Today has been one of my favorite days of our entire trip. We took a tour with Bob's Special Tours to the Bavarian mountains. We stopped at Schloss Hellbraun to see the summer home of the prince-archbishop.
From here, we passed into Germany and up Kehlstein Mountain. The Mountain is home to Hitler's Eagles Nest - a bunker built as a present for his 50th birthday. You have to take specially designed busses (at fit in the tunnels and around the hairpin curves) up to the main entrance, followed by a short ride up the gold elevator. We didn't spend much time exploring the building itself, but instead hiked along the mountain ridge, taking in the spectacular views. The clouds made it hard to capture photos, and the panoramic view would be even better without them, but I still thought it was breathtaking. I could have spent a lot more time exploring the mountain and scaling the cliffs than we did.
Our next step was Germany's third deepest lake, Königssee, King's Lake. It was formed by glaciers during the last ice age and is located at a Jurassic rift. It is also one of the clearest lakes I've ever seen, and the surrounding forests hold many hiking trails. The beautiful green coloring comes from the limestone deposits in the land. The town itself was also quite quaint. The world toboggan championships will be held at the course here in January.
The final stop on the tour was Berchtesgaden, a small city nestled in the alps.
For our last night in Salzburg, we decided to try our Taj Mahal - an Indian restaurant recommended by our hostel. It was fabulous and the aesthetic made it feel like somewhere we could sit and talk for hours.