The Hotel zum Türken is our official Sharkhunters 'Home Away from Home' in Germany; owned and operated by our dear friend and longtime Member INGRID SCHARFENBERG (3308-A/LIFE-1993).  This hotel was built around 1630 and was bought by Karl Schuster (her Grandfather) on 27 September 1911.

This hotel was immediately next to the mountain home of Adolf Hitler and so Martin Bormann wanted to buy the hotel but Schuster refused.  Bormann had him put into the concentration camp at Dachau to force him to sell.  A sick and broken man, Schuster agreed to sell the hotel for 165,000 Reichsmarks but Bormann withheld most of the money.  A broken man, Schuster died in 1934 at age 56.

Shortly after the end of the war, INGRID acquired the hotel back.  It was only a shell, having been bombed badly on 25 April 1945 but with hard work, the zum Türken was turned into a fantastic place to relax and to revisit history.  The officers of Hitler's security guard lived here and now, the Sharkhunters do also.

Click on this photo and begin your trip back in this fantastic history.

Berchtesgaden is a quaint village, many centuries old, nestled in a quiet valley in the Alps.  This is the village at the foot of the Obersalzberg where Martin Bormann built his Reich Sicherheits Zone, or Reich Security Zone.  All access to the mountain was controlled by SS security, but the little town was not.  It is more or less the same as it was decades ago.

Sharkhunters frequent the Golden Bär Restaurant on the left in this photo, but my favorite is Forstner's, the white building at the end of this street.  It is there I find vanilla ice cream with hot raspberrys and whipped cream.  Okay, so I splurge; why not?  Now click on this photo and enjoy Berchtesgaden.

Welcome to Königsee.  Today this is the Schiffmeister Hotel - in the latter part of World War II, this was the headquarters of General Field Marshall Kesselring.  This is a beautiful and well preserved area  only electric powered boats are allowed on these waters.  Well, almost...sometimes a workboat with conventional power is seen zipping across the lake, but for the norm - electric power only.

Many centuries ago, a shift in the land raised the area at the far end of the Königsee, cutting off a smaller portion which became Obersee.  A path of about one or so kilometers separates these two beautiful lakes.

Eva Braun liked to come here to exercise in her bathing suit and to smoke cigarettes - both of which were frowned upon by Adolf Hitler.  He had a favorite place by a large rock at the far end of the Obersee.  We will see it.

Click on this photo and enjoy the Königsee.

The scenery must be seen to be truly appreciated.  The camera is great, but until you see it with your own eyes, feel the breeze on your own cheek and smell the freshness in the air yourself - it just isn't the same.

Being only about 20km (about 12 miles) from Salzburg, we naturally spent a delightful day there.

As we closed out this 'Patrol' we also drove the scenic Roßfeld Straße - the beautiful Rossfeld Road.

Come with us into Salzburg and along the road in the clouds.  Click this photo of the huge castle.  As we have said - it was good to be the king - and this guy was not even the king!

This was called the 'Kehlsteinhaus' meaning the house built on Kehlstein Mountain.  It was built in just 13 months from inception to completion in time for Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday on 20 April 1939.  Contrary to the generally published 'history', this was not built with slave laborers at all.  To build something of such magnitude and such precision, one would have the best stone cutters, masons, carpenters etc. available.  These were recruited with good pay, housing for the duration of the project, food etc.

This photo was shot from the valley below and the Kehlsteinhaus is easily seen from just about any vantage point for twenty or so miles in all directions.

Click on this eerie photo and come with us to this historic place.

As we see in this superb photo shot by Angela Smith, we ate really well on this "Patrol" and, as in this photo, in some very historic places.  The view was always breathtaking, the food always great, and the history - click on this photo and join us for a walk back into the tunnels of time.

This sign states that the Hotel Geiger is closed.  Sadly, it is not only closed but falling into total ruin and will most likely be demolished soon.  It was Luftwaffe Headquarters for this area.

Click on this prophetic note and go to our photo section covering this tragic situation and other buildings of the Reich.

TUNNELS and BUNKERS!  That is the big reason we are here.  We visited the tunnels and bunkers that we knew about AND, thanks to 'Recon RANDOLPH' we found one we didn't know about.  Where is this tunnel system?  What is in it?

This photo will probably bring you nightmares, but click on it anyway and join us in the history that is seven decades old.