Austria in the Spring (part 1)

This year, we decided May was the time to take a vacation.  In fact, we’re getting pretty good at visiting places during low-season and avoiding the crowds…with Egypt, Gambia and Niagara Falls being just a few examples of us lucking out and holidaying during the low seasons in these places in recent times.  This can be very beneficial when you want to visit spots that become a hub of tourist activity during peak season and especially when you want to visit areas of natural beauty and experience the tranquility of nature.

So this holiday is all about down time, rest and relaxation…and of course, venturing out to explore this incredible diverse landscape…but this holiday…we thought we would explore in a slow and stress-free kind of way.  That was the plan anyway…

Saturday: We arrived early evening and got settled in to our chalet apartment set deep in the Austrian Alps.

Sunday: A walk seemed like a good option for today…10 miles and a steep hill walk later and we were finally back at the apartment and ready for a glass of wine!

Monday: I should probably have said that we hired a car from the airport on Saturday – no problems there. But then we left a light on inside the car which drained the battery completely over the course of two days.  When push starting the car by rolling it down the 2 mile hill failed, we opted to knock on the door of a friendly local to see if he had jump leads and could help us. The first house had 3 cars parked in his driveway, a camper van and a tractor (even his kid had a motorised car that ran on a diesel engine) so we lucked out there and he obviously had the whole kit to get our car going…and we were soon on our way into the local town of Zell Am See…

Tuesday: The weather is fairly changeable at this time of year so we jumped on board when the weather forecast suggested it would be the sunniest day of the week and drove 50 minutes to the base of the Krimml Waterfalls – the highest waterfall in Europe – and a pretty impressive site it was too. The only downside was that several times we thought we had reached the top, only to find more steep twists and turns inviting us to climb higher. That said, every part of the waterfall was just breath-taking and totally worth it!

Wednesday: Is today. And today is a day of rest for us. Partly by choice and partly due to the cloud that has enveloped us up here on the mountainside. With a well-stocked fridge, photos to edit, blogging to be done, Netflix and a nice bottle of Austrian wine at the ready… we have made our peace with the situation.

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All photos © 2015 Anita and Benjamin Tatlow.

Written by Anita on 6th May 2015 in Life

 

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