Day 31

The morning started off nice and early at 6:15, a slight change from yesterday’s 7 am wake up call. We already had our clothes laid out, so we were able to be out of the hostel by 6:30 and on our way to the train station. We were a little hungry and we knew that if we didn’t eat now, we wouldn’t get a chance to until after 9. Luckily there was a McDonald’s right around the corner and we got some nice egg McMuffins. Our train left about 10 minutes late, but what else can you expect here. We made our transfer just fine and were on our way to Hallstatt. Even though it’s a very small city, Hallstatt is famous for many things. First, the oldest salt mine in the world is located there. Second, the Beinhaus. And third, the image of the city is used frequently when describing Austria. We arrived on time and boarded the ferry that would take us across Hallstattersee (Hallstatter Lake). It was pretty chilly, but I had my gloves and scarf. The sky was filled with clouds, but at least no rain. We made it into the city relatively fast and started walking around. We were looking for the picture spot. The picture spot refers to the spot where my puzzle picture was taken. We wanted to recreate this image. And we found it, or close enough to it. We spent some time taking pictures and enjoying the scenery of the area. After we were done, we walked back towards the city center, but stopped at St. Michael’s Church. There wasn’t anything too impressive inside, just your average small town church. But, this is also where the Beinhaus is located. What is a Beinhaus you ask? Well I will tell you. It translates to “Bone House”. What does that mean? Is it a house made of bones? No. It is a house filled with bones. 1200 people worth of bones. The skulls are all arranged, stacked on top of one another, some even painted and decorated. And then beneath all of the skulls are the rest of the bones. Those are just kind of sitting in a Jenga like situation. We took some quick photos and then I bolted right out of there. It was a little too creepy for me. We left the Beinhaus and continued toward the city. We stopped along the way at the Marktsquare to take some pictures and scope out the food selection for later. We started heading towards the cable car that would take us to the salt mines. Once we arrived, we bought our tickets, and then waited for a good 20 minutes before we were ready to ascend. Once we got to the top, we still had a good bit to walk, and it wasn’t the easiest of walks either. At least the scenery was nice. And as a bonus, the sky was starting to clear up. There were even spots of blue! We made it up to the entrance, but had to wait for another 15 minutes before we could start our tour. But once they were ready for us, we went inside a dressing room and were given a traditional miners outfit to put on. It wasn’t the most flattering pair of pants and I think it’s pretty much, and one size does not fit all. Once we were outfitted we started our 75 minutes tour of the oldest salt mines in the world! It was a little chilly inside, 8 degrees Celsius, but the air quality is supposed to be really good so I made sure to take some extra deep breathes. We walked through the Christina Tunnel and to our first destination. We were told that we would experience how miners used to get from room to room as efficiently as possible. This was also the reason for our strange attire. There were these wooden slide that were about 60 meters long that put you in another room. I was a little nervous when our guide told us to be careful and not touch anything with our hands and feet. But as soon as that light turned green, I let loose and zoomed down. It was like I was at Wild Rivers going down the Edge. We waited for everyone else to come down and then we went to a set of benches to watch a video about the salt mine’s history. It was in German with English subtitles, but I don’t think the translation was super accurate. The person in the movie would talk for about 3 minutes, and then one line of text would come up on the screen. Oh well. We left the “time machine” area and continued on our way. We saw salt deposits everywhere. There were mini lakes inside as well. We even got to see a light show. After a good bit of walking we made it to our second slide. This one was even longer. And it had a device that measured how fast we were going. I made it a whopping 21.8 km/h!! I don’t know what that translates into mi/h, but I would guess around 12 or 13. After that slide we learned a little more about the history of the mines including the “Man in the Salt”. About 300 years ago they discovered the body of a man who had died in the mines. They thought he was a 16th or 17th century miner and they brought him out and buried him somewhere in the city. But later research showed that his remains were over 3000 years old! We continued walking and finally made it to our final destination. Instead of walking out of the caves, we took a small train like vehicle out. It was much more efficient. We said good bye to the mines and started our descent down. We were able to take the cable car back down and were hoping to stop at the local grocery store for some lunch. But when we got down to the bottom, we were sad to find out that the store was closed from 1pm until 3 pm. It was 1:05. Without any other options we decided to take a walk up part of the mountain to get some better views of the city. We started up one of the paths and it was pretty steep. I pushed through the burning sensation in my legs and made it to a resting/picture point. The clouds were starting to come back, but we still had some time before they completely covered the sky again. We continued walking upward until we reached a nice little gazebo. We took another break there and got some great pictures of the city and the lake. It was beautiful. After our gazebo stop, the walk flattened out so it was more of a leisurely stroll. We finally came to the ending point and headed back into the city center. We looked at the souvenir shops to see if anything was worth buying and came out with a few post cards. We walked slowly back to the grocery store because we still had 30 minutes until opening time. We sat by the lake and enjoyed the sights. The clouds were almost completely back, and the temperature was dropping. Finally 3pm came around and we made our way into the store. We ended up getting supplies to make some … ham sandwiches. But these ones were actually pretty good. After we finished, we still had some remaining bread and cheese and the ducks looked very hungry. We gave them the rest of our food and they were very appreciative. After we left the dock area, we still had over 30 minutes before our boat was set to depart. So we walked back to the puzzle picture spot to make some last memories of Hallstatt. The sun had gone somewhat behind the mountains so the view was perfect. After some time up there, we hustled back to our boat and boarded just in time. We left Hallstatt and not a moment too late. The clouds were now covering the entire sky and I was ready to go. Our train was a few minutes late, but we relaxed on it the whole way back watching “Fantastic Mr. Fox”. After we got back into Salzburg, our dinner options were limited and we were tired. Our big sandwich buffet filled me up pretty well, so I just had a snack before calling it a night. That’s all for today. Werfen tomorrow and then back to Germany tomorrow night!