we left Vienna in the afternoon and took the N1 – the national road to the west instead of using the highway. Passing St. Pölten and Melk, we finally stopped at Ybbs at the Danube. Caravans can stay for the night at a parking directly at the river and close to the center (48.181162, 15.081862).
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| Nice night view at the Danube river |
During the Roman Empire, Ybbs was one of the settlements along the Limes. At this time, a group of Egyptians lived here and built a temple dedicated to the goddess Isis. Isis lives on in the name Ybbs. A river from the mountains in the south, also called Ybbs, flows into the Danube here and made this spot a good location for trade, which led to a wealthy town. Nowadays, Ybbs is also known for the power plant at the Danube, which can be visited.
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| Turbine of the Ybbs Persenbeug power plant |
Walking through the center, we found many historic buildings, old entrances at the city wall and finally a wine bar ;-).
The next morning, we took the bikes and cycled up the river on its right bank, which is very beautiful. We nearly reach Grein on the other side before we turn around.
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| Grein at the Danube |
Leaving Ybbs, we followed the N1 again until we reached the province of Salzburg. We stopped at the Wallersee and went for a walk, after the long drive but decided to continue a little further to Golling, where we stayed for the night at the caravan parking next to the Aqua Salza Thermal Spa. Sadly, we were too tired to go to the spa.
The next day we had only a couple of kilometres to the Salzachöfen – a gorge of the river Salzach.
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| Entrance to the gorge |
It’s a short walk down and you are between the steep rocks and close to the roaring river, very impressive!
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| looking into the gorge |
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| The water washed its way into the stone for millions of years |
After visiting this impressive gorge, we drove up into the mountains and past the Wilder Kaiser -„wild or fierce emperor“ – a limestone mountain range in the northern alps with impressive views.
In the evening, we reached Kramsach and the Reintaler Lake where we stayed at the Seehof Camping for some days.
The first day we visited the Tyrolean Museum Village next to the camping. The buildings which were brought there, are very old and it was very interesting to see how people lived in the past.
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| Soldier watching the entrance of a Tyrolean farm house of the 17th century |
While Edi had to go to a meeting not far from here, Cordy had to spend her days at this beautiful lake (which has also a FKK area – which means a nudist beach)
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| Lake Reinthal near Kramsach |
Cordy went for a tour with the bike and hiked to a nearby lake in the mountains – Berglsteinersee.
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| Berglsteiner Lake |
When Edi was back, we hiked through the Tiefenbachklamm, another gorge nearby.
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| Tiefenbachklamm |
From the entrance, you follow the river for 1,5 hours until the valley widens again and you reach a mountain hut.
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| Finally the hut |
The speciality there is Prügeltorte – a sweet dish you should try – sorry we forgot to take a picture 🙁
After a stop at the supermarket, we drove up to the Achensee where we stayed at Camping Wimmer directly at the lake. There is a route along the lake to hike or cycle. We explored our surrounding and cycled to Pertisau with big hotels along the lake. We stopped at Hotel zur Post and enjoyed a drink directly at the lake.
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| View over Achensee and Pertisau |
The next morning, a thunderstorm passed, but afterwards we hiked up to the Dalfaz Alm. (Alm = pastures and hut in the mountains where you might get drinks, food and accommodation.)
The route starts just opposite the Camping and goes more or less straight up the mountain, very steep and very strenuous!
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| 1st stop at the waterfall |
We came past a beautiful waterfall which distracted us only a short moment from the strenuous climb up. It took us 2 hours to reach the Alm, but the view over the lake and the surrounding mountains was worth the climb.
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| Nice views while hiking up to Dalfaz Alm |
Alpine Chough
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| Dalfaz Alm |
On the way down, it got cloudy again and we heard thunder in the distance, but managed to change into swimsuits and jump into the lake for a refreshing swim before the rain started.
The next morning we took the bikes to explore the lake to the north before we left the camping and drove down to the Inn valley and the Tratzberg Castle.
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| Tratzberg Castle, owned by the Fugger in 14th century |
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| Original indulgence letter of the catholic church |
The weather wasn’t so bad, so we drove up the Zillertal and over the Gerlos pass until we saw the Krimmler waterfall. It was too late for a visit, so we continued to our stop for the night – a beautiful caravan parking on a mountain with great views and a good restaurant: Gasthof Friedburg.
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| At the Gerlos pass road |
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| Krimmler waterfalls |
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| at Gasthof Friedburg, a nice location for ham radio communication (the antenna is already mounted) |
The next morning, Edi used this great spot for radio communication while Cordy climbed up to the remains of the castle on top of this mountain.
Now we are at the National Park Hohe Tauern, more on our next post.