Nowadays in Munich, the "capital of beer and baroque," Russian speech is often heard. In one of the world's largest art galleries, the Alte Pinakothek, a compatriot of ours decides to check how the masterpieces are guarded, and then quietly apologizes in Russian to the room attendant. Or a queue of our tourists forms at the residence of the Bavarian kings, the Wittelsbachs, to stroke the bronze nose of a wild boar - this promises the fulfillment of wishes in the future. Fulfillment of wishes in the present is provided by shops and department stores - kilometers of shopping galleries and counters, where our female tourists recalculate prices from euros to dollars, causing bewilderment to the interpreter. Then our people energetically splash water from the Fish Fountain onto their emptied wallets near the Gothic splendor of the New Town Hall at Marienplatz. And the guide in vain tells them that this helps to get rich only when the ritual is performed once a year on a specific day. Our people have one but weighty argument: "Bavarians are rich people, and we'll be lucky." There is no doubt about the well-being of Bavarians: they all drive foreign cars, look at how many brand new BMWs there are - straight from the Munich assembly line.
Tourists bring lively bustle to the measured life of the city. But the cozy slowness of the capital of Bavaria (sometimes called the millionaire village) is deceptive - streets and squares are noisy and bustling on days of football matches, Christmas fairs, carnivals, and folk festivals.
Subscription... to a beer hall
Merry revelry also reigns in the famous Bavarian beer halls. Let's go into the Hofbräuhaus on Platzl square. A large semi-dark hall, wooden beams under the ceiling, rows of wooden tables at which sit young men and women with beer mugs, snacking on pretzels (crispy salted pretzels). A bit farther from the door are more respectable people; they have settled here for a long time, waiters constantly bring them liter mugs of beer and steaming meat dishes.
We sit down next to noisy old men in Tyrolean hats and look around. In metal compartments lie numbered beer mugs, locked by their handles. This is the privilege of regulars. For seven euros a year, they buy their own mug and a permanent place in the beer hall.
Of course, the peak of the drinking season falls on the Munich beer festival "Oktoberfest," but that is still far away. Then more than seven million people gather, harmoniously drinking beer, singing, and dancing. By the way, with this beer, everything is not so simple. They say that the ancient tradition of drinking beer in company helped the Germanic tribes unite in the struggle against Rome. And closer to us is the Munich Beer Hall Putsch... However, let's not dwell on sad things.
Perhaps Bavaria is the most colorful state of Germany with its folk customs. Its southern Alpine part, centered on the town of Berchtesgaden, is especially picturesque. This name is difficult to pronounce, but its meaning is easy to remember - a garden for everyone, a place for joint walks.
Capital of mountain air
From Munich to Berchtesgaden is about 150 kilometers. Halfway there is Lake Chiemsee, so large that it is called the Bavarian Sea. On its shores there are many resort towns, and on the island of Herrenwörth there is a new Versailles, the palace of the "fairy-tale king" Ludwig II. This was the last, third luxurious ensemble built by order of the romantic king. The magnificent palace and garden in the French style with fountains and marble statues were opened to visitors back in 1888, two years after Ludwig's mysterious death. The king would have been furious to see crowds of people in his residence - he was a dreamer and a lover of solitude. And a great egoist: he bequeathed that the castle-palaces be blown up after his death. At one time Ludwig was reproached for spending too much money on his whims, but now his name and legendary castles are powerful tourist magnets. However, the Alps are already a blessed land.
Amazing meadows, mountain resorts, clean alpine air, mountain trails, emerald lakes and azure skies... What else is needed for a vacation? Comfortable hotels, good service, tasty food, hospitable hosts. All this is in abundance in Berchtesgaden. Small rooms in private houses and apartments in multi-star hotels with saunas, pools, beauty centers. Little cafes and snack bars (Gaststätten) - and top-class restaurants where you will be served fried shark, a platter of boar, venison and roe deer, and traditional Bavarian pork dishes - boiled or roasted knuckle, juicy meat on the bone, fried ribs. What, you're not very hungry yet? Then let's have a snack of the famous "white sausage" (actually a white speckled sausage) and go for a ride on the King's Lake.
We will, of course, wash down the abundant food with beer, but we will also get acquainted with the local 40-degree attraction - vodka infused with gentian roots. The Enzianbrennerel distillery has existed for more than a hundred years.
However, the little boat with tourists is already setting off for a trip on the King's Lake (Königssee). This lake has seen Bavarian kings for about a hundred years - after Berchtesgaden passed from Austria to Bavaria in 1810. The lake is compared to a fjord - it stretches eight kilometers in a basin between high cliffs, and its depth reaches 190 meters. The water in the lake is very clean, partly because since 1909 ships here have been powered by electric motors. So here there is purity and silence. About halfway, our boat stops, one of the sailors takes out a trumpet and performs a "duet" with the mountain echo.
We go ashore at the Church of St. Bartholomew, to one of whose walls a hunting lodge of Ludwig II is attached. Every year in August, thousands of pilgrims head to the church. They walk through the mountains - with their own food and beer. This custom has existed for more than 300 years - in gratitude for the fact that the plague that raged in Europe bypassed these places.
You can also take a longer trip to the village of Salet (about two hours round trip). A short climb up the mountain - and before you will open a panorama of Lake Obersee and a waterfall that plunges from a height of 400 meters.
All these beauties are part of the national nature park, an alpine reserve. Its visitors can move only along paths. Every kilometer or two they are sure to come across rest areas where food and drinks are sold.
Museum Underground and in the Clouds
Berchtesgaden is not only the name of the region and the reserve, but first of all the name of a small ancient town. It has, as expected, an old market square, many churches and chapels, royal villas and castles, and the residence of the Wittelsbachs. It now houses a museum, but whenever any descendant of this illustrious royal family visits the town, the museum closes, because the visitor stays in his family palace.
In Berchtesgaden everything is beautiful, measured, harmonious. The only thing surprising is the railway station, which is too large for a town of ten thousand. It was built to receive important personages from various countries of the world; they came here in the 30s and 40s to meet Hitler.
In 1924-1926, a modest village house at the Obersalzberg resort, near the town of Berchtesgaden, was rented by Adolf Hitler, then little known. He introduced himself to the owner as Herr Wolf (Wolf). Here he finished his book "Mein Kampf", gained popularity, and when he became rich and came to power, he bought the house and turned it into a luxurious villa "Berghof". Gradually, the resort village turned into a protected zone, fenced with a 27-kilometer barbed wire fence. Not only luxurious dachas for Hitler's closest assistants were built, but also barracks for guards, servants' quarters, a kindergarten - about 80 buildings in all.
Just before the war, Obersalzberg became the center of high politics. The English and French prime ministers, the Bulgarian tsar, the Romanian dictator, and the King of Belgium visited here. Hitler met them on the stairs of his "Berghof" or in the reception house "Eagle's Nest", which the party gave to the Führer for his 50th birthday.
In 1943, the Allies began bombing German cities, and Hitler's and his henchmen's chalets were hastily connected by underground passages carved into the rock. The sprawling bunker, called the "Alpine Fortress", had its own gasoline power plants, greenhouses (the cannibal Hitler was a vegetarian), wine cellars, and richly furnished rooms with baths. The German army was retreating, and on July 14, 1944, the Führer left Obersalzberg forever.
Not so long ago, a museum of the history of the Third Reich was opened in the bunker and the room above it. Only two kilometers of the underground are open for viewing, but from the gloomy empty corridors one wants to quickly get out into the air.
From old times, the "Eagle's Nest" also remains, which is easy to imagine from Aleksandr Sokurov's film "Moloch". By tour bus you can climb to the top of the rock and marvel at the skill of the engineers and workers who built the house and the parking lot, laid a wonderful road with tunnels and a "golden" elevator. Its cabin is made of bronze and still lifts more than 40 passengers to a height of 124 meters in 41 seconds. From the windows of the "Eagle's Nest" a majestic panorama opens: mountains, valleys, rivers, cities, two countries - Germany and Austria.
Water and Salt
The best way to detach from the past and plunge into modernity is to go swimming in the large water park of Berchtesgaden, called Watzmann Therme. There are all kinds of saunas, a children's pool, a water slide, water whirlpools, fountains, warm grottoes, saltwater pools - both indoor and outdoor. Relax, harden yourself, enjoy, get healthy! All thoughts disappear, only one remains: where does the salt water in the pools come from? Surely they don't pour salt here by the sackful?
The salt water of Berchtesgaden, like all other mineral springs, flows from underground. You have probably noticed that many local place names contain the word Salz - "salt".
Let us also go underground - to the old salt mines. First, we will be given "work clothes" - pants with drawstrings, black jackets, and a leather apron. It is worn not as an apron in front, but as a "back apron". Then in the mine we will see an old photograph showing a worker cutting salt in ordinary trousers with suspenders, and no special clothing on him. But let's play along. We sit astride the bench of a trolley and ride through narrow winding tunnels. Stop, we've arrived. In front of us is a huge pit. You can slide down to its bottom on a wooden slide (that's when the "back apron" comes in handy), or you can go down the stairs, depriving yourself of childish pleasure. But then, while walking down the stairs, you have time to look around and wonder whether such large halls were really cut by hand?
They will tell about this a little later. For the last two centuries, salt has not been cut, but extracted with water. They find salt deposits, pump fresh water into them, and pump out salt water. As a result, huge caves form. We slid down into one of them on the slide, and in the second we will soon sail on a silent ferry; at the bottom of the cave is a salt lake.
Salt, as we know, is not only an essential food product, but also a healing remedy. In many hotels and clinics in Berchtesgaden (I hope you have already remembered this word), salt therapy is used. It has a good effect on health, just as a trip to Austrian Salzburg (did you hear the "salt" in its name?) will also have a favorable effect on your well-being. From Berchtesgaden to Salzburg is just a stone's throw, a mere 20 kilometers.