Hallstatt & Salzburger Land

We chose Hotel Goldener Ochs in the heart of Bad Ischl both for its favorable location as well as for being a Michelin Guide Bib Hotel, i.e. a hotel where two can sleep in comfort in pleasant surroundings for less than €90 all included per night. Such hotels usually have a fine restaurant attached and once again, we were not disappointed by the Michelin recommendation.

Goldener Ochs is just off the main road going through Bad Ischl and adjacent to a fast flowing mountain stream. I somehow managed to get the car through the rather narrow gate and short tunnel into the already overcrowded courtyard parking area. This was fine for unloading and after doing so, I astonished myself by reversing out into the street again sans help and sans scratching anything. For the duration of our stay, we parked across the street in the municipal parking lot where overnight parking was an insignificant amount.

The hotel is very comfortable with a bit of a lived-in feeling without being shabby in any way. The style is not the most contemporary but all furnishings were in excellent condition. A baby bed and a further child mattress crowded the room a bit but in such a lovely town, we were never going to be in the room except for sleeping. From the wooden balcony, we had varied views: looking down we could observe through the glass roof the action in the restaurant, looking straight ahead we could keep an eye on the car in the municipal parking lot, and looking up we had marvelous clear mountain views. At night the room was pleasantly quiet and the beds comfortable.

In addition to the extensive breakfast buffets that we enjoyed there, we also dined in the open-air part of the restaurant. It was a most pleasant meal with excellent service and well-prepared food. After a hard day of mostly outdoors sightseeing, I needed a beer and my wife a prosecco and we wisely ordered a large bottle of soda water too. Two starters, two main courses, two desserts, and two coffees later, we still haven’t spent €50. It was unfortunately our final night in town or we would have dined there again.

Goldener Ochs offers all the advantages from being in town but still with mountain views and rural silence at night. It is an easy stroll into town – whether to the pleasant shopping street or the large, well-maintained parks.

Hotel Goldener Ochs
Grazerstrasse 4
4820 Bad Ischl
Austria
Tel: 06132-235-290

Bad Ischl is famous in both Austria and Germany far beyond what its size or attractions warrant. It is in this spa town that future Emperor Franz Joseph met his future wife, Elisabeth, duchess in Bavaria, or better known as Empress Sissi. It was arranged that then Crown Prince Franz Joseph meet Duchess Sophie while on holiday in the spa town Bad Ischl with the intention of securing a tie between the royal families of Austria and Bavaria. The two mothers were colluding but to their surprise, but not immediate disappointment, Franz Joseph fell in love with Sophie’s younger sister, Elisabeth, instead. Although hardworking, Franz Joseph is not best remembered for his political skills or intellect. Sophie would have been the better choice. Sissi, although beautiful, never had the demeanor an empress needed for the Viennese court.

Travelers to Bad Ischl still come to town for the same reasons as the royals did, to take to the waters and enjoy the pleasant mountain location. Although without significant historical sights, it is a pleasant town to stroll around in. As is common in Austria, parks and street-side paving are in excellent state of repair.

The Kurpark is particularly meticulously maintained. We enjoyed coffee with elaborately served desserts on the veranda of the very posh Kongreßhaus while nearby a street-side restaurant almost resembled a street-side party with the bottles of beer being cooled in what seemed like a public fountain.

The town has numerous elegant buildings. Although some buildings have Baroque facades, I suspect that they were 19th century rather than real Baroque. The Kaiservilla, where the royal family used to stay, is open for the public but, after spending the previous week in Vienna, seeing it would have been one palace too many. Numerous small restaurants, cafés, and Eiscafés are scattered through the old town.

The pedestrian shopping street turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. We were not planning on going there at all but I lost a screw in my glasses and after a breakfast, where I had to push my nose almost into the plate to distinguish the cheese from the bacon, we headed to Pfarrgasse, just across the stream from our hotel. Fortunately, the optician was one of the first shops and, after replacing the screw for free, she insisted on adjusting the general fitting too. In a nearby drug store, we found sunscreen, just in time for the coming summer, at a third of the normal price. The adjacent bookstore had fantastic specials on children’s book and in a nearby boutique, we found further bargains in working attire for my wife and summer wear for the children. We did more shopping here in an hour than we did in a week in Vienna.

Bad Ischl has a fantastic location, especially for drivers. It is a short drive to Hallstatt or to the Wolfgang See. Salzburg itself is around 60km to the west.

Hallstatt is one of
Austria's UNESCO World Heritage Sites and mostly known for its outstanding natural beauty and the Celtic civilization that resided here, and elsewhere in southern Germany and Austria, around 800 B.C. to 450 B.C. The town itself is very small and hugs the slopes of the Hohe Sieg mountains on the narrow strip of land between the cliffs and the wonderfully clear water of the lake.

Lake Hallstatt (or Hallstätter See) is a mere 8km long and between one and two kilometers wide but up to 125m deep. The water is crystal clear and the locals plan to keep it that way. Therefore, only electrical boats are allowed on the lake.

Prior to the 19th century, Hallstatt could only be reached by boat. Although driving here now is easy, the roads are probably crowded during the high season. By rail, you have to disembark at Obertraun at the opposite side of the lake and then take a ferry, timed according to train arrivals, across the lake to Hallstatt. The best views of Hallstatt are from the lake and the ferry is a fine alternative to taking a lake cruise.

Hallstatt is closed to non-local traffic from May to October so a recommended parking spot is in the clearing halfway through the tunnels on the main road that bypasses the town. Despite numerous warnings of overcrowding, we found this parking lot virtually deserted. From here, we enjoyed the fine views of the lake and the roofs of the town but one glance at the steep stairs leading into town and we decided to park at the far side of the town and push the stroller along flatter roads. This turned out to be a good decision, as a large play area close to that parking lot allowed the children to work off some energy while we could enjoy the views of the lake and the picturesque town.

With two small children in tow, we had (and chose) to skip some of the most popular sights in Hallstatt: the Hallstatt Museum and a trip into the mountains to enjoy the mountains as well as historic mines and famous caves. We enjoyed simply strolling through the picturesque town with its constant lake and mountain views. Most buildings in town are in the Austrian Alpine-villa style with colorful façades and wooden balconies. A few weeks later, most would probably sport geraniums, too.

Walking in Hallstatt and driving through the mountains in the region is like moving around inside a postcard. The whole region is simply picture perfect.

A popular sight in Hallstatt is the Gothic Roman Catholic Parish Church a few flights of stairs up from the Marktplatz. In addition to the Gothic building, some fine altars, and late Gothic frescoes, the place is popular for its skulls. A little graveyard is adjacent to the church but it is unremarkable. The real attraction is the Bone House in the Michaelskapelle (St Michael Chapel). In Austria, graves are sold on a fixed term basis—usually 25 years—and when the time is up, someone must pay to renew the lease or the lot is resold.

Due to the lack of space in the local graveyard, bodies here were traditionally exhumed after a decade or so. The remaining bones were placed in this chapel with the skulls cleaned and provided with the person’s name, date of death and some other decorations. Painting flowers and other decorations started in 1720. Since the mid-20th century, skulls are only cleaned and placed here if a local inhabitant requested it in writing in his/her will. The youngest skull is of a woman who died in 1983. A golden tooth survived, too, making her skull easy enough to find.

The different decorations painted on the skulls have special meanings. Laurel leaves indicate victory, ivy leaves indicate life, oak leaves fame, and roses love. The latter mostly red and pink flowers are not restricted to female skulls either.

I never had a particular desire to see skulls or skeletons but found this chapel interesting nonetheless. Not having any relatives here, I did not experience any emotional connection with the death. Although this chapel is in no way sterilized, it is not in anyway tasteless either.

It is a steep climb up the most direct route from the Marktplatz to the church, but fine views can be enjoyed along the way. Returning to the lake, I somehow missed the first flight of stairs and found that a longer route had fewer stairs and passes through the back streets of Hallstatt. It served up unexpected treasures, too; turn a corner and be surprised by a stream or waterfall, lovely views down narrow alleys of the lake, windows with complexly-weaved lace curtains, unexpected peaks through open doors into the life of local families, and a chef, knowing that the first patrons are still an hour or more away, using the opportunity to yell at an assistant on his inability to clean the vegetables properly.

We wanted to see Hallstatt from its best side and decided on renting a small electrical boat to allow for timetable-free exploration. So we thought. Presenting ourselves at Hallstatt Bootsverleih, which runs a jewelry shop as a sideline, we were informed that the owner was now going for his lunch and although we could rent a boat right away, we would have trouble getting out without help seeing that we had two small children in tow and he would not be around to help. Would we mind coming back in half an hour?

We did not mind and decided to go for coffee at the Marktplatz and I am so glad we did. The coffee was instantly forgettable but I had quite a memorable time nonetheless. As we were only planning to have coffee and cake, we picked a seat on the market square-side veranda of Café Derbl, despite its obvious international tourist trappings of multilingual picture menus. They had a special running of coffee and cake where you may keep the Hallstatt mug for barely more than the price of standard coffee and cake. We thought that would make a nice souvenir but in our haste to order, so my wife could go change the baby, we overlooked that Kaffee Hag would be involved. We hate instant coffee.

While waiting for the coffee, which in Austria is invariably served with a glass of still water with the coffee spoon placed horizontally across its top, I busied myself with some postcards. I could not help but overhear the four Brits, presumably in their late 60s, at the table behind me. They were enjoying their trip to Austria and it was so much better than their previous trip abroad. I gathered they had ventured to Italy around 30 years prior when they were constantly sick. (It must have been the water.) Their coffee, cake, and of course water, were served and they were starting to joke about what to do with the water. I thought it was a standing joke in the group but as it turned out, they were simply clueless about this odd foreign custom. When our coffee and cake, and of course water arrived, I said something in English to my daughter and the one woman’s eyes lit up and she dared ask me if I knew what the water was for. I explained the Austrian custom and that yes, indeed, you are supposed to drink it if you want, to which she responded not even remotely embarrassed “Oh, I put my spoon in it!”

Back at the Bootverleih we had our pick of the fleet—either a “go and stop” dingy or a two speed, 500W machine. We opted for power and speed, which left me wondering if you get a pair of rowing paddles with the slower boat. Due to the unseasonably hot weather, we cruised around for only 20 minutes but that was sufficient to see Hallstatt from its most beautiful side.

The Wolfgangsee (Lake Wolfgang) is one of the loveliest in the Salzburg region. We had coffee and cake on its banks in the town Sankt Wolfgang the previous autumn while visiting Salzburg and found the town so appealing that we decided to drive the 15km or so from Bad Ischl to explore more of the town and to lunch on the shores of the lake again. We found the town and lake in spring as appealing and beautiful as it was the autumn before.

As with many other small towns that are overrun by tourists in summer, non-locals have to park outside town. Wolfgang is so small that this presents little problems although some slopes are very steep and are probably more challenging in wet weather. Fortunately, we enjoyed perfect sunshine on both visits.

The top cultural sight in town is the Late Gothic Wallfahrtskirche (Pilgrims’ Church). This is not an ordinary village church that you visit simply because the town has nothing else to show. Although the interior of this church received a Baroque makeover following a fire in the late 17th century, the main artwork is a Late Gothic wing altar by Michael Pacher. It is one of the best samples of its kind in Austria. Also noteworthy is the Baroque double altar by Thomas Schwantahler.

The rest of the town is full of typical Austrian villages with balconies and ample woodwork. Several hotels and restaurants are on the banks of the lake with verandas allowing for fine views. In autumn, we enjoyed coffee and well-proportioned pieces of cake on the veranda of the Weißes Rössl, the most famous hotel in town. It is well known in the German-speaking and musical world due to Ralph Benatzky’s operetta “Im Weißes Rössl”. (It also features in several otherwise unremarkable German movies and TV programs.)

On our second trip, we found the veranda of the Weißes Rössl packed and sitting indoors would kind of have defeated the purpose. We found space in the garden of the adjacent “Zum Weissen Hirschen”—there is also a competing “Schwarzes Rössl" nearby—where we had a leisurely lunch with fine views of the lake in a garden setting ultimately more suitable to our children than the more upmarket, but very pleasant, veranda of the Weißes Rössl. It was a long drag up a steep slope past several souvenir shops back to the car, which was just as well as that double ice cream with cherries and chocolate sauce that so perfectly completed an already hearty Austrian lunch called for an immediate workout or would have stayed on the hips for eternity.