Austria May 19 - May 22

We drove thru the mountains of the Czech Republic, crossed the border into Austria and drove to the town of Melk which is a small town right on the Danube. We had planned to bike ride the Danube but decided we had been there, done that. So instead we drove one of the nicest sections of the river, bugged out and headed for the Alps. We were hungry for the mountains.

Unknown to us at the time, this turned out to be a great decision. Hallstatt is located in the Salzkammergut or Lake District of Austria. On the way there we spent the night in the town of Traunkirchen, on Taunsee lake.

We got there just in time to check into a Gasthof and have dinner. This was truly a family run place with the grand parents, sons and daughters working and the grandkids all running around the restaurant.


Hallstatt, what can we say; this place was everything we pictured it to be and more. Difficult to get in and out of and sitting on the side of the lake, it was picture perfect beautiful. It was raining when we arrived so we parked the car in the mountain tunnel that goes around the outside of the town and walked down the steps on the hillside to the main square.


Tom went into one of the gasthofs to ask if they had a room available for the night and ran into this wonderful girl who was visiting, and temporarily working for, her friend who owned the hotel. Tom's new friend was emphatic, try and stay two nights because Thursday is Corpus Christi day and the town celebrates big. She also planted a subtle suggestion that if it is a nice day the ceremony would be held on the lake and we should rent a boat and go out on the lake to be a part of it, something that she had done the year before. Not knowing what any of this was about (sorry Mom) we checked in and fell in love with this place that is over 700 years old. It started as a salt mining trading house, turned into a brewery and during WWI was pilfered for its copper and eventually was turned back to the family and turned into a gasthof. This place had character on top of character. Ledvina suggested we stay in room 5 which was a small room with low hung beamed ceilings,

shuttered windows that opened right onto the lake and although it did not have a balcony had a perfect table for two sitting at the window facing the lake.







The next day we did a hike into the Echerntal in the Dachstein mountains up to the Waldbachstrub waterfall. On our way we hiked passed house after house admiring their stockpiles of firewood. They have definitely raised the task of stacking wood to an art form. Thursday morning we woke up to cannon shots being fired from Austria's version of a gondola out on the lake and realized they were practicing for the big event. Before we knew it there were people walking around town dressed in traditional old German garb and there were liedenhausen and dindrels everywhere.

Next we watched the band barge pull up, they circled right in front of our window practicing the music for the ceremony followed by the altar barge. Both barges were full of flowers and were beautifully decorated. At this point, we knew this was going to be something special. More and more people started showing up in town dressed traditionally and the lake started to fill up with boats and those Austrian gondolas with traditionally dressed gondola drivers.


We went down to check out the action and the next thing you know we were in the middle of a procession with bands marching down from the church into the center of town. Everyone in the procession was dressed to the nines, Austrian style, and at the end of the procession was the bishop who performed a ceremony in the town square. Once that ended, they headed to the boats for the rest of the ceremony which would take place on the lake. Taking Ladvena's advice we had arranged to rent a rowboat so we could join in the procession.


It was amazing, there were the two barges, one with the altar, bishop, priests, etc., and one with the band, and motorboats, austrian gondolas (two of them with speakers to broadcast the ceremony), kayaks, electric boats and us.....


The altar boat proceeded around the lake stopping at various points to continue the ceremony while the rest of us followed like a bunch of groupies. Everything, but especially being out on the lake, all made it an afternoon never to be forgotten.



We even were able to take a picture of St. Christopher, which was painted on the side of the church, for Aunt Ann and Joanna (the medals are with us wherever we go).




We left Hallstatt that afternoon driving on all small roads thru many valleys and villages in the Austrian Alps. We crossed a number of mountain passes, including the Radstatter Tavern and the Katschberg, which seemed like they had just been opened for the season. The spring thaw had the rivers flowing everywhere you looked.


That night we stayed in a gasthof in the town of St. Martin which was close to the pass we were planning to take to Italy in the morning.

Danke and Auf Wiedersehen Austria.

Best of Austria;

The Alps
Hallstatt
Corpus Christi Day
Gasthof room #5
rowboat on the lake