HALLSTATT

Hallstatt goes back to the early days of the Celts, who were there mining the salt in the mountains. They made good money trading salt the the Greeks and the Etruscans and are were responsible for bringing the rest of Europe into the Iron Age as they were skilled iron workers. The Hapsburgs later made all their money from salt and the city of Salzburg nearby is named for the salt taken from these mountains. Also, the movie Frozen was supposedly based off of this town, so now the tourism over the past few years has been booming. Rick Steves always books the nicest hotels, and this one didn’t disappoint. We had the most amazing trout dinner, caught fresh by the only two fisherman allowed to fish on the lake every day. We went swimming in the lake before dinner and I even rented a kayak to take a little stroll around after hiking all day. One of my favorite memories was the night I spent in Hallstatt….

After touring around the town of Hallstatt, take the funicular up to the top of the mountain for a World Heritage Site view overlooking the lake and explore the old salt mines. A good boat ride around the lake after a couple beers is an adventure in itself and visit all the cool shops along the way. I decided to hike up the mountain and take the funicular back down. The air is fresh up here in the Alps and the locals are full of great stories.