Hallstatt, Austria

National Austria Day and it was the change of daylight savings time, a double whammy. I wish we had known as an extra hour sleep would have been lovely. The plan was to set out early today as we were meant to leave yesterday. The weather started out dreary much to DBs disappointment but by the time we reached our destination the sun was out and the mist had cleared. This was the first time we had seen the sun for quite a few days. We drove to Hallstatt which was a little ski village in the Salzkammergut a region. It is located near the Hallstätter lake and is known for its production of salt. It was not on our way to Salzburg, as always it was a little detour for our next adventure. It took about 2 hours to drive there and was unfortunate for planning purposes the Information Centre was closed. It took about an hour for DB to source maps and download programs so we would be safe on our walk. I find this really frustrating (especially if maps were available at tourist info it takes about 10mins) but am always grateful when we are walking for his diligence. By then it was lunchtime. We headed off on our walk at about 1.30pm, still a little unplanned but with a starting plan to the walk. It was a very beautiful place. As always the walk headed up and up and up and up. We climbed from 500m above sea level to 1100m and back down again over a 13km distance in a 4 hour walk from the lake through bush, along cliffs, up sheer stairways with ropes to assist, through snow, salt mines and Hallstatt village. It was a great walk and a lovely day. We only passed about 6 people and 2 cars the entire day. We then drove to Salzburg.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *