Gemütlich Bavaria hotel with a visit to a local cheese-maker.
Bavarian Hotel
I was in Germany the first two weeks in September (Yes, I was there during the WTC attack, driving up to Munich from Lindau when my son called on the cellphone. Ironically, that evening I stayed at the Four Points Sheraton at the Olympic Village.)
The prior week, I had the pleasure of spending a couple days in my favorite part of Germany, a small town called Schliersee, which is south of the Autobahn about halfway between Munich and Salzburg.
It's a popular vacation site for the Germans, but like everywhere else in Germany, everybody knows English.
Previously, I picked up a link to the web site for the Hotel Schliersbergalm (tel. +49/08026 /6722, fax 6685, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). The web site has a livecam from the hotel overlooking the Alps, valley, and lake for which the town gets its name. The hotel is reached by a cable-car from the town of Schliersee. Terrific, friendly place with surprisingly modest prices. Spectacular view. While I was there, they were "doing" a wedding for an obviously wealthy Munich family. Weather was lousy, still had a great time. Stefan and Simone run a great hotel.
I also had the treat of tagging along with Stefan Schimke, manager of the Schliersbergalm, as he was going to get some special cheese for the wedding participants. Acker Alm is just inside Austria, no more than a 25-minute drive from Schliersee. The "cheese shop" is up a private mountain road (.8 EUR), paved but rough. Almost to the top of the peak, and where the paved road ends, is this small cheese "factory". Of course, milk cows graze everywhere.
The shop, in an old farmhouse, is about 40-feet square and divided into a cheesemaking facility and a small tasting area with two large tables. Ten to 12 large wheels of different cheeses are laid out on a counter and the cheesemaker slices off pieces from them for eating there or taking out. This could make a cheese enthusiast out of anyone. Best cheese I've ever had. It's great fun to sit there and see the cows that made the milk that was used in the next room to make the cheese that you're eating now.
Keep up the great newsletter!
Joe McKee
Via email
(Ed. Note: Your emails and letters are most welcome. We publish those whose content includes hotel/restaurant contact information, and are brief, concise and of interest to the broadest segment of our readership. We have a sizable backlog of your letters and in the next few months plan to devote more space to Readers Forum.)
February 2002
