Saturday July 7th, 2018
We leave early by car, with destination Salzburg. Before reaching our destination we stop in Germany, on the Chiemsee, a beautiful lake with 2 islands (on one of them there us a palace). Parked the car in Prien, near the pier, we take the ferry that takes us to the Fraueninsel, the smallest of the 2 islands we will visit today. We stop near to the shore, on a bench to eat sandwiches. A few minutes later we are surrounded by some ducks waiting for the food from us: they are not afraid at all, they walk over our feet to get as close as possible to food. As soon as we finish the sandwiches they go away and go to other tourists.
We go around the island, and visit the church abbey. When we leave, the guests of a wedding arrive. Then we take the ferry and go to the Herreninsel to visit the palace. We buy the tickets and choose the tour in English, for the italian one there is too much to wait. The building is still quite distant from the ticket office. Inside it’s not possible to take pictures. Then we visit the museum, and we stop at the bar to get an ice cream. Before returning to the ferry, we visit the Augustinian convent. Nearby there is a small chapel, but consulting the ferry schedules we decide to go to the pier and return to the car. In the evening we reach our hotel, in Austria, a little on the outskirts, in Wals, where the old custom house was.
Then we go to Salzburg, there is still the sun, we walk a little in the city center. After dinner we walk a little further. Upon return, the navigator takes us to the back of our hotel, where there is a closed gate, so we are forced to go back.
Sunday July 8th, 2018
Before leaving the hotel, we go to the roof where there is a small garden, then we go back to Salzburg. Parked the car, we cross the river and go to the elevator that takes us to the Monchsberg. We walk down the path, go around a little bit on the hill, then we arrive at the walls, and we head towards the fortress, which however remains a little higher up and so we do not go up. Back to the center, walk a bit, and we enter the Cathedral and the Kollegienkirche.
We stop at Fuschl am See for lunch, near the church, but far from the lake. Next stop is St. Gilgen (where there is a Mozart house). Later we reach Hallstatt. It is quite crowded, especially Japanese. Then we reach St. Wolfgang and we walk around (the hotel has the heating on, but they do not change the room). We have dinner in front of our hotel. After dinner we walk and take some pictures.
Monday July 9th, 2018
Today we would like to go to the Schafberg, taking the funicular. It suggested on many websites about Austria, but there are so many clouds, so we change our program. We walk a bit in St. Wolfgang, then we drive to the cemetery to see the tomb of Nierlich and then we go to the Postalm (you pay the toll on the road). It is a plateau with numerous paths and huts, we reach the viewpoint above the lakes.
After going down, we go to Gmunden, we walk around the Landschloss, and on the near island with Schloss Ort (which we don’t visit). We get launch in the main square. In the afternoon we reach Kremsmunster, it’s hot. Despite it’s not the time for a guided tour, a lady take us and guides us in Italian. In Linz we leave our luggage at the hotel and we park near the old Cathedral. We pass the Hauptplatz, the Landhaus, the Cathedral. We have dinner in the main square. In the evening we go up the Postlingberg by car (we can not find the road, we park it and we continue on foot).
Tuesday July 10th, 2018
We leave Linz and stop at St. Florian to see the abbey (externally only). Later we arrive at Hallein, indicated by the guides as a very nice town, there are some ancient buildings, but nothing exceptional. From here we go to Golling to see the waterfall (there is a ticket to buy).
We continue to the Lammerklamm gorge. When we get off the car it starts to rain, but fortunately it stops almost immediately. Inside the gorge there are 2 routes, one more flat, one with many steps, it’s the most beautiful part. In the evening we arrive at Bruck, at the hotel where we had been many years ago. We go to Zell am See, the town is full of Arabs, they are everywhere. Later we read that it is a very popular destination in Arab countries (and these tourists spend much more than others). We have dinner at the hotel.
Wednesday July 11th, 2018
We would like to drive up the Grossglockner road, but it rains and there are low clouds, so we decide to take the tunnel (it costs less than the road). We stop at Matrei in Osttirol where there is a cycling race and we arrive in Lienz. First we go up to the castle, then walk downtown, eat an ice cream and visit the city. Then we leave Austria and we stop at San Candido and later at Novacella. In the evening we arrive at home.
