HALLSTATT, AUSTRIA MAY 2010

Breakfast at the hotel

A couple tending a loved one's grave

Arriving Hallstatt, Austria after a 4 hour train ride, we walked up a steep walkway to board a boat that would ferry us across the lake to the town.  Hallstatt claims to be the oldest mining town in the world.  We were struck by the beauty of the glistening lake and towering mountains.

We rolled our luggage along the road through town to reach our hotel, the Grüner Anger.  It has been owned by a couple about our age for ten years.  It was immaculate and we very much enjoyed our stay there.  We loved the awesome view of mountains from our balcony and the great evening meals they prepared for us.  One evening we dined on fresh trout from the lake.  The entire hotel was smoke-free which was such a relief after having to inhale so much in most of the restaurants in Vienna.

One day we rode the steep funicular railway up the mountain to the the salt mine.  Once we arrived we were asked to slip into special pants and jacket and led by our guide into the mountain.  A highlight of the tour was getting to ride miner-style down very long wooden slides from one floor to the next.

We loved just meandering down the streets, witnessing everyday life and sitting by the lake watching the swans patrol the lake as though they owned it.

A little history:  The Catholic church overlooks the town from above.  Its 500 year old altars and frescoes feature Hallstatt's two favorite saints: St. Barbara (patron of miners) and St. Catherine (patron of foresters.)

Space in Hallstatt's graveyard was so limited that the bones were dug up after 12 years to make room for new bodies.  Many of the dug-up bones and skulls ended up in the bone chapel.  Each of the several hundred painted skulls has been lovingly named, dated, and decorated.  The skulls resting on Bibles are those of the town's priests.