Guten Morgan zum Lindau, As predicted, Linda has fallen in love with Austria (“ I thought Italy was beautiful . . . “). It’s not so much the countryside (“It’s so green, it’s kinda like it’s fake.”). No, not the quaint villages (“look at that dear little town”). It’s not even the lakes …Read More
Guten tag von Altaussee, This is a story about heroism under duress, about refusal to obey dishonourable instructions from above and about rectifying a wrong wrought by Hollywood. We are in the Austrian Alps, where even Linda has exhausted the superlatives about the scenery. It’s also where ‘bad’ means ‘spa’, and the salt has …Read More
Guten tag von Wien, I suppose we perceive castles and palaces of long-gone royalty as a curiosity; our visits as tourists a pause for relief (relieved that we no longer govern ourselves like that) or a nod to the decadence, and a determination not to let it happen again. On the other hand, …Read More
Gutentag nach Salzburg. Salzburg is a city in which one could easily be lulled into a belief that there were no issues in the world, like crime or environmental degradation or rudeness. We’ve spent two lovely days here in this very pleasant city on the Salzach River in northern Austria. Everything is …Read More
Guten Tag from Bavaria, The Schellenberg Eishohle (Ice Cave) is just shy of Salzburg and the German border. From the bottom of the valley, it appears like a tiny insignificant gap in the limestone mountain, way up in the sky. Access to the Ice Cave is after a steep drive up the foothills, a taxing …Read More
Gutentag dach Badgastein, We’ve come to another halt, this time in the mountains of Austria. The countryside of Austria is predictably scenic, but even more so than expected. a ferry but no water The road to Badgastein ended in brilliant sunshine at Mallnitz, which reposes peacefully in a perfect example of a hanging valley. The maps …Read More