My Great Austrian Adventure: 'I am the Mountain, I am the sea' (Hallstatt)

On Sunday Gwen and I took the train from Salzburg to Hallstatt, which involved changing trains and a total journey of around 2.5 hours. The last part of this train ride was great because we got to see numerous lakes. I’ve heard that Austria has over 500 lakes and on that train ride we only saw around 10 but they were magnificent. With all the rain we had seen that weekend, somehow the day was perfect, no wind, no rain, no clouds, just blue skies and around 25 degrees. We exited the train to be greeted by the biggest lake I’ve ever seen. It was huge and in every direction surrounding it there were mountains. Some still had snow capped peaks while the others were bright green with trees. It was beautiful. The water itself did not move. It was so still and clear that it offered perfect reflections of the surrounding mountains. It is a very beautiful place, well worth visiting.

The town of Hallstatt is actually on the opposite side of the lake, so we had to take a ferry across the lake. Once there, we realised that people’s backyards were on the lake. It was amazing. They had boat garages, so they could step out of the house and be on a boat on the lake. We even saw people washing their clothes in the lake. It was like being in another world. The town was small but cute and I was very excited to see crystal clear water rushing down from above in a waterfall. The water was flowing so fast that I could not believe it continued the few hours we were there. There must be a lot of water at the top of the mountain for it to be like that, coming from a drought ridden state, I could not believe it and I wondered if we could reach some kind of agreement with Austria to have some of their water!

We didn’t do much in Hallstatt other than take in the beauty surrounding us. We hired a pedal boat for only 10 euro (5 each) and pedalled out into the middle of the lake and just sunbaked there. It was amazing. We could see all around us and realised that we were the only people on this huge lake. What an experience! We tried some traditional Austrian foods and drinks for lunch and just spent the day sitting in the sun. (Yes, I got sunburnt.) The place was so relaxing and I could have laid there for hours.

Our final day of our Austrian trip was spent in Salzburg, where it was still pouring with rain. We tried to get to the fortress in the pouring rain, but it was a public holiday so we had to wait a long time for a bus and by the time we reached the fortress we didn’t have enough time to go in. So instead we just caught the train back to Vienna, both with assignments waiting. I was disappointed however to run into a father and son from Sydney because I didn’t even recognise that they were Australian. By chance we started chatting to them at McDonalds were Gwen and I translated the menu and ordered in German for them. They asked me where I was from in the states! I was shocked and to be honest displeased. I said I was from Adelaide and then the son proceeded to ask me how long I had been hanging out with the Americans to which he then responded ‘wow, but you’ve picked up an American accent so quickly!’ I really hope that is not the case, but I guess we all find out when I come home in a couple weeks!