Hallstatt and Obertraum, Austria. October 9, 1999

Today starts off rainy. We watch the little train on the other side of the lake and the little ferry crossing the lake make their rounds. As the rain lets up we make our way to the pre-historic museum and then do some shopping. As you can see from this picture of the museum, Hallstatt is built on a narrow strip of land next to the lake and the mountains rise right behind it.

Hallstatt Museum (Wikipedia)

Later in the day we drive over to Obertraum and take the Dachsteinerbahn, a gondola, that goes up the mountain. We go up two stages and then walk around in the snow to take pictures! The day clears up for us and we have a beautiful vista of the lake, Obertraum and Hallstatt on the way down.

The gondola
A waterfall
It is winter up here on the mountain!
John in the Austrian snow

When we get back down and into Hallstatt it is overrun with tourists! It is such a small place that it does not take many tourists to make it crowded. They will need to find a way to manage tourism while still reaping the benefits economically. We find a place to have some pizza and beer as an early dinner or very late lunch. After that we are ready for a quiet evening reading.

 

Salzburg and Hallstatt, Austria. October 8, 1999

Today is our departure day from Munich. After a false start trying to find the Autobahn 8, we take a route we are familiar with. We go west out of Munich and then get off and turn around heading east. For some reason either they did not make an east entrance or we simply cannot find it!

Traffic is pretty heavy and we get to Salzburg around 1 PM. We look through their cathedral and then take the audio tour of the Residenz, former home of the Prince Bishops. It is very elaborate, like a smaller Versailles. There are lots of Alexander the Great frescoes on the ceilings. We see many original and period furnishings with many fine mirrors and clocks. We enjoy the tour very much.

Mary listening to the audio tour at the Prince Bishop’s Residenz, Salzburg

We look around for lunch but cannot find anything so we push on to Hallstatt. It is a beautiful ride through the mountains, lakes, and villages. Hallstatt turns out to be a tiny town on a lake. What a beautiful setting. Our hotel, the Gruner Baum, is not as charming as I had hoped but we have a deck overlooking the lake and a very large bathroom. Alas, it is a no shower curtain kind of bath/shower combo.

Hotel Gruner Baum

John on the deck overlooking the lake
Mary on the deck overlooking the lake
The lake

For dinner we go to the Gersthofen Zauner. I order Vienner schnitzel and John has spare ribs. We also order a salad and cauliflower au gratin in hopes of eating some vegetables.

Restaurant

The television in our room only has two stations. Both are in German so we do not stay up very late!