Heiligenblut, Austria

After the last lot of city visits I thought I'd be happy to put my feet up for a bit, but in a surprisingly short time I was itching to be off again.  This time I fancied something a bit different, and I read about the Tirol mountains in the Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring, with europe's highest waterfall and the Hohe Tauern national park.  Always a fan of mountains I thought this would be a nice trip and only a couple of hours drive from Bled. 



Heilingenblut



After some research on the internet about where to stay we settled on Heiligenblut near the Glossglockner pass which I thought would be good to explore.  We couldn't pronounce the name of the place but when you book via our favourite accommodation website (booking.com), that doesn't matter! I checked if the pass and waterfall would be still be open, and the websites all said until the end of October.  So we booked for the last week hoping the weather would be good. 

We were very lucky with weather - it had snowed previously so there was a beautiful sprinkle on the mountain tops but had warmed up again so we had lovely warm autumn days (13-18 degrees).  I would recommend it as a time to visit this bit of Austria as the pass and the waterfall weren't overwhelmed with tourists and they'd probably be crowded in the summer.  Plus you have the lovely autumn colours. Only problem was that not much was open in the villages, Heiligenblut only had one restaurant open and one bar in the evenings, all the hotels were closed before the ski season.  The one restaurant was very good, though so we were okay.



Glossglockner and Pasterze glacier



I would definitely say that the Glossglockner alpine road is the most beautiful I have ever driven, especially on a glorious, sunny autumn day.  It isn't just a pass over the mountains but a full day of lovely scenes, mountains over 3000m, glaciers, lakes, windy roads and exploring the stopping points.  There is a huge visitor centre directly below the highest mountain, Glossglockner, and you can walk down to the Pasterze glacier if you want (we didn't fancy the steps down!), but also a walk above the glacier called Gamsgrubenweg which I was very keen to do, but unfortunately it was closed for upkeep. 

We did do a walk up to the observatory where we tried to spot ibex on the mountain slopes.  Pictures don't do it justice as the scenes were immense. The side trip to Glossglockner takes a couple of hours with all the exploring, and you haven't even started to tackle the actual pass. 





Top of the pass at Hochtor

Although the road over the pass is in excellent condition, easily wide enough for cars in both directions, I wouldn't recommend it to the faint-hearted as it is a difficult drive, especially up to the highest point at Edelweiss peak which has a lot of narrow switchbacks. In Heiligenblut we were at 1288m, and the top of the pass is at 2504 m, a huge climb. I felt seriously sorry for the couple of cyclists we passed on the way up!  The price might make you wince as well, as it is 32 euros for a car, although with the Prius we were charged as an electric car and only paid 22 euros... handy!



Fuscher lake



Edelweiss peak





  









The road at the top of the pass passes through a short tunnel, then continues on passed lakes and more mountains.  There is another side trip you can do to the highest point on Edelweiss peak, from which you have the most glorious views of dozens of mountains over 3000 m and a handy cafe for lunch sitting in the sunshine.

The other big attraction nearby was the Krimml waterfall, europe's highest according to the book!  It wasn't quite as close as I'd hoped and took a couple of hours to get there from Heiligenblut.  But the waterfall was magnificent, again pictures don't do it justice as it isn't a straight drop so doesn't fit in one picture and even the bits you try to take are nothing to the  huge amount of water in front of you. The small boy in the picture on the right gives you some idea of scale, but this is only the very bottom section, there is 380m above over three levels.  The waterfall is very good value - only 2.50 euros each for the walk, they have some sort of water theme park there as well, but this was closed for renovations.  Once you've been soaked at the bottom of the falls, you can walk up the side and see it from loads of wooden platforms all the way up. The path goes all the way to the top at 1460m, starting from 1070m and takes several hours to walk.  We just managed up to 1245m (the middle section) and then felt the need to go for lunch!

 Overall, I was very impressed with the Tirol mountains, and we had a fabulous couple of days exploring, I would recommend it if you like mountain holidays, with lots of hiking, wonderful views, clean mountain air and possibly cycling!

Piran

Having missed a lot of the really nice weather here in July and August I decided to go and find some sunshine before it really becomes autumn here too. I love the sea and decided to take a trip to Piran. As most of you will have read, Gemma and Richard visited in July. They gave good reports so I made some plans.

I found a lovely apartment with a fabulous sea view. Would highly recommend it if anyone is thinking of travelling there! I tried out the slovenian buses which seem to be very reliable. The bus goes from near the end of our road to Ljubljana and there I changed for another bus to Piran. The connection between the two buses was 12 minutes but I needn't have worried as the bus arrived exactly on time! Buses here are more like coaches at home and nothing like the 'happy bus' we have at work - thank goodness.



View from my apartment

When I arrived it was a little cloudy but after some lunch the clouds cleared to give way to beautiful sunshine. Only one thing to do - join several other people and go for a swim in the sea! Couldn't believe how warm it was especially in October!

There are lots of restaurants to choose from along the seafront all with similar menus. However, I decided to try a restaurant in the back streets recommended by Lonely Planet. This was very good value and I had a lovely seafood risotto and a glass of wine. I was shocked when I got the bill at how cheap the wine was - will have more next time!

The weather was nice throughout my stay in Piran. Walking round the town and harbour is very easy and picturesque. You can never get lost even in the backstreets - keep walking and eventually you will find the sea again. As well as several restaurants along the seafront there are a number of bars with an unopposed view of the Adriatic. I spent an enjoyable afternoon looking at the sea and enjoying a glass of wine or two!!

Walk to Fiesa beach

I did manage a little more exploring - walking along the coastal trail to Fiesa beach and up to the city walls. Good views from both!

View from the city walls



 

 

I did also try the seafront restaurants and the food was good there too and not as over priced as I had expected!

 

The only place I felt as though I had been slightly ripped off was the aquarium. They have 140 species of fish found in the sea off the coast of Slovenia apparently. It was 6 euros to go in and it was very small. Not as impressive as I had hoped. My visit was not helped by a school party full of very excitable kids arriving about 15 minutes after I did. Most of the other visitors including myself beat a hasty retreat to the peace and quiet of the harbour!

 

Overall Piran is a lovely place to visit and great for a few days by the sea. Maybe I will go back again sometime?!



Aahh..h.h. Vienna

Been a bit delayed writing this one, as we've been enjoying a visit from some friends.  Thought I'd better give you all an update on our latest trip - Vienna.

Out of all the cities we've visited recently, Vienna was the least crowded and lacking in queues, so from my point of view was more enjoyable.  This might have been as it was October or it isn't as popular as Rome, Venice and Oktoberfest! 

We used the train system again to get there, and it was very pleasant and efficient. Less than an hour from Lesce Bled to Villach in Austria and then only a 25 minute wait for the very nice train to Vienna.  Beautiful countryside and only just over 4 hours later we were there.

I was impressed with the public transport system in Vienna. There is the U-bahn, the underground, which is not as extensive as in London, but then there is also the S-bahn, which is a local overground train system that is very efficient.  Then, for other routes there is an excellent tram system, with trams running every few minutes and a bus system in the centre where the trams can't go.  It all seemed to run together very efficiently and we rarely waited more than a few minutes for our connections.  We got a 72 hour ticket - which ran from when we validated it (not to only 6am on the last day, like in Munich), which made it perfect for our trip, and it was valid on all of the four systems.  Although we didn't have our tickets checked so I suppose we could have tried travelling without a ticket!

Vienna itself is a beautiful city made up of the huge austro-hungarian empire-type buildings, dominated by the Imperial palace, the Hofburg.  This takes up a large proportion of the city centre, and now houses museums, galleries, the Spanish Riding School, government stuff and loads more.  Apparently, 5000 people still work in the palace buildings.

We visited the Kaiser appartments in the palace (no queues to get in!!), although the silver plate collection was a little tedious, the appartments were interesting and opulent.  Then I managed to drag Vicki into the Albertina which had an art exhibition I wanted to see - Monet to Picasso.  I enjoyed it very much and bought the book for art inspiration.  I didn't keep her in there too long so Vicki didn't complain too much.

We did have a quick look at the cathedral, but it wasn't that exciting and as Richard would say - "seen one church, seen them all"

We spent some time at the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner horses in their morning exercise.  Be warned, it isn't very exciting - four or five horses come out each time and walk or trot round the arena, occasionally a trainer will spend a few minutes trying to get a horse to learn a new manouver, but mostly they trot round and back.  You pay 14 euros for the 2.5 hours, but people started leaving after about 45 mins.  We managed 1.5 hours but only because I didn't want to waste the money!



View from the Ferris wheel



We also visited the Riesenrad, which is a big ferris wheel, it goes slowly and you stand in big capsules, a bit like an old version of the London Eye.  We enjoyed the views although it didn't go as high as I expected and we couldn't see the Danube. 



 

We had fun in the fairground next to the ferris wheel, and even visited a beer tent erected for Oktoberfest - everyone seems to get in on it!

We finished the day by seeing another palace - the Belvedere, where I got to see an exhibition of Gustav Klimt's work.  Not my favourite type of art but as it is everywhere in Vienna I felt I had to see some before we left.

Just a quick mention about Viennese food!  We ate at a very nice restaurant the first night and I had the ravioli. The second night it wasn't so nice and I had goulash.  The last night we went to a brewery restaurant and I had roast pork - I managed to avoid the dreaded Wiener Schnitzel, which in my opinion is a rather awful bit of sat-on meat covered in breadcrumbs to make it palatable.  Reminiscent of Bernard Matthews turkey burgers! Austrian food generally is not what you visit Austria for, it is meat heavy, can be salty and lacks green stuff.

The brewery restaurant was very good for beer though, and I would definitely recommend it - Siebensternbrau.  Vicki tried the Hemp beer - no extra effects over and above the alcohol, I'm afraid and Richard the chilli beer.  Only a small one, and it made my lips tingle after one sip!  I had an interesting amber beer, it made a nice change from all the regular lager we've been quoffing.