HALLSTATT & SALZBURG

The drive from Vienna to Hallstatt was really picturesque. We weren’t in a hurry so we could take the minor roads and enjoy the scenery which grew more and more specky as we neared the village. The weather was perfect and we saw people were taking full advantage of it, out hiking, canoeing etc.

The roadside comfort stops left a bit to be desired. There wasn't even a hole or a drum under there!

This was one of many tunnels we encountered as we drove through Europe. Many are simply to provide shelter from avalanches in the winter. Others are built because there was nowhere else to go but 'through' the mountain.

We stopped to take a look at this old castle on the way and for a
comfort stop for John. I'm really glad I didn't need a comfort stop as
we both got hit by stinging nettles in the carpark.

Lake Hallstatten just before you enter Hallstatt.

Hallstatt is probably one of the most beautiful little towns in Austria. It sits on the south-western corner of Lake Hallstatter and the scenery is truly breathtaking.  High up on the mountain behind the town are its main tourist attractions, the skywalk and the salt mines. You get up there on a cable car similar to the one which takes you to the mountain above Hong Kong only somewhat steeper. The views are fantastic.

However, Hallstatt is most famous for its ancient salt mine which is the largest and oldest active salt mine in Austria. Apparently, men have been digging pure rock salt from the place for over 7 000 years. The tour of the mine was really enjoyable. I liked the ride down the giant slides best of all but the history and geology of the place is really well explained with modern and older-style exhibits. The slides were used as a quick way for the miners to get down from one level to another. We were also really interested to learn that the other salt mine in the area at Altaussee was the actual place where they hid the famous art treasures as in the movie “Monuments Men”.

This Shrine on the path to the mine is dedicated to Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners.

John all geared up for his foray into the mine.

We had to go in single-file as the tunnels are only very small.
We lucked out - we got to go through with a group of about
30 school kids. They were well behaved though.

The first of the two slides - we felt like big kids - but it was fun!

The ride out is on these seats, pulled by a train. The tunnel is very small and definitely not suitable for those who might be a bit claustrophobic.

We really found our stay in Hallstatt relaxing. Just walking around town looking at the lovely gardens and the little river that flows through the town was really peaceful, even though there were quite a few tourists there. Fortunately, most tourists come in on buses for day tours so by 5 pm it is fairly quiet. Cars are not allowed in the town centre and parking is limited. Because there is so little room to build, most of the buildings seem to cling to the cliff face and the architecture style is totally different to what we are used to. The following pictures should give you a good idea of what it is like to stroll through Hallstatt.

Our guesthouse 

Yes it really is a rose bush!

As we have noticed throughout Austria, people take their religion very seriously. There were two lovely old churches in Hallstatt and we were told to make sure to visit the Catholic Church which sits high up on the hillside at the northern end of the town. As well as an impressive interior, the cemetery had great views. 

And then there was the charnel house, where the skulls of deceased residents have been stored since the 12^th century. If they so wish, locals can still have their skull dug up  after 10 years, then local priests will dry it out, paint your name, date of death and a symbolic picture on it and store it in the charnel house. This frees up room in the cemetery which was becoming rather crowded, although these days we’re told fewer people are requesting to be stored in this way and the increase in cremations has meant far less pressure on the cemetery.

The drive from Hallstatt to Salzburg is quite short and really pretty. We stopped of at another little lakeside town called Koniggsee and had a stroll through town to the lake, where there were lots of people and some really unusual ducks on the lake. It is obviously a very popular family holiday spot as it was evident the place was geared toward tourists.

We got to Salzburg fairly early and it was just as well. The GPS became very confused when we couldn’t take the route it had set because of road works. And a word of warning. There are trams in Salzburg and if you see a white horizontal line crossing a lane and a red light above it, you should stop. Otherwise it is likely that you will be run over by a tram. After barely surviving the tram, we finally worked out where our digs were. But how to get into them. We took a punt on a back street and imagine our embarrassment when we ended up driving through a very crowded shared shopping area. There were bollards everywhere we turned and we thought for a while we had been sucked into a vortex. 

It was embarrassing driving down here!

Eventually we found our way out of the maze and pulled over to the side of a lane while I ran into the hotel. Gästehaus im Priesterseminar is an old monastery and really a lovely place, ideally situated in the old part of Salzburg. It is not cheap but it has a great location. 

The courtyard in the centre of our guesthouse.

Unfortunately, at the time of our arrival, there were major works going on in the lanes around the place and access was very limited. Anyway we eventually got our bags unloaded and found the Mirabell carpark down the street and got settled.

The old part of Salzburg straddles the Salzach River and there is lots to see here. Unfortunately, I had developed a fully blown case of flu by the time we got here (I’m sure I caught it on the subway in Paris) and although our first day was quite nice, with a walk through the western side of the old town, including St Sebastian’s Cemetery, we were not happy campers after a night of virtually no sleep. 

Local deadly treadly

St Sebastian's Cemetery - Mozart's dad is buried here somewhere.

As well as my asthma-like attacks with the flu, the pavement work right under our window did not stop until after 11 pm. We could appreciate their wanting to get the work done as it would have been horrendous for the surrounding shopkeepers. But we were ready to cut our stay short and head off next morning.

We decided to stay however, and ventured across the river to the other part of the old town. It really is a lovely city, very different from anything we had seen so far. Unfortunately, because of my flu we didn’t get to do most of the lovely things like taking the cable car up to the castle on the rocky outcrop which overlooks the city. There are lots of paths to stroll along up there as well as places for picnics etc.

The palace can be seen high on the hill centre-right

Anyway the east bank includes several beautiful old churches, the most impressive of which was the Salzburg Cathedral. It was the most impressively decorated of all the churches we visited in Europe. This video will give you a better idea of what it looks like. 

There are also the catacombs in St Peter’s cemetery to visit here, as well as the local markets which are set up in the old town are very interesting, selling cheeses, sausage etc.

Catacombs above hug the cliff with the cemetery below.

We also visited a quaint little bakery which grinds its flour on a traditional water-driven mill which has been in use for a very long time. Also worth seeing over on this side is the huge glockenspiel which plays its melodies at 11 am and 6 pm each day. There is also the Augustinerbrau, a beer hall which was founded by Augustinian monks dating back to 1621. But alas we were to miss the last two because of my flu. Anyway, I would recommend a visit to Salzburg if you are over this way. It is well worth the effort. 

TO VIENNA

Within 15 minutes of leaving the airport in Paris, we discovered that there was not one but two warning lights now visible in our vehicle. The original warning about turning on a fuse switch was still up and now we had another light as well. After about 20 minutes scouring through the manual which was all in French, of course, I discovered the new symbol was a warning for water in the fuel filter and since the car was diesel, we figured this wasn’t good. It didn’t take much longer for John to figure out that the car was not “gutless” as he originally thought, but that the light had triggered a limiter on its revving ability. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t rev over 3 000 rpm. Since we had to be in Vienna on the 13^th, we only had 2 ½ days to get there. So we really couldn’t afford to go back to Paris and get mucked around again.

Well this of course made it rather difficult as we were travelling on the motorway and our fellow motorists had no tolerance for someone who was holding them up. Overtaking of course was a real problem and the whole situation was made worse because we were yet to work out the toll system. We eventually sussed it out though. You just have to make sure you have plenty of change (€1 & €2) and a credit card or notes as well. Some of the stops you must just put change into the slot and get a ticket, while at others you had to actually pay up front. The trick is to work out which bay to drive into. They offer several options e.g. cash, card, ticket or just a red or green X. We opted for the cash or green crosses but beware, it is difficult to read the signs and you have heaps of other vehicles all around you hustling you along. I can imagine it would have been a bit of an issue if you went into the wrong lane.

Anyway we managed to keep the car going and followed the A4 all the way to Strasbourg. As we crossed the Rhine, we were of two minds whether to find a Europcar office and try to get another car or persist with this one when all of a sudden the filter warning light went off and the car was running ok except for the weird things that were happening with the electronics. Sometimes the electronic key wouldn’t lock /unlock the car, and when you used the key in the door it triggered the theft alarm. What fun it was!

Well we were pretty frazzled by the end of the day and were really happy to find a lovely little gastof (guesthouse) called Gastof Linde southeast of Strasbourg outside a little village called Biberach im Kinzigtal.

The people here were really friendly and patient with our lack of German. We managed to get a lovely dinner (although the red wine we thought we’d ordered turned out to be a white). It was quite nice though.

John's dinner - pork fillet on potatoes and bacon. He really enjoyed it.

Next morning we set off in a much better frame of mind and continued south-east toward Lindau,  which is on Lake Constance and right on the Swiss border. The lake is very picturesque and reminded me of Flat Lake in the US with its acres of farms growing mainly grapes and other fruits.

All of the houses have window boxes full of flowers and we saw several of the large, decorated poles as we drove through Germany. Click here to find out more about this lovely tradition. It would be great to see such an event.

One of hundreds of beautiful little villages we would see in
Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

We ended our day at a lovely little village called Nesselwang and found a room at Alpenhotel Martin, where there was one lady who spoke some English, which made things a little easier. We had a lovely time strolling through the old town before another hearty dinner at a local restaurant. You certainly wouldn’t go hungry in Germany although it is hard to find alternatives to their beloved schnitzel, some of which can be a bit dry if overcooked, and sausage.

This stream and wading pool is in the middle of the street in front of our guesthouse in Nesselwang.

Making items out of hay seems to be a common craft activity in most areas we visited.

We were feeling great when we took off in the morning toward Vienna. Imagine how that changed when, not five minutes out of town, the fuel warning light came back on and again, revs were limited to 3 000 rpm. I think if John had had a bomb he would have taken great pleasure in blowing the thing up. Instead, we headed back to our hotel, jumped on the internet and with the help of some other German guests, discovered that there was a Europcar agent in Kempten, about half an hour’s drive back west of us. We decided to go there and try to get another vehicle.

At first, after we explained our situation to the receptionist, she started shaking her head and suggesting we would have to pay extra to deliver their car back from Paris etc. I think she could see John about to explode so she decided to consult a guy there with some mechanical knowledge. He took the car for a drive and came back shaking his head. He agreed with us that we had been given a dud. He mentioned that they have trouble over here with some bug which eats the electronics leads, causing all sorts of problems. He also agreed the car wouldn’t rev and we were extremely grateful when they offered us another car. I think we really lucked out with them as they could only give us an Audi. John was pretty pleased with the difference as soon as he started to drive it. I can’t imagine us ever driving the Kia up the mountain passes that we were to do later in our trip. It would have been a nightmare!

You can probably imagine our relief as we pulled up outside our pension in Vienna. We had discussed the difference in personalities between the German, French and Austrian people with an Austrian acquaintance in Brisbane, so we weren’t surprised when our hostess at Hotel Pension Bosch, Barbara, seemed a bit gruff. She had little patience for our “dumb” questions but when we went up to register she was really helpful, explaining the busses and giving us directions etc. She even had 24 hour passes available so that made it really easy for us to get around and it was only a short walk from the pension to the bus stop. By the time we left she was all smiles and really friendly. It seems to be true that Austrians take a while to warm to you but are then usually really nice.

That evening we wandered down the street to get some dinner, and were delighted when we discovered that there was a free open-air concert in the local square. The band was excellent and played lots of Rolling Stones covers as well as other rock and roll greats. We had drinks, ate sausage and really enjoyed the happy atmosphere. It was a lovely way to start our stay in Vienna.

I was more than a little excited next morning at the thought of actually going to see the Spanish Riding School. We already knew where to catch the tram and gave ourselves plenty of time to find the place, collect our tickets and have a look around. The Palace is lovely. We didn’t go inside the palace itself but the atmosphere around the whole area is lively and charming. Of course I loved the horses. The Lipizzaners are just beautiful animals and the skills and discipline displayed by both riders and horses is amazing. I think I got much more pleasure out of it than John as his interest and knowledge of horses is limited but he could still appreciate it for what it was. I was also absolutely stoked after the show when we were walking by the stables, as they were leading out the horses for the next show. It was lovely to get so close to them. For me it was a lifelong dream come true.

Hofburg Palace

The arena where the lipizzaners perform is quite elegant.

Beautiful horses

After the show we strolled around the old city, which I fear is slowly being swallowed by modern structures, before walking through the palace gardens toward the university area. 

John thought this sign meant No Prostitution allowed. Turns out it just means the end of a "Pedestrian only" area.

As in most of the old cities we visited, there is a huge emphasis on shopping and eating, all designed to separate you from your money.

Imagine our surprise when we started noticing people in rather lavish costumes. Then we heard loud music and discovered that we were about to experience the Rainbow Parade which was very lengthy but very entertaining. It has been running since 1969 and is basically a show of solidarity by the gay, lesbian and transgender community.The atmosphere was great and we really enjoyed it all, even though we had to walk quite a way to catch our tram home as the normal route was closed until 7 pm.

That night we caught the tram back into the city and explored more of the many side streets before dinner and a fairly early night before heading off to Hallstatt, our next destination in Austria.