Maximiliansweg Day 7: Bad Reichenhall to Berchtesgaden

Day 7: Tuesday, July 19

On our last day of our point-to-point hike, we followed the Maximiliansweg from Bad Reichenhall to Berchtesgaden, with no particular challenges other than some hungry mosquitoes as we paralleled the hillside train tracks north of Winkl.

We awoke to the tintinnabulation of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells:
 

We passed Bad Reichenhall's 12th-century Romanesque (19th-c. Neo-Romanesque) basilica, St. Nikolaus, on our way out of town:

Once we left Bad Reichenhall behind, we spent most of the day hiking through woods. 

What's that? The word Maximiliansweg on a signpost? A first for us on this trip: 

Butterflies were plentiful:

We were never atop any mountains this day, but as we approached Berchtesgaden, woods yielded to fields, and we had excellent mountain views despite our low altitude.

The city Berchtesgaden is about 900 years old; the building below dates to the 1400s. More Berchtesgaden architecture photos follow down below.

Our hotel had multiple signs asking people to mask. In German, the signs said "No one must, but please do." 

The German must have been translated into English using some out-of-date auto-translate software:

Our hotel was down the hill from a Franciscan Kloster with a steep roof that we had seen from afar when first entering town, so we walked up to take a look.

I'm a fan of skull sculpture...

In the Altstadt, a statue provides a lesson on how to squeeze water from a pig:

After dinner, I took an evening walk in search of a sunset view, having been spoiled by the dramatic sunsets on Hochries and Kampenwand. Photos do a poor job of capturing the expansiveness of the views around Berchtesgaden. 

Hiking back down into town, I found Calvary:

Ta da! 12.2 of the day's 17 miles.