it was the day before New Years Eve but we were wrong. While we sat there waiting, tour group upon tour group arrived. Good thing we got our tickets before people started flooding the place!!
The salt mine tour is really cheesy but a ton of fun. After you enter the building everyone receives “mining costumes” which are really nothing more than sweat pants and a
jacket that you put over your regular clothing. Check out the picture of Kel if you don’t catch my meaning.
Then everyone boards a train to head into the mine. The train is in single file; everyone straddles a center rail and gets cozy with their neighbors. Kel sat in front of me with the back of a train car behind me. That way we got to cuddle close as we headed down into the mine itself.
The mine shaft is very thin. Literally if you reached out hand you would hit the wall. They warn you not to lean over and I don’t think they are kidding about what might happen if you do. The trip down is a little long and feels very claustrophobic and you head to the main area. Thankfully the mine opens up before you get off the train.
Once off the train, the tour guide lead us through a series of chambers and described the workings of the mine. The mine is still a working salt mine that uses sink holes filled with water. Once in the sink holes, the water then turns into brine as the salt dissolves. The brine
Limestone Water Near Salt Mine
Due to a high limestone content in the surrounding hills, all of the streams in the area have a green hue which is really cool. is then pumped back out of the hole and processed into salt which is used throughout Germany and Austria.
The information was interesting and very thorough but what makes the mine really fun are all the hands on fun activities you get to do. There are two slides which are a ton of fun. You and a partner straddle a wooden rail that has been sanded smooth. The person in back wraps his or her arms around the person in front and then pushes off to slide 50-100 feet down the slide deeper into the mine. This was purely an optional path, you could walk down if you so chose, but everyone in our tour group took the fun path. We really loved it; Kel would have done it over and over if she could have.
There was also a boat ride across an underground salt lake. The boat ride was a little cheesy since it involved a small light and sound show, but that water was amazingly clear. When we first walked into the room it looked like the boat was floating above the floor because the water was so clear. I tried to get a picture
but it was too dark and I wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures anyway.
After the boat ride was a very informative film about the mine operation. I won’t bore you with all the details but Kel and I really liked the film because it was narrated by a cartoon mole with a British accent. How often do you get to see movies with British moles?? Not often enough…that’s for sure!
Finally, after an elevator ride further up into the mine we jumped back on the tram and took a quick zip to the surface. All in all it was about an hour underground but was a ton of fun. I would highly recommend the trip to anyone who travels through the area and doesn’t mind a little cheese!!
Driving Around Town and Lunch After the mine tour we headed into Bechtesgaden for lunch. The town itself is small and quaint. We selected a restaurant and had our afternoon vittles which were quite good. With our stomachs full, we set out to find more adventure for the day.
We couldn’t make it up to the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s summer retreat which was built
Pigs for New Years
Everywhere in the area sells these marzipan pigs for good luck for New Years in the 1930’s. The Eagle’s Nest is so high up in the neighboring mountains that they close it down in winter. Getting up there would have been to expensive to make the trip worth it, especially with the building itself closed down.
Instead we went searching for the local luge which are popular throughout the Alps. Basically think of a snow luge course that is made of a half pipe of concrete instead of ice that you ride down in a wheeled cart instead of a sled. Sounds like fantastic fun. The one near Berchtesgaden is the largest one in the area and is pretty high in the surrounding hills.
After driving some wildly twisty roads into the mountains we found the area where the luge was supposed to be. Unfortunately it appears that they close it down for the winter. We had throughout it might be open due to the lack of snow but it seems that it’s too risky to open it when there might be snow. Last thing anyone would want is to lose control on one of these things as you barrel down the hill, which is apparently what can happen if it’s at all wet.
Kel’s disappointment was palpable, but we had no choice but to head back to town. We went back to Salzburg to rest up for dinner. Hope everyone is having fun back home!!
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Diana
non-member comment
Thanks for the tour info
Thanks Enjoyed learning about the salt mine tour and will try it myself when I get to Bavaria again. Sounds like my kind of "cheese". Very informative.