The Eagle’s Nest

Today the plan was to visit the Kehsteinhaus or as the Americans call it: The Eagle’s Nest. This was birthday gift given to Hitler for his 50th and its pretty much situated on near the top of a peak in the alps.

So the Kehsteinhaus is just outside of Obersalzburg and seeing as I had so much fun driving this road the day before, why not drive it again but this time maybe a little quicker.

We made it to the starting point or bus station that takes you to the base of the elevator and were instantly presented with a challenge. As we had booked this two months in advance, Leah was emailed the tickets but they only sent us one for entry even though we paid for two and breakfast at the top. After talking to someone, Leah had us figured out and we were on our way.

The initial trip requires us to take a bus ride up from the base on one of four all electric buses up this very narrow single lane with switchbacks road, my mother would hate to have been on this road.

Once we reached the base everyone ferried out and we made our way down a 124m long tunnel into the mountain where we were greeted by a huge brass lined elevator that took us another 124m up into the Eagle’s Nest.

As Leah and I had only had a coffee and we pre paid for breakfast, we situated ourselves in the restaurant and had our food brought out. The food consisted of breads, cold cuts and cheeses with some spreads. Not what we are used to but it really filled the void. As a note the area that we were eating would have previously been used by the Nazi party for social functions.

After breakfast we toured the grounds and made our way up the path to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, the entire time we were on top we were pretty much in a cloud so we never got the views that we were hoping for.

Once we had enough of the ever growing crowd we made our way back down the elevator, changed our return to base tickets to an earlier departure time, and figured out what to do next. We decided to head down the road to Hinterbrand and as we were both still a little hungry we wanted to stop off for some hot food. Leah started to look on line and we happened to pass the first place she found but it may have been for the best as we stumbled onto the Scharitzkehlam, a little Bavarian restaurant at the base of what seems to be many climbs and hikes in the area. I ordered pork medallions and Leah had goulash soup and a “small” salad. This by far was the best meal of the trip so far, the food was amazing and the atmosphere of the restaurant just helped to amplify everything.

I had been looking at the map and noticed there is a road to the south of Obersalzburg that looked twisty and intriguing. After getting fuel in Berchtesgaden and ooggled an Audi RS3 hatchback and RS6 we headed back up the 24% twisty road to Obersalzburg. I turned the corner and found that this was a toll road. We got our ticket (shut up and take my money!) and headed up the road. This road was super twisty and super technical and all it did was climb. After a bit we decided to stop off for a coffee at the Ahornkaser.

While we were drinking our coffee (Leah had wine) we started a conversation with a couple of Americans from… you guessed it – Chicago. Leda and Bob were wonderful and we could have passed the time just talking to them but we kinda wanted to make our way back to Salzburg.

The rest of the drive was as amazing as the start and I noticed a great place to stop and get some great pictures now that the clouds were burning off.

Once back to the room we made a plan to take an Uber to the Augustiner Brau Klofterbrauerei Mulln. We arrived and noticed that you enter though the bier garten and then can go inside. We were kinda confused on how everything worked as there seemed to be no table service. Once we asked a food vendor, we had everything figured out. You get your beer outside in either 1/2L or 1L pours, and take it where you want. Food is then purchased from one of the inside food vendors and you can sit inside or outside. I have to say this place was HUGE! We counted 4 indoor beer halls and including the bier garten it looked like it could seat at least 4,000 people.

We were enjoying our beers when that nasty injury I sustained at Oktoberfest reared its head after I held in a sneeze. Waves of pain and the sweats came over me and Leah quickly got me outside into the cold air, that did me some good and calmed me down. After 2-3 steins of beer we called an uber heading back to the hotel. We had a few more drinks at the hotel bar as Fred the bartender was there and we wanted just another drink before bed, afterwards it was back to the room for some well deserved rest.