Austria Group Tour: Salzburg

Salzburg: Part 3 of 4 : 24 September 2016

Our time is Salzburg was very short. We left Hallstatt in the morning and stopped in Salzburg for about six hours in which time we had a walking tour of the city, and time to wander around on our own. Salzburg is the "Sound of Music" city, even though the story is an American invention that was foreign to Austrians for a long time. The tourism industry in Vienna has since capitalized on the film with official "Sound of Music tours". I haven't seen the movie since middle school, so I can't say exactly what happens in different places, but some of these pictures should look familiar to you if you've seen the movie. 

Carli in Salzburg, right before we lost our tour group and had to run around trying to find them again. 

Salzburg translates to Salt-town. For much of Austria's history, it's wealth came from exporting salt. We figured it was appropriate to have a salted pretzel.

We randomly found this Rotary International sign.

I like this picture because it is one of the smallest buildings in Salzburg, and it's easy to miss. In the center of most European cities there is no space left unused. This building was built in the 6 feet between two existing buildings. 

Salzburg is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and if we had had more time in the city, we may have toured some Mozart museums, or his birth house.

Hellbrunn Palace & Trick Fountains:

Hellbrunn Palace is a summer palace commissioned by Salzburg's prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus. It is built in a Renaissance style and was built for the purpose of entertaining guests. It is a piece of engineering genius because of the water works, trick fountains, and water powered puppet shows. These pictures don't do it justice. 

If you look closely, you can see water coming out of the antlers of the deer.

Carli has turned into quite the photographer. While I was playing frisbee, she was in the flower gardens taking pictures.

Sound of Music Gazebo

From Salzburg, we made our way to Dorfgastein, which is right in the middle of the Austrian Alps. I'll write about Dorfgastein in part 4.

Austria Group Tour: Hallstatt

Hallstatt: Part 2 of 4 : 22-23 September 2016

From Mauthausen, we made our way a few hours down the road to Hallstatt, Austria. Carli and I agree that Hallstatt will be hard to top on our shortlist of favorite places. Some cities are over populated and over touristic making it hart to walk down the street comfortably. Hallstatt is obviously touristic or else they wouldn't plan it as part of our group tour, but it didn't feel like it. To give you an idea of the size of Hallstatt, it has a population of only 757 people with a density of only 33 people per square mile. The salt mine in hallstatt have been mined for over 7,000 years making it the oldest salt mine in the world. This post has a lot of pictures... you're welcome. 

For most of Halltatt's history the only way in or out of the village was over the mountain, or by boat on lake Hallstatt. Thankfully they have since blasted tunnels through the mountain, and our bus was able to drive in and out of these tunnels. 

We stayed at this "Gasthof" guest house on the edge of the old village. 

This is the old village of Hallstatt from above. The guest house we stayed in is just to the right of the picture. Now you see why the population is just 757 people.

Hallstatt by Boat:

We got there in the early afternoon and were set loose for the next day and a half. We started by renting little boats and going out on the lake to get pictures of the city.

Hallstatt by foot:

This is the cemetery of Hallstatt right behind the main church. The building is the "Bone House" because Hallstatt has so little land available, there is not enough room for a large cemetery. The solution for this is to give everyone a turn being buried and then to dig them back up and put their bones inside the bone house. The burial site was often owned by a family, and all the names of those who had passed away were on the same sign. The bodies of the dead were left buried for about 20 years and then their bones are moved to the bone house. 

Often times, their skulls would be decorated with their name and other design as depicted. There are over 600 skulls with such paintings on them. 

Hallstatt Salzkammer : Hallstatt Salt Mine 

Hallstatt is home to the oldest Salt mine in the world. Archeologists have confirmed evidence of mining activities going back as far as 7,000 years ago. In 1838, a pick made from stag horn from the Neolithic Age was found and dated at 5,000 BC. The oldest concrete proof of mining activity is dated back to 1500 BC during the Bronze Age. (I'm not sure if this means the oldest piece of concrete used in mining, or the oldest actual proof of mining...).

To get to the mine we had to ride these tracks up the mountain. Much better option than walking if you ask me. 

The view from the top of the tracks.

Before entering the mine, we had to put on jump suits so that the salt would not ruin our clothes. Every surface in the mine was covered with traces of salt because the air was so moist. The different color jumpsuits are the different sizes that they have. From smallest to largest:

Purple Team

Green Team

Red Team

Blue Team

Grey Team

Group Photo

We walked for quite a while in a tunnel that was just too short for me, until we came to the first slide.

Not what we were expecting when we went into the mine! In order to make transportation between different levels of the mine more efficient, the miners built these wooden slides. The longer of the two slides that we went on is the longest wooden slide in Europe, and the tour guide hands our pieces of umbrella fabric so that you can slide even faster. 

This old bucket was used way back in the day to haul salt out of the mine. The problem of how to best haul the salt out of the mine was solved by a genius who decided to dissolve the salt in water and pump it out. Salt is still actively mined today with the use of drill and pump technology.

This wooden staircase was only discovered in 2002, but dates back to 1344 BC. It has been preserved thanks to the high concentration of salt in the surrounding environment. They have since 3D scanned every inch of this staircase and analyzed traces of ancient fabric found in the cracks which were presumably cloth from shoes or sacks. The staircase has only been on display inside the mine since 2015 and is accompanied by a nice video presentation giving it's history.

To exit the mine, we had to sit on this little rail trolly which brought us through a tunnel so small I had to duck so as not to hit my head. 

We came out after a couple hours into the sunlight to remember that there was a lot left to explore. 

Hiking in Hallstatt & Swimming in Glacial rivers

After our tour of the salt mine, we took the mountain car down and set out for the woods, up into the mountains behind Hallstatt to go hiking. We had heard that there was a place to go cliff jumping that was found by past groups of study abroad students so we were prepared with swim suits so we could jump into the glacial waters. We were accompanied by Matt and Amanda Healey, and Will and Mariah Allen. 

We climbed up to what looked like a door cut out of the mountain only to find that it was only about 4 feet deep. I'm still convinced that it is a secret passage to somewhere magical. 

We hiked for an hour or so into the canyon and were not disappointed when we found this place. We still hadn't found the alleged cliff jumping place though. So on our hike back into town we came to a bridge that crossed over the river and decided it as good a place as any to get into the icy waters. Credit has to go to Will for being the first one to get in, making the rest of us want to prove ourselves as well.  I was next, followed closely by Mariah, Carli and Amanda who didn't even have a swimsuit, but just jumped in with her clothes... and her iPhone. Oops! They stuck it in rice for a few days and luckily it now works!! Here are some more picture from the hike and from Carli and I jumping into the water.

We had such a great time in Hallstatt, and even made some friends along the way! We were sad to leave, but it was definitely a place we will return to and suggest to anyone and everyone.

From Hallstatt it was on to Salzburg and Dorfgastein which you can read about in post 3!