So last weekend Danielle and I visited Hallstatt, Austria. After a plane and two trains we arrived early in the morning. The train station is actually across the lake from the village so we took a chilly ferry across the lake.
The town is literally picture perfect. It's tiny and squashed between a lake and a mountain.
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel (Yes, it was a hotel. Not because I'm a newfound millionaire but because it was the only place with an opening.) and found this Christmas card attached to their reception desk. Folks, that is THE Rick Steves. :)
We walked around town for a while and just took in the sights, even the crazy signs.
Then we decided to check out the salt mine. Hallstatt was actually there before Rome. The importance of the town because of the salt mine actually lent its name to a period in time. To protect your clothes from the salt and to help with the slide they give you these really sexy jumpsuits to wear. The fabulous Danielle models the red variety for us:
Then you walk into the mountain with your guide.
And descend into the depths. Salt isn't really all that interesting. But what's in the mine certainly is!
There's slides!! There's a small one for practice and then this one. It's about 150m long and they take your photo as you slide down. Like a prehistoric theme park. I succumbed to it and bought the souvenir photo. So here's my photo of the photo. And for the record 24.6 km/h is about 15mph.
The entrance to the mine is really high up. We took a funicular, but at least the views were great! That's the village from above.
That's the funicular on the ride down. I focused on the up and not the down. Mainly because it was really really high and really really fast and kinda scary.
The cemetery in Hallstatt is really tiny. It fits in with the rest of the village. And the graves are really beautiful. The little gardens are well-tended and colorful. It was a kind of cemetery I wouldn't mind being buried in. But there's a downside...
The cemetery is actually too small. So every so often they have to dig up the bones to make room for the newly dead. So they have a Bone Chapel. The priests dig up the bones carefully and ceremoniously paint them and write the birth and death dates on the skulls and then arrange them. Danielle and I still can't decide if it's cool or creepy.
The next day we took a hike up into the valley to see some the natural beauty of the Salzkammergut district. A very helpful sign told us that this rock fell in a huge rock fall about 12,000 years ago. Not sure how accurate that is, but it's still awesomely huge!
After a very very very long hike up approximately a million stairs we got to the biggest waterfall of them all. There were several waterfalls but this was the most impressive. It would be neat to see at the first thaw with all that powerful water.
Speaking of powerful water...
And the view out to the lake and the village from the back of the valley.
And then we rented a boat and went out on the lake for a nice little drift. It was really relaxing and the views of the valley and the village were really cool.
Overall it was a great mini vacation. Just a primer for our next trip. We leave tomorrow evening for the south of France. A week of fun in the sun on the beach. See you in a week!
The town is literally picture perfect. It's tiny and squashed between a lake and a mountain.
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel (Yes, it was a hotel. Not because I'm a newfound millionaire but because it was the only place with an opening.) and found this Christmas card attached to their reception desk. Folks, that is THE Rick Steves. :)
We walked around town for a while and just took in the sights, even the crazy signs.
Then we decided to check out the salt mine. Hallstatt was actually there before Rome. The importance of the town because of the salt mine actually lent its name to a period in time. To protect your clothes from the salt and to help with the slide they give you these really sexy jumpsuits to wear. The fabulous Danielle models the red variety for us:
Then you walk into the mountain with your guide.
And descend into the depths. Salt isn't really all that interesting. But what's in the mine certainly is!
There's slides!! There's a small one for practice and then this one. It's about 150m long and they take your photo as you slide down. Like a prehistoric theme park. I succumbed to it and bought the souvenir photo. So here's my photo of the photo. And for the record 24.6 km/h is about 15mph. 
The entrance to the mine is really high up. We took a funicular, but at least the views were great! That's the village from above.
That's the funicular on the ride down. I focused on the up and not the down. Mainly because it was really really high and really really fast and kinda scary.
The cemetery in Hallstatt is really tiny. It fits in with the rest of the village. And the graves are really beautiful. The little gardens are well-tended and colorful. It was a kind of cemetery I wouldn't mind being buried in. But there's a downside...
The cemetery is actually too small. So every so often they have to dig up the bones to make room for the newly dead. So they have a Bone Chapel. The priests dig up the bones carefully and ceremoniously paint them and write the birth and death dates on the skulls and then arrange them. Danielle and I still can't decide if it's cool or creepy.
The next day we took a hike up into the valley to see some the natural beauty of the Salzkammergut district. A very helpful sign told us that this rock fell in a huge rock fall about 12,000 years ago. Not sure how accurate that is, but it's still awesomely huge!
After a very very very long hike up approximately a million stairs we got to the biggest waterfall of them all. There were several waterfalls but this was the most impressive. It would be neat to see at the first thaw with all that powerful water.
Speaking of powerful water...
And the view out to the lake and the village from the back of the valley.
And then we rented a boat and went out on the lake for a nice little drift. It was really relaxing and the views of the valley and the village were really cool.
Overall it was a great mini vacation. Just a primer for our next trip. We leave tomorrow evening for the south of France. A week of fun in the sun on the beach. See you in a week!
3 comments:
beautiful photos! makes me want to visit austria even more..
how far away is that town from vienna?
we would like to know what the traffic sign - the triagle-shaped one means - fire???
Hallstatt is about 4-5 hours from Vienna by train.
And the sign is actually a waiter. Look really closely. It's meant to be funny.
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