After a couple of (fairly) energetic days - all of our party are over 60, and some 70, we opted for a quieter day. A quick 5 minute walk to the shops in
Rauris for provisions, before a shortish drive out of the Rauris valley, and along the Salzach valley to the picturesque lakeside town of
Zell am Zee which is also close to the small but well known ski resort of
Kaprun. Here we parked up and had a gentle stroll around the lake to the town, where inevitably we stopped for coffee and cake. After shopping for some souvenirs it was back to the apartment for a quiet day.
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| Rauris - our apartment was on the far right of the photo |
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| The main Street in Rauris |
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| Rauris Town Hall, dating back a couple of centuries at least |
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Straw figures in Rauris - a common sight
in villages and towns in the region |
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| A building in Zell am See town centre |
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The lake at Zell am See. The town on the right
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The next day we were back on the march. Driving a little further than Zell am See, we arrived at a small town (barely bigger than a village) called Hollersbach. Here we boarded the
Panoramabahn cable care for the ride that takes you up 1,892m in about 12 minutes to a snip under 2,000m From here the views are truly panoramic, with 2,000m to 3,000m peaks in pretty much every direction from south towards
Großglockner, the highest mountain in Austria at 3,978 (shrouded in clouds) to
Kitzbuhel to the north.
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| The Panoramabhan cable car - Ronseal really |
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| Views at 1,900m |
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| Still some snow |
As we were about 200m higher than we'd been so far, the snow was still in evidence, but it was also clear that it was starting the thaw, but there was enough around to be slightly excited about as we look around at the chocolate box views. A few of the more hardy (ok, fitter) of us walked further and higher from the top cable car station to the actual Panoramaalm right at the top. I find it incredulous that on top of these mountains there are fully functioning restaurants. The logistics and infrastructure to put these (many) alms in place and keep them running is fantastic. This one, popular with the "beautiful people" also sold 3 litre bottles of champagne and wine topping out at over €700 if you were so inclined. I stuck to beer.
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| Views from the cable car |
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We were heading to the building centre of pic
(for refreshments obviously) |
After walking back down to the top station, we re-boarded the cable car for the trip back down the mountain, and then the drive back to Rauris. En route we passed through a small town called
Mittersill, where this rather bizarre statue/fountain was on a roundabout. I'm not sure exactly what it's meant to be representing, but it looks like a woman looking down at a man having a wee. Answers on a postcard please...
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| An "unusual" statue in Mittersill |
All Austria photos available from Flickr (see link below)
Twitter: @Statto1927
Instagram: simon_hiscocks
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