The Bavarian Highlands and the Salzkammergut

"The mountains, those pillars and foundations of the earth, are everywhere beautiful, whether their predominating character be that of wild grandeur or graceful softness; but it can scarce be denied, that the union of all these peculiarities and advantages is nowhere so complete and perfect in the beauty of ever-changeful variety as in that part of the German Alps generally described as the Bavarian Mountains. An equal charm is thrown over the country "Near the Mountains;" and, indeed, as its qualities form one of the chief beauties of these mountains, in this respect we are justified in first turning our attention thither.
The mountains themselves, then, stand up in impregnable ramparts which, like the isolated advanced works of a gigantic central fortress, spread out and push forward on every side. It is not, indeed, impossible for human courage and strength to surmount them, as trenches are stormed and roofs climbed; but the calm and happy traveller and friend of Nature prefers to seek the doors which the world of mountains has itself left open, and through these - as it were living roads, which to the present hour maintain the ancient intercourse between hill and plain - to seek his diversion. These doors and highways are the rivers and the valleys which the former have hollowed out and dug in the heart of the mountains, and on that account lead by the nearest and safest way back to that heart." [...]

This reprint of the original published work from 1874 is a wonderful book on the Bavarian Mountains and parts of Austria, including several illustrations.