This whole area is a little on the touristy side, and it's easy to understand why. It turns out that Bad Reichenhall is a really pretty little town, and there's a lot to do around here. Including many beautiful hiking trails.
We set off to see the town at around 1:30pm, and we got lucky in that it didn't rain. The sun even tried to peak out a couple of times.
First thing we did was pop into the tourist office and find out if they have a walking tour map. They didn't actually have a tour set out, but the lady did give us a paper map and marked a few things off.
Ruth, outside the Regal Spa Building, constructed in 1900.
This park in the central area is part of an event center.
The structure behind this fountain is the Spa Graduation House.
It has nothing to do with school of any kind though. There are natural springs under Bad Reichenhall. The water, (called brine) has a 26% salt content and the Graduation house allows evaporation and atomization and you are supposed to walk around the structure for a half hour a day, inhaling the surrounding air. Apparently proven to be beneficial to those suffering respiratory diseases.
It is recommended to walk for half an hour a day on the side facing away from the wind, i.e. where the brine does not trickle - breathing slowly and calmly through your nose along the graduation house. The sprinkling area of the black thorn fields is around 2000 square meters per side. The thorns obtained from Poland are very well suited for the evaporation process due to their fine and stronger branches and have a shelf life of about 10 years. Through the process of sprinkling and the adverse effects of weather conditions (wind and sun), part of the water in the Alpine brine is evaporated and the brine is graded. That means that the alpine brine becomes more high-grade, at the same time aerosols are created by the atomization which can be used in the open air inhalation for the respiratory tract.
The rows of Polish thorns that disperse the water.
The gardens are beautiful.
A pedestrian street.
There is snow in the mountains.
The tourist office lady had suggested we do the short hike up to the castle...
Gruttenstein Castle, built around 1219.
Gruttenstein Castle is privately owned.
Views from the castle.
Ruth, having a look around.
Zoomed in on a church in the distance.
The old Salt Works building contains the pumping system for the water.
Interesting roof.
The town was bombed towards the end of WWII in April 1945.
The wall of this building was left unrepaired as a memorial.
This young woman was killed by the same bomb that damaged this wall.
This house was built in 1635.
Given how much things can change in 64 years as evidenced in yesterday's post, how much has this house changed in almost 500 years??
The historic area.
There is a cable car that goes up here.
The Predigtstuhl cable car is listed as one of the ten best in the world. How they came up with that, we have no idea. But it's certainly has to be one of the ten most expensive. €49 ($71 CAD, $57 USD) per adult for the round trip, although you can get the bargain price of €25 ($36 CAD, $29 USD) after 4:30pm.
St. Nikolaus Church.
Originally built in the second half of the 12th century, but it has had many structural modifications since then.
Interior.
Historic area of Bad Reichenhall.
Lots of interesting buildings!
Neat fountain.
It is specifically marked as drinking water.
Walking back to where Max was parked.
Beautiful older building.
We ended up having a really great afternoon exploring! The rain held off until we again met up with Glen and Steve where they had found a decent overnight spot outside of town. We went over to their motorhome for drinks and dinner and a few more rounds of euchre.
We are parked literally a 1/2 km from the Austria border.
Slept fine, but it rained all night, heavy at times. Still spitting this morning, but we'll get out for a walk eventually one way or the other. Not supposed to clear until Friday afternoon, but then it's supposed to be a sunny weekend. We're hanging around and plan to visit Salzburg on Saturday.
Glen and Steve left this morning, headed to Slovenia. They are in a bit more of a rush to get to Turkey since their motorhome is registered in the UK and they had to have specific dates in order to get insurance. We hope to see them again in January.
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Record low deal on Redken Shampoo.
And in Canada...
Some of the names in your post are somewhat familiar. My father was there at some point. I remember him mentioning that cable car.
ReplyDeleteThe cable car is the world's oldest originally preserved cable car so it is no wonder that your father would have mentioned it to you. It first started running in 1928. It would have been lovely to have ridden on but not at €49 ($71 CAD, $57 USD) per person.
DeleteWhat a beautiful town! Is all of Austria this neat and clean?
ReplyDeleteIt really was a beautiful town. It is actually still in Germany but very close to the border of Austria. I am sure that Austria is just as neat and clean as Germany is though.
DeleteI love the chairs set up around the little pond!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was pretty and they were all 6 ft apart or at least every two sets or so were.
DeleteBeautiful town. I love the cobblestones in each city and the stone buildings.
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoyed looking around the town. The cobblestone was all in the older sections and pedestrian walkway areas. In some spots it was very decorative.
DeleteEverything looks so perfect, gorgeous homes, buildings, town!
ReplyDeleteThe town really was pretty much perfect! :-)
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