Germany's Most Romantic Lake

 

Hello T gang - today I am going to take you to a very special place in Bavaria which IMHO is the most romantic lake in Germany: the Königssee (which translates to King Lake but has nothing to do with kings). It is surrounded by steep and high mountains - these are the Bavarian Alps - and most of the lake is part of the Nationalpark Berchtesgarden. It is a natural lake that was formed by glaciers during the last ice age. It stretches for almost 5 miles (7.2 km) between the steep mountain walls and measures just short of 1 mile (1.2 km) across its widest part. It is similar to a fjord.

The best place to access the lake is from Schönau, and the only way to explore the lake is by electric powered passenger boats. You can see one of the boats in the middle of the picture below. The buildings in the background are the "garages" for the boats.

Of course we took the boat - it's the only way to get on the lake and see all the beauty and natural drama it has to offer. Each boat has a tour guide. We were very lucky that we had a wonderful guy with a refeshing sense of humor, colored by his soft Bavarian dialect that makes everything a little bit more special. The Bavarian dialect is often said to be "hefty" (mostly by people who don't like it), but I would characterize it as "hearty". Like with almost every language, it can be lovely and soft, or rough and hard. This guy definitely belonged to the first category - he was charming.

He told us about the lake and everything you need to know about it. It has a maximum depth of 620 ft. (190 m) and thus is Germany's deepest lake. It is supposed to be one of the cleanest if not the cleanest lake in Germany. The surrounding steep mountains rise to a height of 8,900 ft. (2700 m) and that includes the famous Watzmann massif, the third-highest mountain in Germany. Only the electric powered boats as well as rowing and pedal boats are allowed on the water. You can swim in the lake, if you like - but be forwarned, the lake is extremely cold.

In the middle of the lake, the boat stopped and our guide gave us a sample of the incredible echo at this spot. He took up his trumpet and played short melodies that sure enough were then repeated by the echo. It was simply amazing. I made a minute-long video of it; you have to turn up the sound to be able to hear the echo (the baby will get quieter).

After about 30-40 minutes we reached the first stop which for many people is the final destination on this tour. This is probably the most photographed view of Königssee - St. Batholomä with Watzmann massif behind it.

St. Batholomä is a pilgrimage church that was re-built at the end of the 17th century on the foundation of the original 12th century church. At the beginning of the 18th century it was remodeled to its current baroque appearance. It is very picturesque how it snuggles in its surrounding magnificent landscape.

Königssee is famous for its fish and our guide had already told us on the boat to try the smoked char which we of course did as well as a smoked fish spread. Both were avilable in a little shed for just a couple of euros. It was so delicious I would have happily eaten a second helping.

After this tasty refreshment we took a little hike along the shore of the lake and into the woods. Just look at the color of the lake - this is its actual color. Isn't it amazing?

The mountains were equally amazing and wonderful. It helped that we had a picture-book day.

Eventually we embarked on one of the boats again and went further south toward the end of the lake. There were noticeably less people taking this direction.

The terminal station is Salet where there are two Almen (Alm is a mountain pasture in the Alps, but simple inns with a very limited offer in food are called Alm as well and one of the best things you will encounter during a long hike when you're hungry and thirsty), Saletalm and Mooskaser Saletalm. In the picture below you can see Mooskaser Saletalm in the typical Upper-Bavarian architecture style.

As tempting as it was, we decided to skip the Alm and hike over to Obersee (Upper Lake) instead. I think we made a very good decision. The view was just breathtaking.

At the far end you see Röthbachfall, the highest waterfall in Germany with a vertical drop of 1,540 ft. (470 m). The mountains here belong to the Steinernes Meer ("Rocky Sea"). This is right on the border to Austria.

It was finally time to turn around and take the boat back to Schönau, passing boat stations and crosses of pilgrimage that you can find all over Bavaria.

Back in Schönau it was time for dinner. We were hungry - that smoked char was many hours ago! We wanted to go to Echostüberl which was still a bit to walk. We had to cross this beautiful covered bridge which is actually a weir to get to the other side where the restauant was located.

From the restaurant we had a lovely view over the lake and saw the last passenger boats coming in (it's a good idea not to miss the last boat) and then finally going into their garage.

The food in the restaurant was delicious - of course I had fish. Any guesses what we had to drink?

Thank you, Elizabeth, for hosting T Tuesday again. I'm so happy to join.