Sunday, 26 August 2012

A step above Rotorua

Kia ora again Team and hello to Samuel Patchett.

Very rushed few days in Salzburg, Hallstatt, and Neuschwanstein. The original plan was to stick to Nueschwanstein for 3 nights, but I had an urge to see some of Austria as well - none of my accommodation was booked so luckily I had the flexibility and it turned out to be a pretty nice round trip.

Salzburg was a stunning old place with filled with amazing street dancing and music - as you would expect in Mozart's hometown. Only had about 3 hours in town that night, so I did as much as I could to get a feel for what gave this town its buzz. Left early the next morning for a slow drive through Austrian lakes area, spending time in both Mondsee and Wolfgangsee, before arriving in Hallstatt. This is the town you will see the most pictures of when you google search "beautiful Austrian scenery" (that's actually how I found out about this place).. So picturesque as you can see from my photos below, but it was predictably overrun with frantic tourists. It happens to be one of 962 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and I suppose anything with 'UN' on the front of it must be worth believing.

I left early this morning for Neuschwanstein, which turned out to be about 6 hours of travelling. I went though Innsbruck briefly - a beautiful old city situated amongst the Austrian alps. Arrived here excited to see Neuschwanstein Castle, but half of it was covered in scaffolding, and wire mesh, making it look like it had been engulfed in a spider's web... so that was a bit of a fail, but it has motivated me to climb to the ridge on the other side of the castle in the morning, so I can check it out from its 'good side'.

Off to Munich tomorrow, then onto Freiburg in the afternoon. Apparently it's one of the world's greenest cities, so I thought I better pay it a visit - by electric rail..

Peace.

Stopping all the fun at Wolfgangsee by blocking the diving board. The town was actually deserted.
Couldn't think of more fitting music than Pavarotti in the Austrian countryside (yes I know he's Italian, but that's all I had on my iPod). Reminded me of my roadtrip with Dr. Samuel Patchett and Rupert to Phoebe and Aorangi's 19th Bday.
Hallstatt, Austria

The streets of Hallstatt. 

Hallstatt's town square


Just passed Innsbruck! 

Almost captured a double rainbow.

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