- Drove to Markt Schellenberg, about 12km out of Salzburg, a town at the foot of the hill on which the opening scene of Sound of Music was filmed (the one with the twirl) (did I mention I’m a total Sound of Music tragic?!)
View from Mehlweg over Markt Schellenberg.
- First alp climb up to a place called Mehlweg to see the actual twirl location (and yes, I twirled too). Don’t worry, I pick very safe little walks to do when I’m travelling alone – not more than an hour and on well signposted routes with villages every few hundred metres. I like to know there are people nearby in case I ever have a problem.
- Hot, sunny, perfect day – didn’t actually care whether or not I found the area I was looking for, I was feeling so fit and strong, and was so glad to be climbing a mini-alp that I felt as happy as I’ve ever been.
Traditional houses. This style doesn't seem to be limited to any one country - rather it seems to recur throughout each part of the alps I've visited so far. And traditional doesn't mean that they don't keep up with modern technology - note the satellite dish on the building at the front.
- Then back to the car – while meandering through the alps, quite by accident came across Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” – a place he had built high in the alps at the very south of Germany, almost on the border with Austria. Well, the bus stop anyway, to get up there you had to take a special bus along roads they have to check regularly for stability (they are closed in winter as the risk of avalanches is so high, and even during summer they have to keep making sure none of the rocks have come loose). Most of the huge complex of buildings and underground bunkers the Third Reich had built here were destroyed just before the very end of the war, after the Allies sent over around 400 planes to repeatedly bomb it. Only one of Hitler’s tea rooms has been put back together and now serves as a restaurant – everything else was cleared away (it seems to be a recurring theme that the Germans want to avoid any suggestion that they are conserving these things as places of political pilgrimage).
- To get to the Eagle’s Nest, after taking the bus you had to enter a long tunnel, built in 1938, with its walls dripping with damp. It felt very much as though you were entering the heart of evil. You had to wait in this tunnel in a long queue for ages before you were able to enter a huge brass-and-glass lift, complete with green leather trim, brass clock and black Bakelite telephone on the wall. (These were all the original fittings from the days when Hitler and his henchmen would visit the complex.) This lift carried you up the last stretch to the Eagle’s Nest where you got out and could poke around the restaurant (they must love that) and go for a wander over the mountains.
Into the heart of darkness - tunnel to the lift which carries you up to the Eagle's Nest (which you can just make out at the top of the mountain).
Hitler's "Eagle's Nest".
- Went for a lovely walk high up there above Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest – and again felt furious that one little man could have created such unspeakable mess out of something so beautiful. Just before I left the hilltop to get back into the elevator, I noticed a sign pointing to the WC, and thought, perfect: weeing on Hitler’s mountain is just the way I would like to end this visit. So I did.
Peaceful: paragliders over the Obersalzberg.