Austria sights. Days 5-8 of the trip

July 19. During the night, while lying in the tent, I heard a strange sound, as if a butterfly were fluttering between the inner tent and the flysheet. I fell asleep again. Some time later I woke up from the same sound and saw that the tent was slightly open. My first thought was that I had forgotten to close the flysheet, but in the next second I saw the silhouette of a person above the tent. I started trying to get out of my sleeping bag, but it did not happen quickly. When I finally managed and opened the tent, nobody was there anymore. I immediately checked whether all our things were still in place and realized the thief had not managed to steal anything, although in theory it would have been easy to reach in and grab a wallet or a phone lying right next to me by the entrance. I had never imagined thieves could be that brazen, opening a tent and trying to steal something while someone was inside. But it happened, and we had to rethink what we knew about situations like this. Let me remind you that in New Zealand, on the second-to-last day of that trip, we were robbed too: the rear window of our car was smashed and some of our things were stolen. After this failed attempt we stayed awake and worked out a plan to protect our belongings. We began closing the tent in a trickier way: tying the zipper pulls together and leaving them not at the bottom but somewhere higher up. I also hid all valuables either in my sleeping bag or between us, farther from the edge of the tent, because the tent could also be cut open from the side. After the incident we could not fall asleep for a long time, but eventually we managed. In the morning we got up early to arrive at the tower right when it opened. I met the manager and told him about the incident, asked whether they had cameras, and he said no. For some reason he understood my English more easily in the morning. We packed up and left. In the end we arrived far too early, so we had to wait another 30 minutes for the funicular to open.

Here is the tower itself:

The tower was interesting enough, but I think if you are far away and it is not on your way, it is better to skip it. The view is not especially impressive because there are no mountains around, only hills.

Because we arrived right at opening time, we were almost alone there. At other times it might well be crowded.

We took some quick photos and moved on. We entered Austria, bought a road vignette and drove to Ried. That is where the lift up to Schafberg is, one of the most beautiful places in Austria, with a small house right on the edge of a cliff.

We spent a lot of time there and, if I remember correctly, left on the last possible mountain train because we simply could not tear ourselves away from the scenery. Wolfgangsee itself is nice too, though by that point we had already seen quite a few lakes like it.

Then we drove to that famous place in Austria, the church by the lake and mountain in Hallstatt. But we never managed to park at the classic viewpoint from which the church is usually photographed. There was some parking inside the rock, but it was unclear whether we were allowed to leave the car there, so we decided not to risk it. The town center also had an entrance barrier, but we did not dare go through it either, assuming it was meant to filter residents from ordinary tourists rather than simply charge money. In the end we photographed the church from a different angle and moved on.

We started looking for a place to stay. We found a campground nearby, but it was already expensive at 31 EUR, and there were not many alternatives around, so we had to take it. Overall it was well arranged, the area was small and everything we needed was close by.

July 20. We got up early as usual and started packing to move on. Then, unexpectedly, heavy rain began and ruined all our plans. We had to throw everything into the car as fast as possible, sit there and think what to do next. In the end we decided to take the risk and drive to the next interesting point on our route, the "5 Fingers" mountain resort. The most surprising part was that during the 20-minute drive there, the rain stopped. And while we were going up by funicular after buying tickets, the gloomy weather disappeared completely. The sky cleared as if on command. Down in the parking lot we unexpectedly met a Russian family from Taganrog. Then we ran into them again at the top, chatted a little and helped each other take nice photos.

We drove back and decided to try our luck once more with the nearest possible parking lot by the church. We had to circle three times before finding a free spot. We parked, but we did not have a parking disc. I wrote the time on a piece of paper and we hurried off to take photos. It was about a 10-minute walk there and 15 minutes back, so we did not stay long.

Next we headed toward the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, but realized we would not have time to drive it that same day, so there was no reason to rush. We decided to spend the night near its starting point. On the way we stopped at a waterfall marked on our map.

The waterfall is not unique, so if you are not especially fond of waterfalls, you can probably skip it.

When we were pitching the tent at the campground, I was already thinking we might get flooded that night because the rain was coming down hard. Even as we were leaving the waterfall, a heavy thunderstorm had broken out, so strong that we had to pull over and wait it out. After that the rain never really stopped, so we had to settle into the campground in the rain. We chose a brief moment when it became a little lighter, pitched the tent quickly and went to the restaurant for dinner. We expected to spend a lot and still stay hungry, but in the end we ate our fill for only 17 EUR.

For some reason I did not see any tent campers with cars like us there. It was mostly trailers, which seemed to have been standing there for a long time, and there were not many people around.

July 21. We got up early and drove to the high alpine road. As we were driving, the clouds slowly dispersed, and by the time we got close to it the weather had become good.

Near the very beginning there was a checkpoint for the road, and the fee was 35 EUR. But it was worth it, the road is genuinely interesting and beautiful.

It is also important not to miss the side branch leading to the glacier. Before the trip I had read that at the end of that dead-end road it was best to park in the very last parking garage, on the top level, on the roof. That is exactly what we did. Parking there is free, by the way.

Once we had finished our route along the road, the weather started changing again and it began to rain. We drove on, climbed back up to the regular highway by another road. It was probably scenic too, but not that much, and we were not paying much attention because of the rain. Through Booking we found a guesthouse for only 62 EUR not far from a waterfall. The place was excellent: a room with a shower, a balcony and free breakfast. For that money it was a surprise for us. We tried to keep to a pattern of two or three nights in a tent and one in a hotel because we needed to charge all our devices. So this house felt like proper rest after the nights in the tent. Before the trip I had also bought two large-capacity power banks, so we could spend several nights without electricity.

The hotel owner also printed two coupons for different attractions near his house. He did that because he had been unable to provide our room on time when we arrived. So after check-in we had to spend an hour walking around the surrounding cornfields and breathing in the smell of manure from the nearby pastures.

July 22. We got up early, packed, had a solid breakfast prepared by the guesthouse manager, and then he and his father gave us a warm send-off. After that we drove to the waterfall. We parked in a paid lot and, using the coupons, bought tickets for access to the waterfall. But that was not really necessary, because in the end we decided not to hike up and instead took a taxi for 18 EUR.

We had to wait a little because the driver was not going to take his van up just for the two of us. After some time three Russian-speaking Czechs joined us, and together we drove all the way to the top of the waterfall, from where we walked back down on foot.

As we started descending, we met people hiking up, and if we had not used the taxi, we probably would not have reached the top so quickly.

We drove on toward Liechtenstein. Making a small detour from the route, we stopped at another beautiful Austrian lake, Achensee.

After that we began looking for a place to stay and ended up at some kind of horse stable. There were lots of flies there, and on the camping field next to us it was mostly motorhomes again. In this part of Europe people apparently prefer traveling in large vehicles, while tents are relatively rare.