Hallstatt

Life preserver in our shuttle boat

The town of Hallstatt is one of Austria's most beautiful towns, and is a UNESCO world heritage site.  It is also closed for most of the months of October and November, due to little tourist traffic.  Of course, Rachel (my friend and fellow Fulbrighter) and I had no idea that this was the case when we made plans to visit one Wednesday that we both had off.  Hallstatt is one of the oldest settlements in Europe, as we learned in the history museum.  The Celts settled there long ago; it was a Roman trade stop, and essential to the salt trade and therefore the wealth of Austria as a whole.  The mountains around Hallstatt are full of salt.  They are also gigantic, making salt mining difficult and dangerous.  Apparently the Celts used to march pigs up the mountains and slaughter them in the salt mines so they could cure the meat right then and there.

Rachel and I took an early-ish train through the mountains, which took much longer than it should have but was thankfully a beautiful ride.  The train stops at the "station" (a tiny building with no bathroom, no ticket booth, and no platforms) where you can either wander along the tracks for miles or hop on the ferry boat to get to the town across the lake.  It's incredibly isolated and incredibly beautiful.  We were basically the only people in the town, which has only one main road and buildings built straight up the mountain and down to the water's edge.  There's a plaque that describes how the majority of the residents die of drowning or landslides (or falling, I can't quite remember), and it's easy to see why.  The highlight of our day was definitely the town's museum, where you can pay seven Euro to see excellent - and slightly laughable - exhibits about the history, nature, and art of Hallstatt.  We particularly loved the exhibit of human excrement on the wall.

Here you can read what Rick Steves has to say about Hallstatt.  I'd say it's definitely worth a visit, though it's probably a better destination in warmer months when the stores are actually open.

The Austrian flag

Rachel, my companion for the day

The beautiful buildings of Hallstatt, built right up the mountain and right down to the water's edge.

Hallstatt main square

Time travel, on the steps to the Hallstatt museum

The DOOR OF HISTORY.

Human excrement on display.

Yeah, I don't know either.

Hallstatt scenery

The ferry boat

Hiking the Schafberg

Panta, me, Mary, and Claudia on a very unstable plank/bridge at the beginning of our hike

Remember how I said we had forty days of sunshine in the fall?  One of our last truly sunny and warm days, Claudia, Panta, Mary, Bernhard (Claudia's friend), and I hiked the Schafberg.  Normally by November it's cold and snowy enough that there isn't a lot of traffic on the mountain, but we lucked out.

I had made the conscious decision not to go anywhere for fall break this year.  During both my abroad semester and last year I felt like I had to see everything, to go everywhere.  By now I think I've seen many of the places I have always dreamed of - certainly more than I ever expected to see - and decided to explore more of Austria instead.  Naturally, that meant hiking an Alp.

Claudia's friend Bernhard is an experienced hiker who had hiked the Schafberg upwards of 30 times last summer, and we enlisted him to lead us up the mountain.  We got an early (and slightly chilly) start to our hike.  Supposedly it's a six hour hike, but we decided that six hours Austrian hiking time is more like seven American hiking time.  As my former German teacher would say, Austrians "truck" with the ease of mountain goats.  Just ask my dad, who will most likely do an impression of his Austrian fishing guide leaping from rock to rock.  There is certainly a different approach to climbing an Alp that we Americans experienced on this hike.  Hiking a mountain like this can be a spontaneous decision, whereas anywhere I've ever lived I've had to plan well in advance to go on a hike of this magnitude.  And schnapps is involved.

Anyway, Bernhard fearlessly led us up the mountain, over the rivers and through the woods, until we reached the top in the early afternoon.  There we took pictures and ate lunch next to the cross at the summit.  After a little wandering and a lot of gawking at the paraglider launching himself off the mountain, we sped down the mountain to beat the sunset and the cold.  It was definitely a strenuous adventure, but it was one of the most enjoyable things I've done in Austria.  There's nothing like working up a sweat with good company and a great view.

The gang (Bernhard was playing photographer)

Panta and his new best friend

The back of the Schafberg

Gipfelkreuz! The cross at the summit

Bernhard with the mountain sign

We watched this guy launch himself off a mountain

The mountain at the top of the photo directly above the paraglider is the Untersberg, the mountain in whose shadow Salzburg sits.

The whole crew: Mary, Panta, Claudia, me, and Bernhard

The slow descent