Part of the appeal of taking a trip to Salzburg was its proximity to Berchtesgaden, Germany.
If I told you to imagine rural Europe, this is the kind of town you’d think of. Cows chilling in the fields, grass so green it looks fake, rolling hills dotted with cottages and surrounded by mountains. The main attraction here: Kehlsteinhaus or The Eagle’s Nest.
If you aren’t familiar with The Eagle’s Nest, here’s the skinny:
The house is on top of this mountain. Can you see it? Way up there!
- It was constructed over 13 months from 1937 to 1938 as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler from Martin Bormann and the Nazi party.
- It cost $30 million Reich Marks, which would be more than $100 million in today’s money (adjusting for inflation).
- The house is situated right smack on top of the Kehlstein Mountains at an elevation of 6,000 feet.
- The engineering used to build this house was way ahead of its time. (We got to see old pictures of men with jack hammers drilling the road into the mountain.) Once completed, it was used in Nazi propaganda to show the strength of Germany.
- Hitler wasn’t a fan of the drive up the mountain and rarely visited the house. (There’s a lower house called the Berghof, which he preferred.) I originally thought that was ridiculous (especially considering how expensive it was to build the place), but after taking a ride up, I don’t blame him! I can’t imagine going up that road in a car from the 1930’s! It’s said that the fact that Hitler rarely visited accounts for the reason that it was spared. (The Berghof and most everwhere else was reduced to rubble at the end of the war.)
- To get to the top, you drive halfway up the mountain, take a bus up most the rest of the way, then take an elevator 4 more stories up.
- Eva Braun’s sister was married here in 1944.
- There’s not much to see inside the house; it is now a restaurant. Besides, with these views, everyone spends their time on the mountain looking outward.
Stephen and I made two visits. We read online that the day before we drove down, it was closed. (It’s only open May-October and because of the rough drive up, bad weather leads to closures.) We feared that we’d run into that same problem, so we beelined there after checking into our Salzburg hotel. We arrived in time for the last tour of the day. That meant we only got 50 minutes on the mountain, not nearly enough time.
We returned on Sunday before hitting the road to head home. It was a much clearer day and we were able to climb to some of the higher parts of the mountain.
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a view more beautiful! I’ve never been a mountain person before, but now I get the appeal. If only driving up wasn’t so scary!
Ever been to The Eagle’s Nest? How do you do with heights? I didn’t think I was scared of them before, but I was honestly really effing scared while I was up there!*
DROOOOOOOOL. Loving those mountain views! What scares the crap out of me isn’t the height; it’s the windy drive around the mountain to get up there, especially if it’s a bus driver on a very snowy night (yeah, been there!) I would like to SEE the view, not die tumbling down the side of the mountain before I even get there!
On a snowy night? No! You couldn’t pay me to do that. I pretty much had my eyes closed half the ride up. Majorly scary! And that was on a clear day!*
Also, I just read about this place last nite in Band of Brothers!! Desperately trying to finish that book… sloooooooowly. (Never seen the series though).
I’m loving the Hitler/Eagle’s Nest “history lesson.” I suck at everything history so this was really interesting! Ahhh, I am living through you and your travels.
My husband has quite the interest in visiting old Nazi/Hitler-related locations. Last year we visited Berlin and had to go to the spot where Hitler’s bunker was. There isn’t much to see now (it’s a parking lot), but Stephen thoroughly enjoyed stomping around on it for a while.*
GORGEOUS mountains! So you did the trip up those mountains twice in two days??? WOW. I get petrified of driving scary mountain roads. I always go at a snail’s pace, only to have other more confident drivers speeding up to pass me on the blind curves. Shudder!
I think it’d be kind of weird to have a meal at the house-turned-restaurant, knowing the history behind it. But you can’t beat those views, that is for sure!
Yes, twice! I had my eyes open on the first trip up (I wanted to see everything!), but every other trip my eyes were closed.*
Wow, it looks like you caught perfect weather for your trip.
Yes! That day the weather was divine! Clear and warm, can’t beat that!*
WOW! Those are some gorgeous views! So jealous of this trip….really all the cool things you and Stephen get to do on the weekends!
It’s so strange how close everything is here. You drive for hours and hours in Texas and you are still in Texas. I’m glad we can take advantage of it.*
I think all of your readers are also glad you are taking advantage of that! Could be a once in a lifetime experience glad you are going and exploring!
I’m super excited you go to go see the nest! I tried to go once while I was staying at Edelweiss but a snowstorm rolled in and we had to turn around. I’m glad you got to see it though and you got some great pictures on top of it. Keep having fun lady!
Ooh, I’m hoping we can take a trip to Edelweiss. (They are always playing commercials for it on AFN.) That stinks that you didn’t get to go up there. The views are seriously amazeballs.*
We stayed at the Pension Schwalbennestl in Mittenwald twice, 4/05 and 10/06 (total of 7 nights). While not a fancy place by any means, it’s clean, comfortable, nice breakfast buffet and the views overlooking Mittenwald and the Karwendel mountains are beautiful. Friends of ours stayed at and like the Garni Eldhuber.
Oh my goodness — So gorgeous!!! I so wished I had taken a trip to Germany when I was in Europe. The views remind me a lot of my trip to Switzerland. It was so green and the mountains so beautiful! How amazing for you guys!
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