Travels with rarecat: Europe

Thursday, 7 September 2017

Hallstatt - Enchanting!

The second stop on our tour was Hallstatt, a quaint old town on the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See (Lake) at the foot of the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was just a couple of hours south east of Salzburg so we arrived with plenty of time to see the area as we were spending the night here. The area is famous for its salt mines dating back to prehistoric times, but we chose to take the short ferry ride across the lake to the opposite shore and did a short hike on a trail lined with an abundance of alpine spring flowers. What a treat!

We were fortunate we got back to the town before a thundershower hit, just around dinner time, dashing our hopes for a tranquil dinner by the lake. We had to hustle earlier to get a reservation for a lakefront table as these were at a premium during the tourist season. We reconciled ourselves to an indoor dinner and were glad at least that the rain stopped by the time dinner was over and we could continue our walk through Hallstatt.

Hallstatt is very pretty with 16th century Alpine houses going up the slopes of the mountain. Our after dinner walk took us up the hill to the waterfall above the town and the terrace above the Catholic Church for a panoramic view of the town. But obviously we didn't walk far enough as it was only after I returned home that I saw the iconic view of Hallstatt from just a few hundred metres further on from our hotel next to the Lutheran Church that featured so prominently in photos of the town! I had to reconcile myself to the thought that one can't have everything and we did enjoy ourselves with immediate experiences of the area on our nature hike.

Please take a look at the photos and agree with me...;-)

Morning view of Hallstatt

Alpine houses all the way up the hill

Exquisite carved gables

Unique window covering

View of Hallstatt against the mountain backdrop from the ferry we took to the opposite shore. As it turned out, the train station was on the other side and many people took the ferry to catch the train.

View of Hallstatt Lake from the trail

Part of the trail was on a suspended walkway making it an easy walk

Alpine flowers - there must have been more than two dozen species just along this trail

Bearded bellflower

Houses with boathouses - until the late 19th century, it was only possible to reach Hallstatt via boats and narrow trails so boats were very important for transportation

Walkway up to the waterfall above the town

The Central Market Square

Panoramic view from the Cathedral terrace

Next post: Castelrotto, Italy

Tuesday, 5 September 2017

Salzburg

We took the train from Munich to Salzburg arriving a couple of days before the beginning of our Alpine tour. Salzburg was very touristy and the streets were already packed in late June. Mozart's birthhouse was interesting and there were a lot of historical information on my favourite composer. But by the time we got to the Mozart residence it was information overload and I was frankly bored, not to mention that it was quite commercialized and one room was pure Hollywood. That, together with the stifling heat and lack of air conditioning, made for a short visit.

The Hohensalzburg fortress at the top of the hill offered magnificent panoramic views of the city - it was a short funicular ride up to the top. From there we did a leisurely hike along the top of the cliff to Monschberg, enjoying panoramic views along the way. We were told by various sources that there was a lift that will take us down to the city - but none of the travel books told us that the lift was actually inside the Museum of Modern Art at the top of the cliff! We stumbled upon it when we thought we would go inside the Museum to ask!

Old town Salzburg, with its river and bridges, could be pretty after all the tour groups were gone. Even the key sights like the Mirabelli Gardens, impossible during the day, quieted down by late afternoon and a pleasure to visit in the early evening. The golden hour saw the fortress enveloped in the light of the setting sun - something else we stumbled upon in addition to the open air movie night in the Kapitelplatz behind the Cathedral. We also enjoyed a concert in the Mirabelli Palace - an energetic rendition of the Four Seasons by the group Orchester 1756 playing on period instruments.

Salzburg from the Hohensalzburg fortress

Love the arches inside castle!


The hike to Monschberg from the castle gave us views of the other side of the castle and panoramic views along the way

View of the castle from Monschberg

Castle seen from the gates of Mirabelli Gardens

Mirabelli Gardens

Concert inside the Mirabelli Palace

Residenzplatz in front of the Cathedral

Kids having fun with the street fountains

Entrance stairway to Mozart's birth house

This ancient water wheel is part of a 13th century canal system that supplied Salzburg with water from the Alps foothills, and still does. It once ground grain into flour to make bread at the bakery beside it.

One of several bridges linking the old town and the new

Street musician beside the bridge

Carved door at the cathedral

Beautiful entrance to St. Peter's Church from the 12th century

The stunning Franciscan Church, one of the more unusual structures we came across on this trip, was built in the early 13th century. It reminded me of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Kapitelplatz with its free movie night against the spectacular backdrop of the castle at sunset

Salzburg - after sunset

Sunday, 27 August 2017

Munich - the Museums

Two months after our visit to Munich, the landmark that stood out in my memory was the BMW Museum. It was architecturally stunning, both inside and outside, as were the contents. Just a short train ride from the city centre, it was well-worth a trip and in fact we visited on our first day in Munich to take advantage of the day pass included with the train ticket from the airport.

The Museum Quarter offered up many museums - the three we visited - Alte, Neue and Moderne Pinakothek, covered the range of European Art through the ages. But the Alte was under renovation and we were only limited to what was available on one floor of the museum, in spite of which, the 12 euros for the package of three museums was still a good deal. The one I enjoyed most was the Neue Pinakothek, the building seemed to have been built to showcase the art rather than the other way round - as was the case with the Moderne. But the staff told us the Neue is due for renovation in 2018!

The Deutsches Museum, supposedly "the world's largest Science and Technology Museum" was disappointing - most of it was closed for renovation and a good part of the collection was not available. I was so looking forward to the war planes exhibit but there were only a few prewar planes on display. However, an exhibit on Light provided good photo ops...

I enjoyed the visit to the Residenz Museum, the palatial residence of the once ruling Wittelsbach family, because of the spectacular banquet and reception halls and the challenge they posed to my photography skills with the constant stream of visitors. After the initial spectacle of the meeting rooms though, the rest of the Residenz rooms were anti-climatic and we walked through quickly.

BMW Museum

BMW Museum - the other entrance

Inside the museum, the architectural feats continue

Elvis Presley's BMW 507 when he was a GI in Germany

The Olympic Village - like similar villages in other countries, always struck me as relics that try to pretend they are still alive...

Inside the Alte Pinakothek - a ridiculously long staircase, built to impress? Fun to photograph though...


Henry Moore outside the Alte Pinakothek Museum

My favourite of the trio - the postmodern Neue Pinakothek built in 1981, due for renovation again next year

The "Moderne" - the Museum of Modern Art - a lot of building! My favourite was the design floor...

The atrium ceiling of the Moderne

Wall of Audis on the design floor

The Isar River alongside the Deutsches Museum

Light exhibit inside the Deutsches Museum; old plane by Rumpler

The stunning Antiquarium, banquet hall in the Residenz Museum

The Shell Grotto, covered completely in Bavarian freshwater shells, including mother-of-pearls (A random note of thanks to Rick Steves for pointing out the well-disguised washroom near here, behind a door marked OO, for whatever reason!)

Memories of Versailles...

And place settings that stretched and glowed into the dark night...

Sunday, 27 August 2017

Munich - Highlights

We went on a tour of the Alps in five European countries in early summer. The start off point was Salzburg and the nearest city that we haven't visited was Munich. That was how we decided to spend four and a half days in Munich - it's a far cry from Berlin (the last German city we visited) but nevertheless worth a couple of posts.

It is very compact with the tourist-packed old town square, Marienplatz, being the centre of everything - we walked through it a couple of times a day going to our various destinations. The City Hall clock, the Viktualienmarkt and the many churches near here were the major "been there done that" type of tourist attractions.

Munich was a fun city, with its many beer halls, concerts, and street musicians everywhere you look. We lucked out too as we stumbled on the rehearsal for a live open air concert that evening outside the Opera House. We were front row centre as the beautiful soprano Ekaterina Siurina rehearsed her arias with the orchestra! Later, we were able to hustle and got ourselves seats at a restaurant overlooking the crowded plaza where the concert took place in the evening, smug in our knowledge that we already saw her earlier...

In all, Munich provided many photographic opportunities, both architecturally and for street photography. It was a very enjoyable visit.

Ludwig Beck "Store of the Senses" - shopping paradise in Munich centre

The famous glockenspiel in the New Town Hall in Marienplatz where tourists gather at 11 o'clock to watch the story enacted by the clockwork figures

Sendlinger Tor - the oldest of the four City gates, built in 1318. Our hotel was just around the corner, as was a subway station, so we walked by it every day.

The Isartor, from the 14th and 15th centuries

Karlstor - city gate from the 18th century

Sendlingerstrasse is one of many car-free streets in the city centre

The incredibly ornate baroque Asamkirche - a private church built in the 18th century by the brothers Asam for the glory of God and their own salvation

In stark contrast, the lovely Frauenkirche with its clean, simple lines

St. Michael's Church - a happy median

The maypole at the Viktualienmarkt, where all kinds of "victuals" and goods are sold

One of the many fruit stalls in the market

Food display in the famous Dallmayr Delicatessen

Coffee urns in the deli

And of course we can't talk about Munich without its beer gardens! This is the beer garden inside the famous Hofbrauhaus - too loud for me but certainly seems to be everyone else's destination