From One Lake to Another

I start the day off with a tactical error. The alarm goes off but Carol does not wake up and put it on snooze like she usually does. I decide to let her sleep another 20 minutes. Not a good choice as after breakfast she stresses out because we have to rush a bit to make sure we leave on time to catch our train. Yesterday, I nudged her when I shouldn’t have and today I let her eat and that was not right either. I’ll keep working on this!!!
We get to the station and the train is a few minutes late. We only have 8 minutes at our stop to make a connection, which is only one of three we have to make on our way to Hallstatt, Austria.

Beautiful Train Ride

We do make the connection at Villach, just over the Austrian border, but are late for the next stop at Swarzach St Veit. I wrote on my notes that if this happens stay on the train and go to Salzburg to get two other trains to Hallstatt as that would be the next fastest option. So my planning paid off as we stay put. We arrive in Salzburg late, but still with 10 minutes to find our next train. Find it and change again in Attnang Pucheim with no problem. Now just one and a half hours to Hallstatt and the ferry across the lake. I must say that the scenery today has been magnificent. It was a bit foggy early so we could not see the Alps and Austrian mountains for a little bit. But then we got patches of blue and cloud, enough to see the incredible Austrian countryside.
We arrive at the tiny Hallstatt train station and walk a short distance down to the lake where, Stephanie, the local ferry to Hallstatt town is pulling in. We get on board for the short 10 minute ride across the lake.

Hallstatt in Sight

It gives us a nice perspective of the small town we will be in for 2 nights. As soon as we get off the boat, it starts to rain, so we get a little wet on our 3/4 mile walk to our hotel. The check in lady at Gasthaus Bergfried is all business, and when I give her our name, it is not good enough, we need the confirmation number. I dig it out, we pay up front, and go to our room. We knew this place would be very basic, but the room is much better than we expected. Very clean, nice bathroom, and a view of the surrounding Alps. Since it is raining, we relax for a while and figure out our dinner options. We save the lake side restaurant for tomorrow and opt for a slightly inland local place. It is cloudy but the rain has stopped as we walk into Gasthaus Muhle.
We order and as we wait, locals, who we can tell are regulars because the owner knows what beers to bring them, stream in slowly. Our waiter does not speak much English, in fact, almost anything we say to him, is responded with ” welcome.”

Scalloped Pork Miners Style

We eat a scalloped pork with bacon, garlic and onions over rice called Miners Pork, and a wiener schnitzel with fries. Nice local tap beer called Zipfer to wash it down. It is all very good and reasonably priced.
After dinner, we stroll a little past the edge of town and get some nice lake views. As we walk back to the Gasthaus, we notice that almost everything is closed. It is only 7:00 P.M. and there is not a shop open, not even the small grocery store. We get back to our room, pour ourselves two glasses of wine and sit on their back patio enjoying the quiet and the mountain air. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice for our exploration here. Time for bed.
Expenses
Boat to Hallstatt 5E
Dinner and Beer at Gasthaus Muhle 27.6 E
Gasthaus Bergfried 75 E
Walked 4 Miles