Ah, Hallstatt. Ever since I noticed it on a Rick Steves episode I’ve liked it. It checks off all of the Quaint Mountain Lake Village packing containers on the guidelines:
- It’s quaint
- It has mountains
- It has a lake
- It’s a village
Okay, so it’s not probably the most complete guidelines ever, however the level is identical: Hallstatt is nice.
Hallstatt
Learn on previous the leap for an additional random story from Slovenia and extra photos!
After I used to be carried out taking photos of Lake Bled, I left the city of Bled and drove to a extremely small city close by known as Vrba. One among our shut household mates’ final names are Vrba, so I wished to cease and get some photos across the city. I ended, parked, and noticed this church:
St. Mark’s Church, Vrba
I’m a Christian and revel in seeing church buildings overseas, as I feel it’s at all times good to comprehend the unity of religion throughout nations, so I wished to go have a look. There was an enormous signal that pointed in the direction of the church, so I walked the place it was pointing, down a mud street. Then a Slovenian farmer stormed out a door and blocked my approach, yelling at me. Identical to the cops in Bled, I don’t suppose he was yelling “HEY WELCOME TO VRBA LET ME SHOW YOU THE CHURCH”. Once more, it’s my fault for not studying Slovene earlier than I left, however I really didn’t really feel like I used to be doing something mistaken this time. I pointed on the church and gestured with my digital camera. The farmer was yelling “personal! personal!”. He then (and I’m not kidding) walked over to a random spot in the midst of this dust street and pointed all the way down to a dot within the street that couldn’t have been greater than 10cm throughout. He pointed at it and repeated “personal!”. I pointed on the MUCH LARGER signal about 5 meters away that mentioned “Church” (in Slovene) and was pointing to this street. The man saved yelling, so I didn’t fear about it. I nearly snapped an image of him simply to spite him (very un-Christian of me I do know), however refrained. At that time, I simply chuckled and walked away. The farmer really adopted me about 100 meters up the street, nearly to my automotive, speaking about I’ve completely no concept what.
Oh, Slovenia…
Anyway, from Vrba I hopped on the closest autobahn and made my approach north into Austria. As soon as I crossed the border, every part felt much less hilarious, however that was okay. I made it into Hallstatt round lunchtime, and the views have been nice.
Hallstatt
Lake Hallstatt
Hallstatt could be very walkable. The city sq. is sweet and there are many eating places within the city heart. Keep in mind they’re all overpriced, however that’s kinda what you get coming to a well-liked vacationer place like this.
Hallstatt city centre
I’ve been right here just a few different instances, however by no means within the fall/winter, so every part had a little bit of a sparse look to it, however, like Bled, the clouds made it appear extra medieval.
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- Church
In all places I went there have been households strolling the city and taking within the surroundings, which at all times makes me joyful, so I simply discovered a bench and folks watched for some time.
Feed them geese
As I made my approach again to my epic rental automotive, I noticed a swan scowling at me, however scowling at me majestically.
Majestic Swan Glare (that’d be an incredible title for a rock band)
Then there was this man who additionally form of glared at me.
Obvious Mountain Village Man
As I bade farewell to Hallstatt, I pulled over at a pleasant overlook of the lake and grabbed an image of my EPIC rental automotive for this journey: the Citroen DS3.
Trying all good and Citroeny
It felt a bit like a clown automotive, nevertheless it had nice GPS and nice connectivity with my iPhone, so no complaints right here. I want it will’ve gone sooner, the autobahn would’ve been extra enjoyable.