BMW European Delivery - Day Two

Avalanche Fencing

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Unfortunately the camera didn't do a great job of capturing it but in this shot the whole mountainside is covered in steel mesh to keep snow and rocks from falling down on the very narrow road between the mountain and lake.

Hallstatter See

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We found another parking area right after getting on the L547 road that followed the shoreline of this huge mountain lake.

Time for Some Trespassing

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Next to the parking area I saw a series of concrete steps with an iron handrail leading down to an outcropping where two boathouses were set-up. There were no "Eintritt Verboten" signs posted so I made my way down the icy steps. At first I was a bit worried someone would come out of one of the buildings to yell at me, but as I walked around I realized that they were only used in the summer.

Almost the Shot I Wanted

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I've seen this view a million times on travel posters, jigsaw puzzles, TV specials and advertisements and I came darn close to capturing the traditional image, but ran out of real estate. The little outcrop of rock I was on was not quite wide enough to get the village church spire into the picture frame. Perhaps all the travel photographers use a boat to peer around that corner of the hillside in the distance.

Another Try

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Close again but not quite it. To the right of the picture you can see the huge long tunnel that we had to drive through to get to the actual town. Up until the late 1950's the town was isolated and only a one lane road led to the town. After being discovered by tourists the miles long tunnel was build through the mountain.

The Opposite Side of the Lake

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Across the water there was no road. Only the train tracks hug this side of the mountain. Arriving travelers deboard the train somewhere over there and then must take a passenger ferry boat across to the town of Hallstatt. While we were walking around in town we saw quite a few people getting off the little ship dragging their bags behind them.

Winter Wood Storage

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Throughout rural Germany and Austria one sees huge stores of chopped wood. Obviously many homes are still heated by woodstoves. The smell is everywhere. Often when we're at home when Gail and I smell burning firewood we flash back to Germany/Austria. What was odd was that there were no homes anywhere in the area. It looked freshly cut.

Our Pretty New Car is Looking Filthier by the Minute

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And worse, we were tracking in a lot of road grit on our tan carpet. I hope the BMW shipping folks clean it up for us.

An Interesting U-Turn

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After emerging from that long tunnel through the mountain we drove through an itty-bitty little town. I kept driving looking for the market square we had seen in Rick Steves' video of Hallstatt. After a few miles of driving without seeing any kind of commercial development we came to a remote parking lot that served as the auxilary lot for a ski resort. We had missed Hallstatt. As I fumbled around trying to put the car in reverse and then drive I stopped to take this shot of one of the old cable cars the ski resort once employed.

Screwed-Up Again

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We knew there had to be a town somewhere back there. We followed signs for the town bus terminal. I assumed that a bus stop had to be near the middle of town. But as we headed down this ever-narrowing road we never saw a bus stop or a town. There were more than a few Zimmer Frei homes, but we couldn't find a Hallstatt.

Closed for the Season

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Well, they sure weren't headed this way. We noticed that the people strolling around were all headed down toward the lake so we followed.

This Must be the Way

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The path we followed brought us to the Hallstatt Tourism Office and its public toilets. Here we saw more people, in fact some busloads of Asian tourists. To our left and parallel to the tunnel we had drive through was a pedestrians only road leading to the town.

Honoring the Local Salt Miners

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Hallstatt was settled long before the Romans started their empire building. Because of its easily defensible locale and the abundance of salt in the mountainside it became an important trading area between southern and northern Europe.

Tourist Info in English

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We were lucky to avoid the huge throngs of visitors Hallstatt has to endure each summer. There were other tourists this day but or the most part they stayed out of our way and vice versa.

I Missed the Train

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At this very moment my Panasonic DMC FZ200 camera battery died. Stupid Magnus left the spare battery in the hotel. For the rest of the day I had to use my Samsung Galaxy 5's camera. Not easy to use for a spontaneous shot. On the opposite side of the lake a passenger train passes by. I didn't zoom in properly but it is out there, believe me.

It Must be Insane Here in the High Season

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The road through town was indeed very narrow and we had to be ever vigilant of the occasional locals' car coming up from behind us. If the streets were crowded it might be pretty tough to get by. I imagine it gets like the boardwalk at the Shore in the summer.