The easiest way to get to Bad Goisern is to fly into Vienna and take 2 trains west for about 4 hours. A remote little town on the foothills of the Austrian Alps, it’s easy to see why we came here. 3 hours into the train ride, it got gorgeous. Mountains surrounding us on a warm golden day. Had to play my music to drown out the sounds of our growling tummies. Between our flight and our train, we only had time for a beer or some warm food - we opted for the beer. Reminder: bring snacks.
Our host Norbert met us at the train station. It was easy to find him, as he was the only person standing there waiting. He threw our bags in the back and gave us a tour around the city. Our final stop was halfway up a mountain and he zipped up there to get us up in 10 minutes. Side effects included nausea, clammy hands, sounds of grinding gears due to improper shifting, and absolute thrill. The view was incredible and put the stamp on the fact that we were happy to be staying here for 2.5 weeks.
Once our appetites returned, we wandered the town until we found an open restaurant. They served us well and made our first meal delightful.
We’re staying in Norbert’s annex, a separate apartment dwelling slightly connected to his home. We were welcomed by a lush garden and a strong musty smell. With no central heating or cooling system (typical in Europe), moisture has taken over in all the spaces we can’t see. With not even a fan to help with circulating the air, we could hardly sleep our first night. The next day, we headed to the Hofer. Groceries are CHEAP here, especially at Hofer (aka Aldi). And thankfully they had a fan for sale.. and all purpose cleaner.. and incense sticks…. And wine for $1.25 a bottle. So naturally we bought 7 lol. Pictured: us learning quickly that in the grocery line, you don’t mess around. With a cart full of groceries, you’re in and out in under 30 seconds and left with a buzzing head and half a memory. The person behind me kept pushing their cart into my bum, telling me I wasn’t bagging fast enough for their liking. Why Austria? Why?
It was raining pretty good at this point, and the Hofer is a good 25 minute walk from our bnb. Regrets were starting to set in with the fan and wine purchases, as they were difficult to carry. Our total weight was close to 70 pounds. With our hands full of heavy bags, we carried the fan in a shoulder bag and our umbrellas kinked in our necks. We took a lot of breaks and it ended up taking about 45 minutes to get home, but we did it. :)
After we filled our bellies with groceries, the rain let up and we figured we would head to Hallstatt, a neighboring town known for their salt mines and cottage-like cuteness. The plan was we would bring our bikes on the 2 busses to get there and ride them home, since the busses stop running around 7. Mike trying to figure out which bus is ours (all late). Moments later, we ran across the street to catch the wrong bus, only to do the same thing again for the right one. The driver helped us get our bikes on the bus and dropped us off halfway. We would have to wait 25 minutes for our next bus to take us the rest of the way, but it took 18 minutes to bike there now, so we set off with our Google Maps biking directions. Turns out google doesn’t know everything because the maps had us riding on a mountain highway.
We decided to try taking the last busses back instead of riding our bikes back. Turns out, bikes aren’t allowed on the busses here, only the trains. The first driver allowed us (thank you), but after waiting 25 min for the second bus to arrive, we got passionately denied. Another driver who we rode with earlier in the day argued with them for minutes in angry German, trying to change their mind. But alas, to no success.
Us realizing none of the lights worked on our bikes and it was sunset.
We channeled eyes of a balancer between the Austrian countryside and slug-dodging. Thankful more than ever for a bike path.
We celebrated our resilience with some of that 20¢-a-glass wine and called it a night after a warm meal.
Taking the long route into town pays the soul. Equal parts kitties and flowers makes the walk take even longer with how many times we stop. Mike says I can’t pet the kitties but like sirens, they taunt me.
The busses are on their own unwritten schedule. You’d think it’s the laid back European lifestyle at it’s fullest, but once it shows, they’ll whip you around until your camera flies out of your hands and lands on someone’s toenail to get back on schedule. Laid back? Not so much.
Had our coffee this morning atop a mountain above Hallstatt. The boats looked like a small flicks of pollen floating on the lake’s surface, making it look like we have BIG money.
It was only us and an off-duty waiter courteously sewing up and patching his colleagues’ leather work wallet.
Sydney Youngblood was playing on the stereo inside.
We see hallstatt in a new outfit, blue skies paired with glistening blue water. We catch lunch on the water and watch as swans patrol the deck for any signs of table scraps.
We follow a cat around to see where it goes until it jumped into a bush off the side of a cliff.
Austria has one of the best waste management programs in the world. Thankful to have little that gets thrown away and almost everything gets composted or recycled. Also organic (bio) food is so cheap and so local.
Also pictured: my favorite watch soaking in vinegar. I made the mistake of running into the ocean with it in Barcelona and didn’t rinse it with fresh water well enough. It seized and so did I :(
Went to Bad Ischl. The Bad means something good, by the way. That a natural hot spring exists within the town’s boundaries. We went and saw a famous villa here. The entire tour was in German so of course we understood every word.
We had lunch and finally tried a zipfer. The sign says puppy gas station haha. I won a round of darts played on our phones which meant I got to lie down at the bus station during our 30 min wait. Covid taught me how much I enjoy mid-day horizontal time.
We got back to bad goisern in time to hang out at the violin fest. We were instantly greeted by a couple who demanded we dance polka with them. Mike’s partner liked to take things slow while my partner whipped and spun me like we were old dancing partners. I haven’t laughed that hard in ages. Next thing we know, there’s a sad song playing and mike’s partner is getting on top of a violinist that had laid down on the street. Who knows what the song was, but I think she stopped drinking after that. What a hoot.
We had a lot of relaxing days in after that. Life on the road isn’t meant to be jam-packed. And we also learned that 20¢ wine isn’t meant to be drank straight. We tried to compensate by adding some fresh pressed juice to help with hydration. More poker fills our evenings.
We tried schnapps here for the first time at a local 80’s biker bar. We went with the bartender’s favorite, which turned out to be the strongest. Lemon schnapps ain’t like it is at home. I didn’t care at that point that it was the local thing to drink. It tasted like a cheap vodka shot you’d get in college.
We made our way to see a local accordion concert in a tiny wine cellar bar during a rain storm. Mike tapped a keg which made one of the bar owners kick someone out of their seat in order to climb under the floor. By the end of the night, everyone held each other over the shoulders and rocked around the tables while the husband and wife owners joined the accordion player in song and dance. The husband played some sort of folk bass he tuned by un-bending the crumpled chords while the wife chose 2 spoons with their backs to each other as her instrument of choice. I tried all the colored schnapps flavors and wow they are so much better. Delicious in fact.
Michelle got here yesterday and it was sunny. Now there’s rain. These are this season’s raincoats. Last night we went to a local party in a tent. I left my phone on the ground there and no one stole it. That’s how you know they’re good people here.
Michelle remembered how to play poker so we’re spending our rainy evenings playing after dinner.
We toured hallstatt again and were blessed with a sunny day.
A man in the town square drawing the fountain. It inspires me to start drawing again.
We rented an electric boat and puttsed around on the lake with some DJ mike playing some nice jazz in the back seat.
It was a beautiful sight. I couldn’t believe we thought by doing the funicular to the top of hallstatt, we didn’t need to do this overlook. Now we see it wasn’t even comparable. This was about 5 times as high. And was windy as ever.
After soaking in the view as best as we humanly could, We spent our last day resting up before heading to Salzburg.