July 6- Hallstatt

Today started with the skies heavily overcast. The tops of the Alps were in thick dark clouds. Later on it did start to rain, but the weather can’t always be with us like it has been.

After another nice breakfast in the hotel, we stopped at a bank and an apoteke (drug store) in the nearby town of Wals to pick up some necessities. From there we traveled into the Austrian countryside and into the wonderful Lake District, known here as the Salzkammergut. We drove over the mountains and through the Austrian woods to the town of Hallstatt.

Hallstatt gets its name from the German for “Salt-Town,” and for literally thousands of years it has been a center for the mining of salt. The salt mine in the area is the oldest salt mine in the world. The archeology in the area gives the town’s name to the Hallstatt period, which peaked in 1500 BC, but there were probably people mining the salt there for 7000 years. The ages of European buildings are always somewhere between startling and mind-boggling to us, but these ages are off the charts ridiculous.

Today, the mine is not only an active salt mine, but it is also a multi-media tourist attraction. We found parking and made our way to the funicular. We rode it to near the top of the mountain, and still had a hike to the entrance to the mine. Along the way, there were wayside exhibits on the archeology of the region, of the history of salt and these mines, and even St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners. The girls were amazed that her father imprisoned her for three years for having converted to Christianity and finally had her beheaded.

We made our way to the building where we entered the mines, and we had to suit up in two piece overalls. The mine itself felt very cold. It is always 47 degrees F. We passed with the group and our guide, Deiter, down a very, very long tunnel, into what seemed like the very heart of the mountain. In the mine itself there were several multimedia presentations, which were shown right onto the salt or onto the cave walls. The highlight was a trip down two long wooden slides that you had to sit astride, like riding down a banister. The slides were used by miners to get to lower levels, and they are probably the main reason that the guests are required to wear the overalls with the re-enforced backsides. Emma says that she didn’t like the slide, but the picture that was snapped of her there reveals that she was going down with a big smile on her face. There was also a brine lake that was so still that it reflected the ceiling like a perfect mirror, making the water practically invisible until Deiter through a rock into it to show the ripples. The tour ended with a ride on a train that also required you to sit astride it and close to the person in front of you. The ride took you through another very long but very narrow tunnel, that wizzed by seemingly no more a foot from you. (Scott kept thinking, “Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. …And duck your head!”)

Scott had been very hesitant about going on the mine tour because he really doesn’t like caves, but once inside, the tour was interesting enough to keep him from getting too scared.

The town of Hallstatt itself sits on a very narrow strip of land, with the lake called the Hallstätter See and its ring of mountains on one side of the town and the salt mine’s mountain on the other. The town itself is filled to the brim with beautiful examples of Alpine architecture that cling to the mountainside in order to make room. The necessarily narrow streets create a situation where the use of cars is limited. Rick Steves suggested that Hallstatt was an idyllic and overlooked spot. On these two points, we have to disagree with him. Apparently, many other people have been listening to him, because there were plenty of tourists around and many groups of students, apparently from nearby schools. Worse though, there was too much traffic. It was continually forcing us to step back from the narrow lanes. Much of this traffic came from construction that was happening in the middle of town. Noisy little trucks that were filled with construction materials were always rolling by, and several enormous cranes interrupted all of the good views of the skyline. As near as we can guess, there must have been a fire or something recently because three new buildings (or one building with three distinct sections) were being put up between the two churches in the town. That certainly could not have been open real estate before, because every square inch of the rest of the town is packed.tight. Even the cemeteries get re-used, literally. So while we did enjoy our time in the town, it wasn’t quite the quiet forgotten little corner we were expecting.

We did find a real supermarket in town and we bought some items for a picnic, including Alpen Kässe (locally made cheese) and the infamous Mozart Balls. We took our food down the road and found the perfect little picnic spot along the Hallstätter See. The rain had stopped and the sun was starting to come back out, making interesting little patches of light on the quaint village on the opposite shore of the lake. The clouds were making patterns that were even more intriguing as they kissed the sides of the mountains like giant cotton balls snagged on the pine trees. Here we got to enjoy a really beautiful, if simple little meal. Even when the bus of tourists stopped to take pictures, we were still able to enjoy the relative serenity of the lake. The girls finished their sandwiches and fed the remaining bread to several ducks that swam by.

Then we tried the Mozart Balls. These candies are actually called Mozartkugeln. All that we really knew of them was that they are found almost everywhere in Salzburg and the surrounding area, they are marketed with Mozart’s picture on them (Salzburg’s favorite son), and they were some sort of candy that we simply had to try before leaving Austria. They come wrapped in gold foil in any number of sizes of packages. Each candy is somewhat smaller than a golf ball. The first layer is chocolate, but we didn’t know what to expect next. The next layer is peanut butter brown, but is obviously made of something else, and the core is a pale green color. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste. Emma spit hers out in the garbage immediately after trying it and we all had a good laugh.

We considered stopping again in Salzburg, but it was getting late and a weird storm front was whipping through the area. We could almost count down, “3-2-1,” as we entered the downpour and again as we left it. It seemed to be pouring exactly over the city itself. So we went back to the gasthof where we are staying near Wals. By the time we got there, an enormous rainbow could be seen arcing through the valley between the mountains. It was a lovely end to the day. We went inside and finished watching The Sound of Music, which we had started last night. We are very sorry that we have to leave Austria, because we know there is a lot more that we want to see in this area, and we have had a great time being here.