The Most Beautiful Place in the World

Julie, Scott, and I had a day off between vacations: Monday was recovery day from Budapest before we departed for our next adventure on Tuesday. I was told by Kim that I had to visit Hallstatt while I was in Austria.  As soon as I google-imaged the location (http://tinyurl.com/googleimageHallstatt), I knew it was a must-see. Lucky for me, Julie and Scott had 2 days free, and so the three of us made our way to Hallstatt to take in the scenery.

It’s obvious that Hallstatt is one of those random towns not often thought of by locals.  When someone overheard us saying we were going to Hallstatt on the train, we were asked “Why the heck are you going to Hallstatt?!”  The town is located in the lakes and mountains region around Salzburg that I loved so much, and has a population of around 900 people.  It is known primarily for its salt mine and the discovery of artifacts from the bronze age in that area.

The train ride: Beautiful.  The arrival in Hallstatt: Breathtaking.  We had to take a ferry from the train station to the actual town, and upon our arrival we were picked up by the owner of our hotel, who told us if we hurried, we may be able to make the last Salt Mine tour of the year.  We missed it by about 10 minutes – go figure.  That didn’t stop us from taking the gondola/tram/railcar thing up the mountain.  The mountain provided a great view of the town, and also gave us access to snow, one of my favorite things. 

We chilled on the mountain for a few hours, hiked around to see what we could see, and then decided to check out the town of Hallstatt and find some dinner.  We ate at a quaint little pizza place, and then headed to another little place to have some conversation over a couple of glasses of wine.  The purpose of this was for Scott to explain his personal life, which Julie turned into a dinner analogy, complete with an appetizer, a main course, and dessert.  Back at our hotel, we found a tv channel playing American music, turned it up a little too loud, and got a knock on our door.  Scott was told “You are not alone, and this is not a Disco.”  Bedtime?  I think so!

One thing I really enjoyed about Hallstatt was that the town was so small that we saw basically everything in two days.  Literally, I think we saw every building in the town.  Wednesday was pretty much spent just walking around, looking at the buildings, and eating a local bratwurst specialty.  By the catholic church was a beautiful graveyard; I know beautiful graveyard sounds ridiculous, but really, I would not mind being buried here at all.  Other cool stops included a soap shop (where all three of us bought lemons – literally, lemon-scented soap in the shape of a lemon) and a Christmas shop (My favorite time of year is the winter holiday season – stopping here was a must!)

This trip was worth every penny; on more than one occasion, the three of us found ourselves stopping in our tracks with our jaws on the floor just taking in the beautiful scenery.  As one final bonus, on the way home, I busted open my Clive Cussler book and ironically found a reference to Hallstatt, Austria within my book.  CRAZY!  (Curious?  Trojan Odyssey, page 68.)  All in all, a great trip with some great friends.  To Scott and Julie, CHEERS to Hallstatt in all its wonder and beauty!