We woke to amazing mountain views and had breakfast on the terrace. Ali and I took a walk around the wooded area behind (up the slope) the hotel Berghotel Predigstuhl (
Berghotel Predigstuhl) and then I walked a little down hill to get a perspective. The hotel is beautifully situated.
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| Morning view from the room balcony |
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| Randy reads on the balcony |
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| Ali especially enjoyed the breakfast on the terrace |
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| Wild flowers in bloom on my walk |
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| On the path through the woods behind the hotel |
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| The hotel from the front lawn |
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| The hotel from lower on the lawn - Austrian iconic architecture |
We left to drive to Hallstatt, a small town on the Hallstatter See (Lake). We had visited there the evening before after dinner and it was very quiet - one pub open and otherwise deserted. But it had a nice charm in its loneliness. The day time is a completely different story. It was packed with tourists, especially Asian. The village is pretty and the lakeside venue lovely but it is too trite and heavily touristic to appeal that much to me. Maybe in off season it would be a more memorable experience. We had intended to take the cog railway up to the viewing place and then tour the salt mine. But these would have take too long so we abandoned that plan and headed back to Germany to see the Eagle's Nest.
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| Window box in Hallstatt - these were everywhere and made every building beautiful |
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| A stream flowing into the Hallstatter See |
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| Along the Hallstatter See in Hallstatt |
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| Two of the wonderful wild swans |
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| With Ozge at Hallstatt |
The Eagle's Nest was the mountain get away of Hitler's. It is situated high on a mountain (obviously) and is reached by bus up a good but very steep road then by an elevator (the original) to the top. It was packed with tourists too but still a good experience. The views, even though the day was a bit hazy, were great and drive up there was a little scary but in a good way. We walked around the top, read some about the history of the retreat, and then had lunch at the open air cafe there. It was quite tasty and decided to skip the elevator ride down and instead went down the trail. This was pretty and not long (less than 20 minutes). Back on the bus and to the car.
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| A little hazy but you can see how breathtaking the view on the bus trip up to the Eagle's Nest is |
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| The claustrophobic hallway to the even more claustrophobic elevator to the retreat |
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| The rustic fireplace in the main living room |
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| Unfortunately (and surprisingly) the informational materials are only in German |
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| A little World War II nostalgia |
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| The original sign on the house - erected at great cost and some loss of life in 1934 |
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| From the top of the Eagle's Nest |
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| Ozge and I hiked up higher where you can see the house in the background |
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| More wild flowers - really glorious! |
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| The best part was this hidden viewing spot down a short and narrow but little traveled path |
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| View from this hidden vantage point |
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| Bee on mountain flower |
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| The gang at the Eagle's Nest cafe. Randy drank/ate ice cream with coffee. Ozge had pasta and Ali had a cheese plate and some of Ozge's pasta. I ate a baked potato with sauteed vegetables. |
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| The beggar bird at lunch - a mountain raven or crow |
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| The boys on top of the mountain |
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| Ali and Randy head down the path briskly to the bus area - I led the way and Ozge lingered behind, enjoying the mountain environment |
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| As Ozge and Ali both work for Man, it seemed appropriate to photograph Ali by one of his company's products. They make buses in Turkey (Ankara) and trucks in Germany (and elsewhere) |
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| View of the Eagle's Nest from the bus area - not a huge house but notable for its lofty location |
We decided our last stop should be back in Austria and, more specifically, Salzburg. During summer, this is crowded with tourists but we found a pretty good parking place. It was very hot and humid but we walked around the main part of the old town. Certainly, it is quaint. After purchasing some art from street vendors (there are many vendors) we crossed the river (the Salzach) and walked to Mozart's house (we saw the exterior of his birth house on the other side earlier). Walking back to the car along the river was pleasant.
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| Views of the city from the riverside walkway to the city |
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| We asked a fellow pedestrian to snap this |
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| The pretty yellow building is Mozart's birthplace |
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| A cool dragon ornament on a Salzburg building |
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| One of the city's fountains |
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| The castle looms above the old city |
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| This artwork was purchased from the artist (at left) and is a rendition of Mozart. Lucky Nick will be the recipient of this present. |
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| Randy was footsore and hung out a bit at a statue on the central square |
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| The Salzburg cathedral |
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| Mozart's residence |
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| It was closed when we arrived (too late) but we saw the exterior and the small but peaceful courtyard out back |
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| A final view of Salzburg from a bridge on the walk back to the car |
Ali drove us back to Munich and we chose to have dinner in
the city center. Ozge showed us the famed Hofbrauhaus, a huge and
very loud beer hall. That was not our scene and we ate at a cafe just
across the square. We walked around again after dinner to see some more
of the historic Munich squares that we had not seen the day before.
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| The attractive building of the Hofbrauhaus in central Munich |
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| The place was packed and noisy with an Umpah Band playing. We did not eat or drink here but we bought a few souvenirs from their store |
Picking up our luggage from Casa Tezgor, Ali took us on the long ride to the airport where our hotel (Sheraton) was located. This hotel was pretty cozy and comfortable. After breakfast the next morning, we took the shuttle to the airport (only 10 minutes away). Checking in at Lufthansa was different. It is all automatic and the passengers even attach the luggage labels themselves. The check in screen said that visitors to Turkey needed a free visa page on their passports. I never heard this before and did not think it was true. But Turkey had recently gone from buying a visa upon arrival to buying an "e-visa" in advance. So, I frantically scraped off my Chinese visa (the only page that was a candidate to create a free page). Waiting for the flight and on the flight, Randy and I completed getting a free page on both of our passports. The pages were not pristine but were relatively blank. Upon arrival in Izmir, of course this was needed. The Turkish official simply stamped our passports on a random page.
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| Waiting for the airport shuttle bus at the Munich Airport Sheraton |
Regarding Germany and Austria, we saw a lot and being hosted by Ozge and Ali was fun. They did their best to show us what we wanted and ensure we had a good experience, even in our jet lagged state. But, the place did not really resonate with us. The Germanic culture is not one we love and the swarms of tourists detracted from the lovely landscape and the picturesque towns and cities. We were glad we stopped by there but it would not be a place we would want to return to, except to see our dear friends Ozge and Ali.
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| The Alpine scenery was very pretty but not so impressive as in Switzerland. In our short stay we saw the highlights of Munich and visited a good assortment of nearby attractions. Most importantly, we experienced a little of this mountainous and historic region and, most importantly, had several days with the Tezgors - two of the nicest people in the world. |
