Note: I've posted more photos of Austria at kwilhelm.smugmug.com.
The aging Bratislava-Vienna train made the briefest of stops at the frontier, before rolling on into big, bustling Wien Sudbahnhof. I had wondered about the best way to transfer to Wien Westbahnhof for my next train, but seemingly others had had this problem before me. A series of notices told me to walk out of the main door and catch a tram headed left. Buying an onward ticket presented greater difficulties: the clerk was convinced there was no place called Hallstatt in Austria.
Eventually, the clerk and his computer located Hallstatt, and I bought tickets for my next three train trips. Then I just caught a departing tram, before realizing I should have bought a tram ticket before boarding. Luckily, no inspector appeared before we reached Westbahnhof, and I got off and crossed the road to the station feeling guilty but relieved.
I had to change trains to reach Hallstatt, from a comfortable air-conditioned InterCity to a smaller, hotter, local stopping at every station. But the scenery, a parade of forested mountains, rivers and lakes, provided ample compensation. Hallstatt's station is across the lake from the town itself, which barely has room for a road along its lakefront, never mind a rail line. A boat, the Stefanie, ferries passengers across. The view of the little town, a steep mountain soaring high above, more than met my expectations.
My room, in the Gasthof Zauner just off the main square, was narrow and rather dark, and the creaky balcony gave me only a sliver of a lake view. Turned out, the square was best avoided. After sleepy Slovakia, Hallstatt came as quite a shock. While unquestionably beautiful, it was also a sad example of a place being loved too well. Especially when coach loads of camera-wielding tourists arrived during the day. And, eating an undistinguished lunch at a cafe on the square, I found myself an unwilling eavesdropper on the overloud Americans seated behind me. When they were replaced by a large group of French tourists, conversing quietly, the contrast was marked.
Even though rainy weather meant that I had to eat my first dinner indoors, the meal quickly improved my mood. The friendly wait staff at the Braugasthof served me delicious, light, potato gnocchi, followed by a tender venison steak. Afterwards, I chatted with a young American woman, living in Europe for a year and also traveling solo.
Next day, I decided it was too hot for serious exertion, although just strolling around town could be decidedly energetic, given that the houses spread almost vertically up the mountain side. A lazy, lakeside lunch at the Gasthof Simony was rudely interrupted by the discovery of an odd-shaped piece of plastic in my pasta! While this did result in a free lunch, I chose to eat dinner at the Braugasthof again. The Stefanie shares the lake with swans, originally brought in to please the Empress "Sisi", the Princess Di of her day. The swans also showed up at the Braugasthof for dinner - the weather had improved enough for outdoors dining - but I kept all of my excellent trout, even its crisp skin, for myself.
While I skipped the ice caves and the salt mine (having seen the Wieliczka mine outside Krakow I felt no need to see another), I did enjoy the museum. Thanks to the salt mine, Hallstatt played such a significant role in Bronze and Iron Age Europe that an era is named after it. But I found modern Hallstatt too touristed to be restful, and too small to hold my interest.
The train trip onward from Hallstatt featured more of the same scenery, along with several railway tunnels and a few tree tunnels, where the greenery closed in around us. A long wait at Stainach-Irdning for my connecting train was rewarded by a comfortable restaurant car where I enjoyed veal and French fries along with the views.
The friendly young couple running the Pension Hubertus in Zell am See, conveniently close to the station, gave me a top-floor room (reached by an elevator) - high enough for a gorgeous lake and mountain view from the balcony. While the Grand Hotel (why are so many posh European hotels named "Grand"?) arguably boasted even better views, I'm sure it's prices were also much higher. I settled for decadently delicious ice cream on their lawn, beside the lake.
Zell am See, sprawling along one shore of a big lake, circled by mountains, amply provided with ski lifts and souvenir shops, was unquestionably a tourist town. But, somehow, the tourism didn't bother me the way it had in Hallstatt. Perhaps because the town was so much bigger. Perhaps because many of the visitors were Europeans spending a week in town with their kids instead of stopping in for the day. And perhaps because of the sightseeing opportunities - in one direction Krimml, with one of the highest waterfalls in Europe, in the other the Grossglockner High Alpine Road to the Pasterze glacier.
The bus ride to Krimml took 90 minutes, but came with charming scenery - a parade of mountains, alps, chalets and villages. And the waterfall? Just spectacular. Really three falls in one, with a steep path giving access to all three for those energetic enough to hike up the full 1,155 feet. I stopped for lunch at the halfway point, thinking the view of topmost fall from the cafe good enough, and that I would go no further. But I love waterfalls, and this one gradually drew me up, and up, until I finally reached the top. Even the rain that set in as I waited for the bus back didn't spoil the day.
I had to wait a day for the clouds to lift before heading up Grossglockner. One bus a day drives up the High Alpine Road (or Hochalpenstrasse) in season, leaving the Zell am See bus station at 9:20 and allowing me plenty of time to enjoy the Pension Hubertus' lavish breakfast buffet. The driver provides a running commentary (with bits in English on request) and spends a few hours at the end of the road before making the return trip. The season runs roughly from May through October. I would have been happy just to ride up and back, the mountains were that beautiful, and the glacier that sad.
If anyone doubts that it's been getting warmer in the Alps, head up the Hochalpenstrasse to the Pasterze glacier. Once, quite recently, this glacier spread partway up the sides of the valley it had carved into the mountain. Now it is a shrunken stream of ice creeping along the bottom. It's heartbreaking - although it also provides a text book example of a glaciated valley formation.
I loved Austria when I visited in 2004, and I loved it this time, too. The scenery ranges from charming to stunning, the people are friendly, the food is good, and the Austrians make great coffee. The trains aren't bad either, although the connections didn't work out very well on this trip. I had to make another change on the journey south to Italy, traveling from Zell am See to Worzl to catch the Munich-Rome EuroCity. I had expected the trip through the Brenner Pass to be scenic, but hadn't realized just how scenic. Steep mountains loomed over the narrow valley, the autostrada strode across dramatic bridges, and the train whipped in and out of a series of tunnels A fitting farewell to Austria.
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