The Eagle's Nest

When the RAF bombed the Obersalzburg in April 1945, the Eagle's Nest was on the list. They missed it and today it is a HUGE tourist attraction. Though it has come to be known as the Eagle's Nest, it's official name is Kelsteinhaus. 

If you're in super great shape, you can hike up there.  I took a bus from the Obersalzburg parking lot. Once you get off the bus, you'll walk through a long tunnel and then enter a rotunda to the right before being lifted up into the house by the huge elevator. The main hall is a restaurant now with an outdoor beer garden on the patio.

The views are extraordinary and pictures simply can't come close to conveying the experience of being there.

There is a picture on Geoff Walden's excellent site that shows Hitler sitting uneasily on this terrace. Although Eva Braun apparently spent a lot of time here, Hitler only went to the house on a few occasions.



The dock end of Lake Konigsee can be seen from the Eagle's Nest.



The Untersburg mountain with Salzburg in the distance.



The Kempinski Hotel and the remains of Hitler's Obersalzburg complex.



Near left center is the mountain Ahornbuchsenkopf and near right center is the mountain hut Purtschellerhaus, both of which appeared in the final scene of "The Sound of Music". The mountains in the distance are in Austria.



Another scene of the Obersalzburg in the foreground, with the hill above Oberau near the center where my hotel was and Salzburg, Austria in the distance.



At the peak of every mountain I climbed, there were memorials, usually crosses. This one is on the hill behind the Kelsteinhaus.