Lin & Steve's space

Our long awaited 2 week holiday to Schladming in Austria started on the 17th October, it was one to remember! They had several heavy snow showers the preceeding days, so we arrived at the resort to find a veritable winter wonderland. Cross country skiers using the roadside paths, ski runs and wonderful Alms to while away the hours, although we only watched, we were more than happy to see these vistas so early in the winter.

After the first day or two, the sun came out and stayed, perfect for walking and exploring, the snow started to melt but it took a week, so we had the best of both worlds.

The Alpine Club, Rohrmoos, Schaldming, was a perfect base, if you had a car, fantastic views, full glass fronted bedrooms and lounge/diner to take advantage of them.

There is a lot to see in the area, toll roads to high lakes, or the Dashstein glacier with it's year round skiing, freindly people, superb scenery, great beer and hearty food, what more could you want!

Once again we returned to our favourite part of the world, Bavaria, Austria and the magnificent Alps. I had been browsing the 'Air Lingus' website and saw they had a new route to Munich, too good an oppertunity to miss. it worked out at around £60 for 2 seats and 1 bag, efficient service with ample leg room, even for me, very impressed.

So for Lin's birthday we had a short break, one night in central Munich at the truly wonderful 'Kings Hotel Center' 2 minutes from the main station and close to all the wonderful city sights.

 

This was followed by 4 nights at the lakeside town of Schliersee at the Alpenclub resort in a studio with superb views of the mountains and only 5 minutes from the lake.

At the bottom of the road from the Alpen club we found a super restuarant, only a short stagger away, which as it rained some evenings was very handy!

The 'Gasthof Zum Prinzenweg' cannot be more highly recommended, traditional hearty Bavarian fare at great prices and fine hosts a bonus being that the hostess had worked in Chicago for a while so we had no problem with the menu! Being fond of our food, we have to say the venison goulash was the culinary  highlight of our trip.

 

We must mention the very efficient Bavarian transport system, not only the variety, trains, U bahn, S bahn, trams and busses, but the fact you can buy 'partner' day and 3 day tickets that cover up to 5 people for all transport within Bavaria. €28 meant we both could travel from Schliersee to Munich, tour around and then pass on to the airport, great value. We can't wait to go back.

Prien am Chiemsee, back again.

 

How glad we were to find that Herr Wulf and his wonderful ‘Hotel Luitpold am See’ still presides centre stage at one of the best locations in all of Europe.

The hotel, nestled on a spit of land between the lively ferry docks and the small promenade is such a good location, the majority of the attractions can be sampled within a couple of hundred metres of the hotel.

Many happy hours can be spent nursing a beer, or ‘Radler’, (shandy) and sampling the superb menu, while watching the world go by on your doorstep.

During May the area celebrates the Asparagus (Spargel) season, the Luitpold has a dedicated menu for this tasty treat, we sampled the Spargelcremesuppe, delicious and good value at €3.20!

The main menu had been changed since our last visit, so it was that we decided on a sharing platter, we were accompanied by Lin’s mother this time, and she has a very small appetite.

“Luitpold’s Hauspfann” was our choice, normally for 2 people but 3 of us struggled to finish the heavily laden platter. Assorted grilled meats with herb butter, potato gratin and the local ‘Spaetzle’ pasta, vegstables and two types of sauce to drizzle over the dish. It was extremely tasty and along with a carafe or two of local white wine made a memorable meal, and at €29.90, good value.Unfortunately we only had one night here, en route to a timeshare apartment in Schliersee, but we shall return here again, perhaps in the winter next time. It is a very practical destination, a short hop or train ride from Munich airport, plenty to see and experience in this delightful area. Please read our previous travel bite on Prien for more details.

Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria.

 

When we returned from this stunning part of the world and you will be surprised to learn that I actually had nothing to moan about! This was our best holiday ever. From the moment we stepped on the plane at Gatwick and got upgraded to business class (yes it does happen, thanks B A & Judith) to our last glimpse of the lake before leaving for home, a wonderful 12 days. 

Munich was our port of arrival, we would have 2 nights in Prien on lake Chiemsee before travelling through for a week in a timeshare apartment in Zell am See, Austria. We would then return to Prien for a final 2 nights. This worked out wonderfully. It is an easy 60 mile drive to our hotel on the lakeside from the airport, so makes a good base for either side of our main week. So impressed were we with this area and our hotel, the wonderful Luitpold am See, that we will certainly be returning for long weekends now and again.                                      

The hotel, www.luitpold-am-see.de/ is in a great situation, sitting alongside the docks where a paddle steamer and various craft ply back and forth to the islands. Laden with tourists and visitors to the grand palace on the main island. As you know by now, in these Travel Bites, we try to find the ‘ahh’ spot in the resort, where it is best to sit and watch the world go by or survey the scenery. For this trip, the Luitpold’s outside restaurant terrace overlooking the ferries coming and going, was where we spent many an hour. The restaurant, personally overseen by the hotel’s owner, Herr Wulf, was like the rest of the establishment, superb, with friendly attentive staff, waiting to serve us delicious meals or copious glasses of ‘Radler’ (lager shandy).

Right, let’s set the scene, from the terrace looking out over this huge lake, the main ferry berth is immediately beside us on the right. To the east directly in front of us is the largest of the islands, Herreninsel, which is home to the Schloss Herrenchiemsee, built by King Ludwig ll. Behind and slightly to the left of the main island is Fraueninsel, with its picturesque water front homes and the old convent. To the left of the hotel is a lakeside walk around a little peninsula, with boat hire companies dotted around the waterfront.

Overlooking this are the rest of the lakeside hotels in this marvellous resort, with outside bars and cafes competing for trade. We preferred the relative tranquillity of the Luitpold's   sunny terrace. Just past the other hotels is the best swimming complex we have ever visited, Prienavera, www.prienavera.de/ this complex is comprised of various pools, spas, steam rooms, sun lounging areas and a truly great outside pool on a wooden boardwalk/ sun-terrace that juts out into the lake!

To the right of our hotel, behind the docks is a large yard with kiosks and toilets for the day-trippers and home of the Chiemseebahn. This elderly train was built in 1886 and now conveys tourists from the town centre mainline station a couple of kilometres away down to the docks. With a whistle and a toot, off it chugs to collect the next load of boat passengers, great. Beyond this yard are all the car and coach car parks, with a lakeside road heading south and the town centre up the hill to the west.

Arriving at the hotel at about 2pm the friendly receptionist guessed our name (not hard to spot a Brit abroad) and handed us the key to our lovely room. Spacious and meticulously clean, with a great balcony overlooking the little train and the docks. We also had, by using the airport’s online hotel booking service, a complimentary fruit basket, chocolates and mineral water, it’s the little touches that show the difference, very nice.

The first thing we did after the, relative chore, of unpacking was to sample a couple of ½ litres of Radler, weak lager shandy on Herr Wulf’s great terrace. We only found out about Radler on our last trip to Austria, in a heatwave, we were drinking large volumes of cold beer (lovely, but strong) to keep cool and then  having to have an afternoon siesta to be ready for the evening!

We eventually found a helpful, very good English speaking waitress who suggested Radler, instead of beer when we arrived hot and bothered at her establishment. Deserves a medal, she does, a 30/70 shandy is a very refreshing drink on a hot day, and we always seem to arrive during an unseasonable heat wave! Enough digression!

Sitting on this terrace is a wonderful experience, the paddle steamer ‘Ludwig Fessler’ comes charging into the dock alongside your table. You think he is going too fast and will ram the dock, suddenly the great paddle wheels churn into reverse and the boat stops on a sixpence amid a turmoil of foam!

I’m sure the captain does it for effect!  

That afternoon we caught the little train up to the main town, about a 20 minute walk up the slight hill, for €3 euros each, return it was well worth the money. The town was fairly quiet in May, but it was pleasant to stroll around and see the maypole and it’s carvings, and roam its streets admiring the many traditionally painted houses and the old church.

The evening was spent in the Luitpold’s traditional restaurant, where the food was so good, well presented and served, we ate there at every meal. We did of course peruse other menus but were very happy with the variety of Herr Wulf’s selections. As the heat of the un-expected fierce May sun increased the mixed local lake fish and grilled meats of the ‘Salad Land & Sea’ was a very tasty but light evening meal, washed down with a carafe or 3 of some delicate local white wines. The restaurant was happy to supply a carafe and glasses to take back to the room to sit on the balcony and watch the moon rise over the lake. If you are looking for nightlife, not here my friend, thank goodness.

But, in the main summer season there are concerts and shows on stages set into the lake, and also at the Schloss Herrenchiemsee palace on the island, they must be memorable occassions.

Friday, after a typical German ‘pig woman breakfast’, I named it that after our first trip to a buffet breakfast in these parts. Linda came back with her plate so laden with cold meats, cheeses and assorted breads, that I called her ‘Pig Woman’, it sort of stuck, and yes, she did eat it all!

That day we took the Paddle steamer over to Herreninsel to visit Ludwig’s fabulous but sadly unfinished palace. He was infatuated with the French King Louis XIV, and this was a miniature version of the Palace of Versailles.  Even down to the superb fountains and the hall of mirrors, with it’s thousands of candles in vast crystal chandeliers that took teams of servants ages to light. There is a museum, hotel and restaurant on a slightly elevated position on the island, reasonably priced, the terrace has great views over the lake to Frauninsel island and it’s convent.

The ferries offer a variety of excursions to these two islands, or longer trips to other lakeside towns. There is lots to see and do in the area, within half an hours drive there are cable cars, castles, a summer toboggan run, bike and dingy hire, even a motor museum. Not forgetting, the cute little electric boats that you can hire to create your own adventure.

After another good nights dining, Saturday saw us setting of to Zell am See for our week in the mountains of Austria, we would be back next week for another 2 nights to round off the trip.

Whizz, that week flew by, Gabrielle our super helpful receptionist checked us in to another superb balcony room, where we would look down on the little train ferrying its load of tourists back to town. We sat on the terrace with a seasonal asparagus salad, a carafe of wine and watched the world go by.

There was a sailing regatta on the lake, alas no wind, very hot though. They had set up a marquee on the peninsula by the hotels, beer tent and barbequed lake fish. Now had we a bit more knowledge of the language we may have joined in the banter of the beer tent. As it was we settled for hiring a small 2 speed electric boat for an hours exploration on the lake. At €12 for the boat, we thought it very reasonable, and we even caught a breeze to cool off.

Sunday dawned even hotter, so following a light breakfast of fruit salad and muesli, too hot for ‘pig woman’ feasts. We opted for a 3 speeder craft for a 2-hour electric boat ride, to do a full tour of the 2 islands. It would keep us cool under the boats little canopy and take us through to lunchtime.

It was a joy, this boat would reach nearly 15kph, not exactly speeding but great fun. If you waited till one of the big ferries or the ‘Ludwig Fessler’ to go by you could turn in to cross their wake and have a thoroughly good time bouncing about in the waves! In the course of 2 hours we pottered around the islands, taking in the waterfront views. People swam in the lake from their own craft, from yachts, to pedaloes, everyone was out enjoying the heat.

On our first visit the lake was a chilly 13degrees c, now a week later the water was up to a balmy 24 degrees, quite amazing really. After a couple of cooling iced coffees, yes coffees, made with Alpine milk and a dollop of ice cream topped with whipped cream, mmm (sorry Weight Watchers!). We had another salad variation for lunch before spending the afternoon in Prienavera.

Oh what an experience, had we known we would have gone there for a couple of hours every day we were here! The spotlessly clean complex houses a wealth of features, childrens pools with fountains and rapids. A cooler large pool for real swimmers, sauna, steam room and 2 Jacuzzis! A café and sun terraces indoor and out. Next-door was the lakeside swimming centre, where a section of the lake is sealed off and diving boards and platforms are provided by a large grass area.

But the ultimate experience was the outside all year round pool. Made in stainless steel and entered from a feeder channel from the main building, the water kept heated to least 27 degrees all year round. The circular pool sits on a boardwalk jutting out into the edge of the lake. There are many different spa effects around the circumference of the pool that come on at different time intervals. You can lie on your stomach, looking out over the lake while a myriad of warm bubbles tickle your tummy, pure luxury!

To sum up, Prien am Chiemsee is a great destination in its own right, but for us it comes into its own as a jumping off point for travels to Austria or Salzburg. The convenient use of the cheaper flights and car hire in Munich than its dearer Austrian neighbour has appeal.