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En route to Salzburg
Oct. 2nd, 2025 03:15 pmI'm coming now to the part of my trip that I liked the least (unless you include negotiating airports and coping with sleeplessness and jet lag, which I knew at the outset would be inevitable!) I'm referring to the day we spent travelling between Graz and Salzburg, and more specifically the places we stopped at along the way.
It wasn't a complete loss. I loved the Bad Aussee place where we stopped for our morning coffee break. They're world-famous for their home-made Lebkuchen:
https://www.lebkuchen.at
After that, it was on to Hallstatt, where we got a short guided tour before being turned loose to explore, wander the marketplace and maybe grab a bite to eat. We were to reassemble around 2PM to board a boat for a cruise on Lake Hallstatt.
https://www.hallstattaustria.eu/hallstatt-market-square-marktplatz
Now, it's probably heresy to say I didn't really enjoy this. I mean, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site!! And yes, the natural scenery is beautiful, it's important historically, geographically, archeologically, and it does have its charms. BUT. To me it was too ... commercial? Touristy? (Yeah, OK, I guess I'm part of the problem here).
Part of the problem may have been that we were there on Monday, and for a number of the shops and cafés, it was their Ruhetag. One shop that specialized in traditional dress and accessories (dirndls, lederhosen etc.) had a sign indicating it was now closed "for the season". I guess they must have meant the summer holidays, although I'd have thought many places like that would if anything be gearing up for Oktoberfest.
To add to the ambiance: 1) There were signs posted warning to beware of pickpockets (fair enough, I guess). 2) The marketplace only had pay-toilets (fee 1 Euro), something I could understand if they were at least clean, well-maintained and provided a reasonable degree of comfort. In this case, they were ... adequate but no more. You had to go through a turnstile and there was a fairly long queue.
The boat for the Lake Hallstatt cruise, on the other hand, had no toilets whatsoever, although we did have prior warning about this. It did, however, have a snack bar, above which was posted a notice stating in both German and English that it was verboten to consume your own food on board. Which to me is just plain tacky, especially when the food they do have on offer is nothing to write home about.
Seating on the outdoor deck of the boat was uncomfortable and inadequate.
I was frankly glad when that "enchanting cruise on the town's namesake lake" was over and we could return to our coach and go the rest of the way to Salzburg.
We arrived at our Salzburg hotel shortly after 5PM and still needed to pick up our room keys, unpack and settle in. To me, at least, the day had been mostly wasted; I would have much preferred if we could have made just a short stop in Hallstatt before continuing on our journey to Salzburg. That way, we would have arrived midday or early afternoon and had more time to get the lay of the land there.
Because Salzburg was great. But I'll cover that in my next instalment.
It wasn't a complete loss. I loved the Bad Aussee place where we stopped for our morning coffee break. They're world-famous for their home-made Lebkuchen:
https://www.lebkuchen.at
After that, it was on to Hallstatt, where we got a short guided tour before being turned loose to explore, wander the marketplace and maybe grab a bite to eat. We were to reassemble around 2PM to board a boat for a cruise on Lake Hallstatt.
https://www.hallstattaustria.eu/hallstatt-market-square-marktplatz
Now, it's probably heresy to say I didn't really enjoy this. I mean, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site!! And yes, the natural scenery is beautiful, it's important historically, geographically, archeologically, and it does have its charms. BUT. To me it was too ... commercial? Touristy? (Yeah, OK, I guess I'm part of the problem here).
Part of the problem may have been that we were there on Monday, and for a number of the shops and cafés, it was their Ruhetag. One shop that specialized in traditional dress and accessories (dirndls, lederhosen etc.) had a sign indicating it was now closed "for the season". I guess they must have meant the summer holidays, although I'd have thought many places like that would if anything be gearing up for Oktoberfest.
To add to the ambiance: 1) There were signs posted warning to beware of pickpockets (fair enough, I guess). 2) The marketplace only had pay-toilets (fee 1 Euro), something I could understand if they were at least clean, well-maintained and provided a reasonable degree of comfort. In this case, they were ... adequate but no more. You had to go through a turnstile and there was a fairly long queue.
The boat for the Lake Hallstatt cruise, on the other hand, had no toilets whatsoever, although we did have prior warning about this. It did, however, have a snack bar, above which was posted a notice stating in both German and English that it was verboten to consume your own food on board. Which to me is just plain tacky, especially when the food they do have on offer is nothing to write home about.
Seating on the outdoor deck of the boat was uncomfortable and inadequate.
I was frankly glad when that "enchanting cruise on the town's namesake lake" was over and we could return to our coach and go the rest of the way to Salzburg.
We arrived at our Salzburg hotel shortly after 5PM and still needed to pick up our room keys, unpack and settle in. To me, at least, the day had been mostly wasted; I would have much preferred if we could have made just a short stop in Hallstatt before continuing on our journey to Salzburg. That way, we would have arrived midday or early afternoon and had more time to get the lay of the land there.
Because Salzburg was great. But I'll cover that in my next instalment.
