Jen and Dave: Adventuring

Today was forecast to be very hot, and true to forecast it hit 33 Celsius. We decided that was too hot for hiking, so we took the (air conditioned) train to Bad Reichenhall to see the Old Salt Works and wander the town.

The “white gold” has been mined intensively here for hundreds of years, with evidence of salt harvesting going back to 2000 BC. The Old Salt Works hauls up brine from many springs, using two huge waterwheels 13 m in diameter, which have been continuously operating for more than 150 years. there is also an underground 2 km canal to carry off fresh water that was accidentally tapped. The temperature below ground was 12 degrees, so it was a perfect activity for a hot day.

After the Salt Works we found a great lunch and wandered the historic core of town. As it was Sunday things were deserted, but it was nice to have quiet streets.

We also found the Bad Reichenhall spa garden, including a massive passive cooler made of branches and brine. It is recommended that someone in poor health walk around it for sixty minutes a day. We suspect the walking sixty minutes a day will do as much for you as the evaporating brine, but it was a very pleasant temperature there and the sound of the trickling was very soothing.

The heat made an early end to the day advisable, and we grabbed Döner mit Käse to eat in our room. A quiet end to a lovely day.