If a holiday area calls itself the Waginger See-Rupertiwinkel eco-model region, then it is a matter of honor to travel there by public transport. But it is not that easy. At the ÖBB counter, the Westbahn timetable and the bus connections are not known and the Scotty app lacks information on Bavarian private local railways. With cross-border research on the Internet – which you’ve heard so much about outside of the railway operators – you can get the data together. The public connection to Waging am See is not bad at all and cheap. It is only a 200 meter walk from the bus station to our base camp, the Landhotel Tanner.
Herb expert Yvonne Liebl introduces us to the local topography around the Maria Mühlberg pilgrimage church and explains the edible parts of the landscape. We then cook buckhorn, girsch, nettle and the last blossoms of the season into herb butter and soup. “Delicious, delicious,” say the fellow travelers from northern Germany.
The Gramminger’s Sailerhof, where father Franz and son Franz distil “Waginger See Schnaps”, the official fruit brandy of the organic model region, along with 45 other varieties, is about completely different quantities of flora, organic of course. We find the Grammingers mashing apple quinces that come from their meadow orchards. “We grow some of the quinces in wood,” says Franz Jr., who also knows how to distil regional fruits: greengage (ringlotte), medlar, sloe, kriachal, wild cherry or service tree. Tip for connoisseurs: taste the fruit schnapps or grape schnapps at cask strength (57%) – in Hannah Gramminger’s yoga paradise right above the tasting room, you can lie down a little if you have to.
The best way to get around the region is by bike. There are cycle paths almost everywhere, a number of tours are signposted, some lead to breweries, such as the Schönram private land brewery, which has experienced a boom in recent years. “We brew eight beers here using only Bavarian ingredients,” says Michael Buchner.
These include the “Bavarian Pale Ale”, the “Grünhopfen Pils” made from freshly harvested hop cones, a flowery meadow beer, a festive Christmas beer or the light beer “Surtaler Gold”. It recently won gold at the “European Beer Star”, the industry competition. If the Braustüberl next door is closed, emaciated cyclists can take a drink from the fridge at the brewery entrance for a donation (brauerei-schoenram.de).
One who also pedals but sits in a kayak is called Christian Hagl. “Zander Chris” is what people here call the most ambitious fisherman on Lake Waginger. Fishing for catfish, perch, zander, pike, but also carp is possible here. The day ticket costs 16 euros. Austrians must purchase a 3-month tourist fishing license (25 euros) from the local municipality. If you are not familiar with fishing techniques, you can take a course with “Zander Chris” (0049-(0)170-5301106). But beware: be nice to the good man, he is picky about his apprentices.
The moor lake near Schönram is not suitable for fishing, but you should get close to it to harvest special berries. A little hidden in the forest and on a former peat extraction site, Michael Steiner cultivates aronia and blueberry bushes. However, his main interest is in cranberries, which are hyped as superfoods. The plants with the larger-fruited relatives of the native cranberry only reach the height of heather, but deliver a rich harvest. “Fifty years ago, the Technical University of Munich set up test areas with cranberries here,” says Steiner, who now runs the self-picking facility with dedication.
Mushrooms can also be found in abundance on hikes in the forests around the two lakes. “I’m not very familiar with that,” says nature coach Sabine Glatz, who is otherwise at home in the forest. Near Petting, she leads city dwellers through the fir trees and tries to convey that “trees are social creatures” and that people can relax in the forest because they have developed their senses in the forest. “Forest bathing” is the terminus touristicus for it. Simply enjoying a walk in the forest would of course also work.
- Info: chiemsee-alpenland.de
Accommodation/Restaurants
Tips for accommodation: 4-star hotel “Landhaus Tanner” (landhaus-tanner.de) with a subtle alpine touch, with top slow-food organic cuisine, which can also be vegan.
Hotel and inn “Unterwirt” in Fridolfing (gasthaus-unterwirt.de), regional-seasonal cuisine with modern aspects.
Source: Nachrichten
