May 23: Hallstatt

We started the day with the hotel breakfast. Breakfast in this country is so much healthier than in America. I’ve always heard that America’s breakfast is just desserts. I think eating breakfast here prepared me better for the day, I feel more nourished. 

After breakfast, we got back on our trusty Dr. Richards bus and drove to the town of Hallstatt. Hallstatt is the location of the worlds oldest salt mine, and has exceptional natural beauty. The drive there was gorgeous, we went though several tunnels and winding mountains. When we got closer to the town, the road got even more winding. It was starting to get stressful until we popped out of a small tunnel and found ourselves in a beautiful, small village. We got off our bus and headed straight to be salt mine store that was only a few blocks away. When we got there Dr. Demers bought us tickets for the gondola car that carried us to the top of the mountain. The gondola ride was beautiful. We got a full view of the lake and most of the town. The views really put into perspective how quaint and picturesque Hallstatt is. Our gondola took us about 3/4 of the way up the mountain and then we had to hike up to the salt mine. I forgot how awful it is to hike in thin air and up the side of mountain, because understandably it doesn’t happen often. 

We all managed to get up to the mine, mostly at different times.  Then we all got too put on this special garb that went over all of our clothes. I’m assume it was to keep us clean as we all kept bumping into the grimy walls, as well as keeping us warm in the cold and dark mine. The group took pictures with everyone that they matched with, but I was the only one wearing the blue jumper. So I didn’t get into a single pic, but I’m not mad; I understand the need for color scheme agreement. 

We walked up to the top of the welcome center to meet our lovely tour guide: Peter. Let it be known that I’m not the only one who thinks he was very cute. He was probably the best tour guide we’ve had so far. He kept things interesting and was very funny. He was also very cute, which doesn’t hurt his rankings at all. Our salt tour was very interesting and worth it. As a biology major, I was geeking out about how all that salt wound up there in the first place. I would have just thought it was a natural deposit like any other mineral. The whole part about sea water evaporating and then it getting covered by the Earth’s plates moving really had me opened jawed. How they took the salt out nowadays seems so easy with all the modern tools. The physical aspect of the mine was also very cool. Taking the long slides to other chambers was a lot of fun but i don’t like imagining doing it in the bitch black dark and without the modern day safety guarantee. 

Seeing how much effort went into mining the salt, and how little there must be from such a phenomenal deposition method, it makes it clearly why salt proved to be such a valuable asset from those time and why the area was so wealthy. 

After the tour ended we took a small train out of the mountain back to where we’ve started. We got out of our styling get-ups and went to take photos of the amazing scenery off a viewing deck. The views from the side of the mountain were breathtaking. The natural beauty of Hallstatt is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Our viewing deck gave us a full view of the town below us and the mountains that surrounded us. Although the Chinese tourists were acting out an inside joke Anna made a few days ago. After that we headed back to the gondola car to take us back down the mountain. 

When we got down the mountain and went into the mine’s gift shop. I don’t think I can ever recall a more specifically themed gift shop in my life. Everything in the store was salt based, and I was there for it. I got sunglasses for the first time in years and got a little mining cart with salt crystals in it. I know how to get into the spirit. 

We left the souvenir shop and walked to the lake’s edge. The water was so calm and everything about the town was tranquil. Except for the people dangling from helicopters, that was stressful. Peyton, Kytan, Lucas, and I stopped at a small café for lunch and then we kept on walking along the waterfront. We happened upon a small stand that rented out large swan boats we could take on the water. We were all over that in seconds, but somehow I ended up as one of the paddlers. This despite my chicken-like legs. With Peyton as my co-pilot, the four of us peddled all around the water front and out to the middle of the lake. My legs were screaming by the time we made it out there though, and I let my discomfort be known by the others swan ride members. (Peyton would call this bitching). By now our time was ending and we had to hear back toward the stand to turn in our swan. But we can into a n actual real life swan that I could have sworn was going to kill me. I have an unhealthy fear of swans, just FYI and i was about to jump ship to save my life. But we passed the swan without incident, and we made it back to the stand to turn in our boat. 

We continued walking down the water front, popping into small stores here and there buying souvenirs to take home with us. One shop that really caught our eye was a small teddy bear shop that had dressed up teddy bears in lederhosen. It was the most adorable thing since puppies and I just had to buy one. Caroline also bought one so that my bear could have a friend. 

Sadly, we couldn’t spend the night in Hallstatt. Although I feel like due to its size, it wasn’t worth staying a whole night there. It would have probably cost us a fortune as well. We all climbed back into Dr. Richards to take the trip to Salzburg. 

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about western Austria or its alps. But they are some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. It makes me wonder about other beautiful places in the world that I’ve never heard of.