![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerYes, I continue to be very slow about posting pics from a trip that was nearly seven weeks ago now. (Earlier instalments here).
Our last update had us in Zwiesel, looking forward to escaping. We did so very promptly the following morning, heading south out of the Bayerischer Wald to the historic town of Passau. In stark contrast to the previous day's gloom and rain, we now had beautiful blue skies as we drove to our second encounter with the Danube, at the point where it meets the River Inn.
I think we suffered slightly at Passau by having seen Regensburg first; although full of old, historic buildings, Passau can't quite compete with Regensburg for sheer medieval authenticity. Nonetheless it's full of winding, narrow cobbled streets hemmed in by brightly painted buildings, and overlooked by the massive Veste Oberhaus.
Fortified with coffee and cake (you're never far from the latter in Bavaria) we headed south, over the Inn and towards the border with Austria. This turned out to be marked mainly with a sign that emphasised that although you were still on an Autobahn three were now speed limits, even if you drove an Audi. However, we didn't stay on the E56 for long, as we were headed for Salzburg, and wanted a drive there that was both pretty and not too far out of our way. So we peeled off and headed south, also looking out for somewhere to eat.
Now until this point we'd thought that Upper Austria looked very much like Bavaria. Same rolling landscape, same little villages. But whereas in Bavaria every small town had a Gasthof every fifty metres, we now drove through three without seeing anything at all resembling somewhere to eat. Evidently we'd left the tourist trap zone somewhere to the north of us with the high-speed Audis. When we did find somewhere, a short and confusing conversation in German ensued by which we were given to understand that we had found a Local Gasthof for Local People. Whatever the Austrian equivalent of duelling banjos is, I swear we heard it as we drove off. Eventually I gave up, pointed the satnav at Vocklabruck, and we had a plain but serviceable omelette and chips in a cafe.
From there we could have joined the A1 and headed due west to Salzburg. But that wouldn't have been very pretty, and according to the maps and guidebook if we wanted Pretty it was just to the south of us in the form of the Salzkammergut, the Austrian Lake District. Off we headed for the road running round the largest of the lakes, the Attersee.
This turned out to be once of the most scenic drives I've every done. Imagine beautiful blue mountain lake water to your right, and a steep Alpine meadow to your left, dotted with cows and cabins, climbing up to woods and then majestic mountains. It's almost comically, ridiculously cute, and the only regret of the drive is that there are so few lay-bys where you can stop to admire the view and get some pictures. The snaps below barely give an impression of quite how stunning the Attersee drive is.
I am very, very tempted to come back some day and see if we can stay in a cabin by the Attersee. That's the sort of view I could wake up to for quite a while without getting bored.
Rather than completely circumnavigate the lake we peeled off at the south end and drove past the smaller, but still astonishingly picturesque Mondsee to join the Autobahn again. This is where it got a lot less pretty, especially as we got stuck in a traffic jam for an hour, but eventually Salzburg hove into view. That's for the next instalment though…
Our last update had us in Zwiesel, looking forward to escaping. We did so very promptly the following morning, heading south out of the Bayerischer Wald to the historic town of Passau. In stark contrast to the previous day's gloom and rain, we now had beautiful blue skies as we drove to our second encounter with the Danube, at the point where it meets the River Inn.
I think we suffered slightly at Passau by having seen Regensburg first; although full of old, historic buildings, Passau can't quite compete with Regensburg for sheer medieval authenticity. Nonetheless it's full of winding, narrow cobbled streets hemmed in by brightly painted buildings, and overlooked by the massive Veste Oberhaus.
Fortified with coffee and cake (you're never far from the latter in Bavaria) we headed south, over the Inn and towards the border with Austria. This turned out to be marked mainly with a sign that emphasised that although you were still on an Autobahn three were now speed limits, even if you drove an Audi. However, we didn't stay on the E56 for long, as we were headed for Salzburg, and wanted a drive there that was both pretty and not too far out of our way. So we peeled off and headed south, also looking out for somewhere to eat.
Now until this point we'd thought that Upper Austria looked very much like Bavaria. Same rolling landscape, same little villages. But whereas in Bavaria every small town had a Gasthof every fifty metres, we now drove through three without seeing anything at all resembling somewhere to eat. Evidently we'd left the tourist trap zone somewhere to the north of us with the high-speed Audis. When we did find somewhere, a short and confusing conversation in German ensued by which we were given to understand that we had found a Local Gasthof for Local People. Whatever the Austrian equivalent of duelling banjos is, I swear we heard it as we drove off. Eventually I gave up, pointed the satnav at Vocklabruck, and we had a plain but serviceable omelette and chips in a cafe.
From there we could have joined the A1 and headed due west to Salzburg. But that wouldn't have been very pretty, and according to the maps and guidebook if we wanted Pretty it was just to the south of us in the form of the Salzkammergut, the Austrian Lake District. Off we headed for the road running round the largest of the lakes, the Attersee.
This turned out to be once of the most scenic drives I've every done. Imagine beautiful blue mountain lake water to your right, and a steep Alpine meadow to your left, dotted with cows and cabins, climbing up to woods and then majestic mountains. It's almost comically, ridiculously cute, and the only regret of the drive is that there are so few lay-bys where you can stop to admire the view and get some pictures. The snaps below barely give an impression of quite how stunning the Attersee drive is.
I am very, very tempted to come back some day and see if we can stay in a cabin by the Attersee. That's the sort of view I could wake up to for quite a while without getting bored.
Rather than completely circumnavigate the lake we peeled off at the south end and drove past the smaller, but still astonishingly picturesque Mondsee to join the Autobahn again. This is where it got a lot less pretty, especially as we got stuck in a traffic jam for an hour, but eventually Salzburg hove into view. That's for the next instalment though…
