We caught the ferry from Hallstat over the lake to the train station (2.20 euro each)

We are now sitting on the train travelling towards Attnang-Puchheim where we transfer to a place or station called Villach.

We have 12 minutes to transfer to the other train but we forgot to buy our train tickets while in Vienna so we arranged for a ticket to be bought last night and I need to pick it up in Attnang-Pucheim.

Will we be able to pickup the ticket and transfer in 12 minutes? (the train must not be late arriving as welll)

If we do get the ticket and transfer then later in the day, about 1 hour from Lake Bled in Solvenia we have a 9 minute connection.

Pam is a bit concerned (she says she is having kittens)

All up the trains today will be about 6.5 hours and I think we are then suppose to catch a bus to Bled town from the railway station,

It is however a lovely warm day today!

This picture was taken at 5:30am on the morning that we leave HallStatt.

I am on my own little boat on lake Hallstatt. It is a little electric boat that has a 500 watt motor so speed is not great.

Like all things here this is a most relaxing way to spend an hour.

The views from the lake are great and the reflections in the water are brilliant.

Pam would not join me which is a real pity as it is so cruisy.

You really should have joined me Pam

The lovely view from just down the road (5 minutes walking) from our hotel. The photo above is a typical picture that would see of Hallstat on websites and brochures.

The view from above the town -  I walked up to the Salt Mine which is about 1.5 hours uphill.

A restaurant with an amazing view up near the salt mine at the top of the hill I climbed up.

The second night in Hallstat we decided to find somewhere other than the hotel to eat and decided on Gasthof Zauner (http://www.zauner.hallstatt.net) which is just at the edge of the town square – a whopping 20 meters from our hotel.

The restaurant is located directly in the center between the blue building and the building with yellow shutters. Very hard to see from this photo.

It was quite quiet outside (8pm on Tuesday) so we went in and found that the restaurant was on the first floor. It was packed with people (this was a good sign) all eating and enjoying themselves.

We sat down and ordered a beer each (Edelweiss-Hefeweizen)

Even though the restaurant was very busy once they took our order it came quite quickly.

Chris had a pork Weiner Schnitzel – it was very nice – quite basic but well executed and tasted great.

Pam had a small pasta dish which was made using sour cream – it too was very nice

Costs:

• Chris – 11.40 Euro
• Pam – 6.70 Euro (pasta) + 4.00 Euro (Apple Strudel)
• Beer – 7.40 Euro

They take credit cards as payment as well – useful to know.

We would highly recommend this family run restaurant – it has been in their family since 1893 – and they are obviously doing something right!

We ate in our Hotel the first night we arrived in Hallstatt.

The menu looked good, was quite expensive compared to other places, and Pam had seen good reviews online.

Chris had a roast beef with onions and potato – the beef was overcooked and generally pretty boring, the gravy tasted like a Maggi gravy mix or something like that. Quite disappointing.

Pam had a whole trout from the lake – it should have been great but it was overcooked as well and generally pretty boring to look at. Presentation skills not on the agenda here.

Costs:

• Chris – 16 EURO
• Pam – 20 Euro
• There was also a tax of 2.80 per person for eating after 6pm – bit of a con really especially since you are staying in the hotel.

The yellow building is our hotel  - Hotel Grüner Baum on the edge of Lake Hallstat. If you count the windows from the top of the building our room was located at the  6th and 7th window with a huge balcony. It is a fantastic location right in the center of town.

Our room and balcony

The room is very spacious and includes a small tv, there is no air-con (could be a problem in summer) and no fridge. The balcony for this room is very large. Our room number was 203 which is on the 2nd level – no elevator – but a simple climb up two levels.

The other side of the hotel overlooking the town square

A pretty similar view of the town square taken in 1888, 122 years ago.

The breakfast room in the hotel

Pam and I are sitting on our balcony and it is so peaceful - the sounds of water, ducks, birds, the odd person and that is about it.

Occasionally the peace is broken by a train on the other side of the lake or the ferry boat puttering across the lake to meet the train.

Today the sun is out so it makes it even more special, the last few days have been a bit cloudy.

We am really enjoying this!