Austria
Schlittkufengraben

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    • Day 393

      Lakes Region, Austria

      June 5, 2023 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

      We were able to visit the towns of Mondsee, Zall em See, and Halstatt. The lakes region is one of the most beautiful parts of Austria and only about an hour ride from Salzburg, some you can get to by bus which was how we got out to Mondsee the previous day. We opted for a car the following and after visiting Halstatt an extremely beautiful yet overly touristed town we got off the beaten path and did a bit of exploring. We headed southwest to the town of Zal em See through dirt backroads. Crossing mountains and streams along old wooden bridges along the way. We climbed up a nearby mountain and had lunch in an authentic austrian hut at the top. These huts are common in the Alps and some have wonderful food and beer, all having outstanding views. They are usually located on foot and bike trails as Austrians favorite past time is hiking, walking and biking along their mountainous countryside.

      In Mondsee, we came across an interesting famous landmark. Their church is the same church that was used for the wedding scene in the Sound of Music.
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    • Day 21

      Hallstatt Museum and Church Bone Chapel

      October 16, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 41 °F

      Hallstatt is home to the world's oldest salt mine (it's still in operation!) and one of the best stone-age settlement finds in Europe (to the extent that era in central European history is actually called the Hallstatt Culture Era), including a sizeable necropolis. The museum is actually quite good for such a small town, and includes a replica of the oldest wooden stairs/ladder in the world, dated to almost 1100 BC (the original is in situ in the mine). Also visited the famous bone chapel, with its painted skulls, situated in a 12th century chapel. Bonus pic: leaving Hallstatt by boat.Read more

    • Day 2

      Hallstatt

      September 22, 2021 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      I woke up extra early to catch the train going to Hallstatt. I really liked the rooms for the place I was staying at, big and private beds with burgundy curtains and there were just three of us in one room so it wasn't too loud. I ended up accidentally flooding our shared bathroom due to my shower curtain positioning. The water even reached the carpet of the main bedroom. I scurried off to get to the main station, getting on the wrong bus in the process which made me even a bit more panicky but I got there just fine, even had time to buy some McDonald's for breakfast. I was a bit worried as today was supposed to be a rainy day and I had wanted to get some sun for beautiful pictures. The train ride was actually very comfortable, too comfortable in fact as I didn't realize I was sitting at first class. When the ticket checker came to confirm my ticket, I realized I was in the wrong place and was asked to move to forward to the other cars. I passed by a small restaurant bar in one of the cars before making it to the seats for "normal" people. I was still able to get a window seat luckily. Most of the ride was very chill, I used it as an opportunity to get some much needed rest after numerous days of continued traveling. It was a long ride, watching Austria's country side as our train cruised along was something I truly enjoyed. As we approached Hallstatt, the scenery started to morph into something more grand. Mountains loomed huge and combined with these blue lakes made for such a picturesque scenery, There were some houses and pastures with sheep along the way as well. After a couple of more stops, we finally arrived at the other side of the lake. I went down to the docks and grabbed a roundtrip ticket and got on the boat that would take us to Hallstatt's port.

      The boat ride was very pleasant, seeing the lakeside town loom closer as we passed each wave gave me a nice idea what I was in for. As soon as I stepped down the boat, this sense of surreal excitement started to creep in. It was such a wonderful place, I remember I was still texting with my mom on my phone then, I was sending her these photos I took from the boat and she was really proud of me. First things first, I had to grab some lunch. I went to the first nearby restaurant to see what they had and was waiting for quite a bit but when I checked the menu, they only had breakfast so I used the bathroom and left to find some food. I decided to also start exploring as well, all the houses here were residential and all of them had these amazing coloring, blooming flowers, and wooden finishes. Just going around the narrow streets and alleys, going to wherever it leads was one of the best ways to explore, just getting lost in this small town. I was able to find some churches, a cemetery and even a waterfall. I took the non-tourist route and ended up going up a lot of stairs but it was quieter with no people. I later backtracked and took the tourist route and saw a lot of shops. I was quite lucky to have come here during Covid as there weren't that much tourists. Usually there would be thousands of Chinese tourists, made apparent by the signs around Hallstatt in Chinese. I circumnavigated the lakeside as well, they made for awesome pictures. There were a lot of swans hanging around the lake which added even more beauty to Hallstatt. I reached the end of the town and decided to have some pizza. It was so big actually, I almost couldn't finish it but it was also very delicious and a bit pricey but such is Europe.

      After having lunch, I went outside again back to the grocery store I passed by before and bought hazelnut bread for breakfast the next day. I hanged around here for a bit, just trying to let the time pass as it was raining very hard and the train I was planning on getting on was still a bit later in the day. After taking shelter in the grocery store, I went and sat by a bench under a tree that overlooked the lake, the rain was still drizzling but the tree was a good natural umbrella. I was worried about the rainy and cloudy weather but I realized they added so much drama and mood to my pictures, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I was planning on taking the postcard photo of Hallstatt at a specific time frame in the day when the sun would come out a bit so I just spent a lot of time visiting the various stores in the tourist road and staying inside the church for when it started to get to cold or rain. I then made my way to the hill overlooking the town pass the opposite side of the docks. I staked my position and waited for the opportune time to take photos, taking a lot of them from various angles. After I was satisfied, I went back to my trusty church and waited for the boat to take me to the train station at the other side of the lake. There, I waited with another person in the waiting room and finally got on the train which took us back to Vienna with a nice sunset behind us, as if it were saying good bye. I had to transfer to another train and then our train did get delayed multiple times before we reached Vienna.
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    • Day 11

      Waldbachstrub

      September 27, 2021 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      As I walked up towards the waterfall, I realized that this is my 1st experience of an alpine river. So instead of a picture of a Wasserfall near Hallstatt, here are a series of pictures along the river, beginning with the waterfall in the 1st 2 pictures. The 1st looks upstream and the 2nd looks down stream. The 3rd and 4th pictures are taken at a couple places that had signs noting that locally famous artists had painted and written about this stretch of river. The 5th picture looks toward where the Waldbachstrub empties into the Hallstattensee.
      The last is identified as a rock that fell into this narrow valley about 12,000 years ago. It is called Runenstein or rune stone. This picture tries to pick up what seem to be runes.
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    • Day 2

      Hallstatt

      September 12, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      Eine so süße Stadt und das direkt am Hallstättersee - Michaela war direkt entzückt von diesem Ort - Thomas nur bis die Touristenmassen hereinströmten - Gott sei Dank, waren WIR 😍 *Frühaufsteher* schon wieder am Weg zu unserem 🚙 Auto 🚙 😅😅Read more

    • Day 20

      Arriving in Austria

      July 11, 2017 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

      The first bummer of our trip happened today. The gorge we'd planned on seeing, which was the initial focus of our planning for this trip, was closed due to a big rockfall they'd had in May. They won't even get the gorge open until next summer. Disappointing, but we've experienced so many beautiful natural sites, we can't complain too much.

      As we drove through the Alps north from Slovenia into Austria, the terrain became more dramatic. By the way, "through" the alps is an apt term -- we travelled through many long tunnels on our route (some as long as 4 miles). The Austrian alps are more sheer and imposing than the Slovenian alps.

      We arrived at Hallstatt, a UNESCO designated town on one of the many lakes about an hour outside of Salzburg. The homes here cling to a cliffside, seemingly one on top of the other, most with only stairs to reach them. Walking around the area, we saw that they used a platform-and-pulley system to bring firewood and supplies to the homes from a small upper road. Winters must be severe here because there were large caches of firewood at every home (in Slovenia as well).

      Hallstatt is a very picturesque lake and town, and not so overrun as Lake Bled. The lake has swan paddle boats, but no kayak rentals as we were disappointed to find. Since it started raining soon after we arrived, that was okay. We enjoyed typical Austrian fare for dinner, of Wiener Schnitzel and Goulash, with "bier" and "wein" of course!
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    • Day 12

      Wolfgangsee

      July 19, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Der heutige Postalmklamm-Klettersteig war der Hammer. Zunächst ging es durch die Klamm, das sah z. T. Sehr spektakulär aus. Nach einem kurzen Anstieg durch den Wald kam noch ein kurzes, knackiger Abschlußstück.
      Anschließend haben wir noch im Wolfgangsee geschwommen.
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    • Day 13

      Hallstatt

      July 20, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      Heute sind wir zum zweiten Mal in die Echernwand eingestiegen! Wir waren allein und es war super schön! Dann sind wir mit dem Radel noch nach Obertraun gefahren und haben uns ins Strandbad gelegt! Sehr schönes Gelände!Read more

    • Day 7

      Seewand / Dachstein

      July 14, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Udo hat die Seewand bezwungen!!!
      Ich bin mit der Bahn auf den Klippstein! Nach einer Runde haben wir uns auf der Gjaidalm getroffen und sind gemeinsam unterhalb der Bahn 3 Std abgestiegen! Wie sich herausstellte waren wir auf der längsten Abfahrt Österreichs🤐😤Read more

    • Day 6

      Gosau Großer Donnerkogel

      July 13, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      Mit der Gosaukammbahn fast bis zum Einstieg! Die Tour war super. Die Himmelsleiter ein Erlebnis. Die Aussicht war klasse. Der Abstieg nochmal rechtknackig, aber schön! Insgesamt waren wir ca. 5 Std unterwegs.Read more

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