Hallstatt...absolutely beautiful. Brooke and I have watched the Rick Steves' episode on Hallstatt a few times. We fell in love with the town on the screen, but absolutely have deemed it our favorite stop thus far. It is small and quaint and looks exactly as you would imagine a Bavarian village. This was our first view of the town as we got of the train. We then awaited our ferry to take us to the town.
Here we are in the boat getting closer to the town. We knew as we got closer, that this kind of town is exactly what our trip was about...getting to experience cultures of the region.
When we first arrived, we strolled through the town stopping often to gape at the view and admire the beautiful architecture. There are a few small shops throughout town. One of our favorite was a salt shop. They sold salt products for everything, from grilling salt to salt deodorant bars (which were big chunks of soap bar shaped salt). After walking through town we knew we had to get to the viewpoint above Hallstatt. This next picture shows it atop the mountain with a nice easy tram taking you to the top.
However, if you know us and our budget, spending money to get to a lookout that can be hiked to is not an option. We decided to hike and this was the sign that greeted us at the start of our hike. So after completing this hike we can officially say we are experienced high Alpine hikers.
A view from the beginning of the hike that shows a view from the back of Hallstatt. There were quite a few churches amongst the small town, this one was amazing next to the lake.
As you hiked up the trail there were stations along the trail that talked about the history of salt mining. It was pretty impressive to read how hard the people have worked throughout the years to mine salt. Mining salt has been happening in the region for over 2000 years. They have even found tombs in the mines as well as miners killed but preserved by the salt. One of the stations talked about this waterfall. They at one point used the power of water to transport the salt.
Here we are at another station along the trail that shows an actual mine entry, of course we could not enter this one. There is a mine tour available at the top, but with our budget we decided to forgo the tour.
Finally the view point! A view from Hallstatt above!
Or another view of the same lookout...yes, it is suspended over the town an it makes for one of the most wondrous views in the world, we are sure of it!
Right behind the lookout is a Bavarian restaurant. Being budget minded we decided we would eat our meal down in the town were we could find food cheaper. However, we could not pass up the opportunity to eat something in such a marvelous location. We went for dessert and got a local favorite... Apple Strudel with a warm vanilla sauce.
Here is a view from behind the restaurant. We just loved how the building stood atop such a beautiful area.
When we got back into town we had a few more stops. One of them being this building within one of the churches grounds. With the cemetery getting so full they began to stack bones within this building. The bones go back hundreds of years with the most recent skull being placed in 1995. The latest goal belonged to a resident who wished to have her skull placed there. They have a paper that shows which skull belongs to her, a gold tooth still remains within her skull.
Our final stop was food, typically our favorite stop, we talked with a local shop owner for tips. During our conversation she talked about living in Hallstatt and how she liked it. She mentioned how it is important to leave, she said often young people feel trapped. She also mentioned how her sister, who lives in Vienna, has to stay up to date with fashion and how men even know when women are in style or not. She then went on to say that know when in Hallstatt cared what you wore. After our conversation and receiving food tips, we decided on wiener schnitzel! We loved it an decided that we must find a good recipe, it was a fried piece of pork that we coated with fresh lemon. It was juicy and Brooke and I ate the whole thing in about 30 seconds. Before coming here we did not know what schnitzel was, now we definitely know, and want more!
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