Austria Group Tour: Dorfgastein

Dorfgastein: Part 4 of 4 : 25-26 September 2016

The Dorfgastein portion of our Austria tour was all about mountains, villages, castles and ice caves. Dorfgastein is the name of the village which we stayed in. It is a skiing village, so it's booming in the Winter time, and a lot calmer in the summer when we were there. The first thing we did was ride to the top of the mountains in a cable car. When we got to the top we stopped in at the restaurant where Cindy treated us all to Kaiserschmarrn. 

This is Kaiserschmarrn which is basically messed up crepes with sugar on them that you eat with a cranberry sauce.  

We hiked down the mountain until we came to this park. It was a beautiful day, so we had to stop and play. 

Near the park was this water reservoir where we skipped rocks. 

Along the entire trail, there were wild berries scattered all over the place. Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. 

We saw quite a few people paragliding which is something I would get into if the opportunity presented itself.

After our hike, we returned to Dorfgastein and spent a few hours just wandering around the village, taking pictures.

We even played some pick up soccer with the locals... who were actually the Brewer boys and company.

The next day it was off to the mountains again! This time we went to a castle in the region around Salzburg. We toured the castle, and then saw a birds of prey show where they demonstrated how they used to hunt with eagles, and hawks. 

To get into the castle without hiking up the hill, we rode in this little lift that pulled us up the hill right into the castle walls.

In the main courtyard, there were a lot of activities and games like wooden stilts. We had races with them.

Carli even made a wish at the well!

This bird trainer had a ferret or something on the end of the rope that he would swing around in a circle over his head. The eagle would circle, then dive in to grab it, and the trainer would pull it away just in time to so that the eagle would miss it. Then eventually let it catch it.

They had falcons, eagles, vultures

In this picture, the trainer tossed up a dead baby chick that was then snatched up by this eagle.

Besides going to the castle, we made our way up into the mountains, rode another cable car up, and hiked our way to an ice cave in Werfen, Austria. This ice cave is called Eisriesenwelt and is the largest ice cave in the world and extends 42 kilometers under the surface of the mountain. The cave is 42 kilometers long, but only the first kilometer is covered in ice because temperatures after the first kilometer rise to above freezing. The rest of the cave is limestone.

The cave entrance. 

This man was our awesome tour guide, who's accent and enunciation was great to listen to.

Don't mind the huge sign right at the entrance that says photos are forbidden inside the cave... The next few photos are contraband. 

To light the way he gave every third or forth person an oil lantern with an open flame and reflecting concave metal dish. He himself had a large coil of magnesium which he kept constantly burning throughout the tour. When we came to the notable ice formations, he would go and hang long strips of magnesium from them in different spots to light them up. 

The way in, was extremely steep upwards, and the way out was equally as vertiginous. 

On the bus ride back to Vienna, we stopped at McDonalds for lunch, and I discovered that McDonalds in Austria is much better than in America. They have a triple cheeseburger. 

To bring the Austria Tour to an end, we stopped at the "Stille Nacht Kapelle" or Silent Night Church. The small Church where the hymn "Silent Night" was written. From there, it was on to Vienna.