Advertisement
Published: November 5th 2005
Edit Blog Post
A local
Resting by the lake. After a 4-hour stop over in Attnang-Puccheim which, thanks to the time change, turned out to be 5 hours, the friendly train worker told me the next stop would be Hallstatt. I jumped off into the cold air and walked down to the lake.
I was glad he told me the stop- I was afraid I had missed it when I saw a different lake pass. It was bizzare - the sun was just rising so the mountains and lake were all foggy and isolated and I saw a building along the lake in the distance. I thought it must be a fishing shack or something but as we finally came up on it I could read the sign - "Chinese Restaurant".
The first ferry wouldn't run until late on weekends, so I had an hour and some to wait. I sat down by the beautiful lake and took pictures and ate some of my remaining rosemary crackers and chocolate while I watched the ducks. I've never seen a duck go completely under water for so long.
Finally Stefanie, the ferry, arrived and we sailed smothely across Lake Hallstatt. My pension was only a five minute walk at
Hallstatt at sunrise
While I waited for the ferry. most from the dock - the whole town is about a 15 minute walk across - and Frau Fischer waved at me from the yard as I approached. I assumed she was waving past me and went to the door and rang and sure enough the same woman came to the door and without even asking a name showed me where my room was. She apologized that the room wasn't ready yet - it was only 9:30 so no surprise - and took me to the kitchen to leave my bag and show me where to find my key. She showed me where the shower and breakfast room were and then asked what I wanted to do.
She was very nervous that everything was closed on Sundays - the museum and salt mines - but I assured her I had really just come to hike so she took me to her husband - who like many locals I saw had on the traditional jumper and hat and everything you picture from movies - who gave me a map and showed me what trails to take.
I was pretty exhausted from the train so I started the day with
Town square
The cafe is on the left. a walk through the town. After about 30 minutes I went to the square and sat down at the cafe for a glass of water. When I got up to leave I asked what I owed and they told me nothing - water's free. They probably thought I was crazy but in Rome you would be charged for the water and likely a sitting fee at any cafe on a square like that.
After I'd relaxed there I decided to find lunch and ate at a restaurant right by the lake. I had a delicious Weinershnitzel with potatoes and salad. Once I was well fed I decided to head out and hike.
The trail started right behind the Catholic church at the top of town and wound up the mountain. It was a pretty simple hike with beautiful views. I climbed past some old salt mines - Hallstatt is 7,000 years old and a World Heritage site for its ancient salt mines - and went high enough to see the waterfall before heading back. It wasn't even 3 yet but the sun was falling low enough for the mountains to begin to hide it and I was exhausted.
I went back and found my key and went up to my room. It was adorable - two little beds tucked against the wall with a slanted roof, a sink, a desk, and a wardrobe. The balcony had a magnificent view of the lake and pretty little red flowers.
I laid down and napped for a while and woke up just after the sun had set. I went out to find dinner and a lot of the town was shut down because it was Sunday but I found a cute little restaurant and had a great bowl of potatoe soup, some kind of chicken kebab, and french fries.
I went back to the Pension and drank the Mezzo Mix I brought with me. I have only found Mezzo Mix in Germany and Austria- it's a fantastic combination of like coke and orange fanta. I wanted some to bring to Rome but didn't find any in Vienna but sure enough I got to Salzburg and found it by the liter. Couldn't be bothered to carry that big of bottle though.
I called it an early night since I would have to be on the 8 am ferry.
Another
beautiful view. I slept wonderfully and got up at 6 am to take pictures of the dawn. At 7:30 I headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. Herr Fischer was making it and already had jams set out on all the tables and immediately had bread, rolls, butter, orange juice and coffee on the table. He also offered hard boiled eggs but I declined. I told him I would have to leave quickly to make the ferry and paid. He only charged me 20 Euro even though I had the 25 Euro balcony room. I thanked him and ran into Frau Fischer heading up to the road and told her goodbye and thank you.
I was the only one on the ferry and had about 20 minutes to wait before jumping on the train back to Attnang-Puccheim. Luckily once I got there the train to Salzburg ran from the same track, so I didn't have to change. I bought a Toblerone and sat in the waiting room on the track for warmth until the train came.
More on Salzburg in the next post.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0676s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Andrew
non-member comment
AAh
Man, you didn't post forever and now three. Awesome stuff, Rache. So happy to hear everything is going well. Can't wait for you to come back!