A Week in Austria: Friday

Still chilly, still grey - Friday (9 May) did not present itself much different from the previous days, but no rain was forecast.

View from our room on Friday morning

Everywhere we could see, the mountain tops were shrouded in thick grey clouds - a hike to the top would not make sense with no views to expect, and so we did the opposite and went down a deep gorge instead.

Starting straight from the hotel, we followed the by now familiar path to the village of Nesselwängle. From there, we reached Gaicht, a small but rather picturesque hamlet.

An old pass way starts (or ends) just outside Gaicht, the Alte Salzstraße (Old Salt Road). It winds constantly down the steep walls of a deep gorge, reaching a stream at the bottom. Already in Roman times, people carried goods (mainly salt, hence the name) up from the Lechtal (river Lech valley) to the Tannheimertal and on.

In its heyday, an average of 300 packhorses trudged up and down this road, which was constantly in need of repair. Nowadays, it is only used by walkers and cyclists, and in winter for sleighing.

A chapel at its bottom and the entrance to an abandoned ore mine are reminders of a time when the packhorse business gave the village of Weissenbach a modest wealth.

There isn‘t that much to see in Weissenbach itself, but we found the village hall open and made use of its public toilet while we still had more than half an hour to wait for the bus back (there was no circuit path; we would have had to climb up the Old Salt Road the same way we had come, and weren‘t keen on that).

Village school with 1950s mural

Inside the village church

Never before have I had a more picturesque view directly from the toilet seat, as you can see here:

The bus was on time and took us in serpentines up the new pass road and all the way back to Haller, where our hotel is - a journey of 15 minutes which had taken us several hours on foot, but at a very leisurely pace.

A Week in Austria - Thursday

The weather was the same on Thursday (8 May), but no rain was forecast, just grey skies and chilly temperatures of no more than 7C.

View from our room on Thursday

We took the regular bus to Tannheim, the largest community in this valley by the same name. It‘s not far away, maybe a 15 minute ride.

Church in Tannheim

Our plan was to walk to the beautiful Vilsalpsee, a protected area where cars aren‘t allowed. We have been here before (in September 2021) , while holidaying on the German side just a few miles along the road, staying in Oberjoch.

Hardly any other walkers were about, and only a few cyclists. 

From the village, we walked through meadows and fields and took a short detour to a chapel on a hill, with a Lourdes grotto. 

On a trail mainly through the woods we reached the lake, which was still as a mirror. Since the restaurant/café/beer garden by the lake wasn‘t yet open (many such places only start mid-May or even later), and because due to roadworks no cars were allowed to this point, it didn‘t attract the crowds we remembered from our visit in September a few years ago.

Vilsalpsee (lake Vilsalp)

We set off on the path around the lake, already knowing that a complete round wasn‘t possible - part of the path have been buried by falling rocks, and although it wasn‘t impossible to pass on foot, it was considered off limits and would be very irresponsible to attempt.

Instead, we walked on until the very end of the small valley, where a waterfall drops from the top of the sheer walls of rock.

It is a landscape of rugged beauty, with no sound but the rushing water and bird song. We heard a cuckoo - a rare sound these days, at least in the areas where we live.

This small, lone lilac bush was a surprise!

We came back to the meadows by the lake and stopped at the Vilsalpe for a hot soup, which was really delicious and welcome. 

The way back to Tannheim was uneventful. 

We saw the bus coming into the village and thought we had enough time to reach the bus stop without running, but ended up just seeing the bus from behind. 

With about an hour‘s wait for the next one, a village with not much to see or do during that time plus a cold wind blowing, we had few options. One of them was to use our tourist passes and ride the funicular to the top of the mountain, shrouded in thick grey clouds. It was late afternoon, and we knew we would have to ride back down almost immediately, but all this would take up about half of our wait.

We must have been the last people to use the funicular that day. For 3/4 of the ride, we had a good view of Tannheim and its surroundings, and then we were swallowed by the clouds. 

Getting off the funicular, this is what we saw:

Therefore, it was clear that we simply hopped back on again and were soon at the bottom of the valley. Another 15 minutes or so were spent inside the tourist information, which miraculously was still open. The bus arrived on time, and we were back at the hotel where I took a hot bath before dressing for dinner (there was not enough time for the spa).

I was truly happy that we‘d been to the Vilsalpsee and the waterfall, and although missing the bus wasn‘t part of the plan, it wasn‘t a real problem.

A Week in Austria: Wednesday

On Wednesay (May 7) we did something I have very rarely (if ever) done before on a holiday: We went on a guided walk.

View from our room on Wednesday - sun and blue sky for the first time since our arrival!

Our guide was the hotel owner‘s husband, a very pleasant young local man, with plenty of knowledge and experience. The tour started at 10:00 straight from the hotel, which gave us ample time for a good breakfast. 

I had been a bit worried about walking as a group, something I am not keen on and not used to, but only two other couples had signed up, and so the group was small enough for everything to go smoothly.

We had only a few unchallenging ups and downs, nothing too strenuous, and although the sun had retreated behind clouds again, it was dry almost all day, with only a light sprinkle towards the end of the walk.

Our guide took us on a path O.K. and I had partly done on the Monday, but in the opposite direction, on our way back from Nesselwängle. This time, we did not actually enter the village but remained on a path that swings around it in a wide loop to the end of the valley.

Looking back towards Haller

Very ornate modern-traditional wooden house

We crossed the road there and soon had the last uphill bit ahead, which took us to  a mountain hut by the name of Klein Meran. Of course our guide had told them that we were coming, and we had a large enough table near the woodburning stove. Only our guide had something to eat, while the rest of us were thirsty and enjoyed our shandies or beers. 

Surprisingly, one of the men in our group settled the bill for all of us, which was generous of him (his wife was part of the group, as were his brother- and sister-in-law).

The hut Klein Meran is right behind this chapel (which was locked).

Another tiny chapel shortly after our break. This one was open.

Gentian - there was lots of it on a slope along the path.

After the break, our guide had two options for us: Get the bus back to Haller after a short descent of 15 minutes, or walk back all the way, which would take about 1 hour 15 minutes on the quickest, easiest path (not the same one we had taken in the morning).

O.K. and I opted for the walk, while the rest of the group preferred the bus.

We had absolutely no trouble getting back and enjoyed the walk much more than a bus ride, in spite of a bit of rain along the way.

Yet another chapel

Looking back to the end of the valley, where we had come from

Coming up towards Haller

By 2:00 pm, we were already back at the hotel, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the spa until it was time to dress for dinner, which was particularly sumptuous and delicious that evening, announced as a Gala Dinner by the hotel.