Mystic, mysterious, shivering, enchanting and scary tales and legends are being told in the Alps. Inspirations for a couple of beautiful hikes to the settings of old Alp legends have been gathered by frederics guide munich. Starting point, guess what, is the Watzmann at Berchtesgadener Land.

King Watzmann was a merciless ruler, who reigned over the Salzburg region and adjacent Bavaria long time ago. When he sent the farmers to the plows and dogs behind them in his delusion of power, one of those poor ones fell tothe ground. At once, a small man appeared from the soil who gave him the sign to be quiet and to take him with him. Back at home the small man explained his plan to him. Each farmer should bring pebbles and throw them at the king, his family and dogs while plowing. Nothing would happen and behold, when they did as they were told, the stones became bigger and bigger in the air and turned the royal clanship into giant rocks, the Watzmann massif. By the way, the blood formed the Königs- and the Obersee and that Watzmann is astill a tough place today shows in the fact of the many calls for the mountain rescue service in this area.

Schleching at Chiemgau is the next destination of legendary tales. The split Klobenstein is explained by the legend with a heavenly wonder. An old womanwas on her way to the pilgrimage chapel and knew nothing about the obstacle, a huge rock. Due to tired feet she called die Virgin Mother and behold,  Maria came from heaven and divided the giant rock in two, so that the oldwoman reached the chapel safe and on the shortest path. Today the hike to the chapel is a dream: A well-kept forest track, a spectacular rope bridge and a restaurant, leaving no needs unmet. Also a great hike for the less trained, for it's only a 3,5 hours tour .

To one of the greatest view points at Vorkarwendel the path leads up to the Schafreuter, very close to Sylvensteinspeichersee. The legend tells of a monk, who intended to evangelize the descendants of Celtic settlers in this area. Bluthardt, the leader of the savaged settlers had the monk do compulsory labor, but the cleric managed the flight into a cave on Schafreuter. Bluthardt and his companions found the monk and decided, to let him starve in hishideout. When the monk was still alive after weeks, Bluthardt decided to tie him to a horse and drag him to death. But when he rode over the ridge, a fierce storm came and he was struck by lightning. The next morning the sun was shining and horse and rider froze to a rock. The monk went to the valley, converted the inhabitants who built a monastery whose relicts can still be seen.

dMore legends as well as ideas for tours to legendary  landscapes can beiscovered in the book by Michael Pröttel, „Auf den Spuren geheimnisvoller Alpensagen“, published at J. Berg Verlag, München.

by Dietmar Stanka