Day 2, Part II
Zell Am See, Austria – Bad Ischl, Austria
Even though Zell Am See is a small place, it’s popular and famous for its location in the Alps and also the lake that is sits on. There were a lot of tourists, many from Britain, France, Italy and further afield, and we could see they were here for skiing, hiking, sitting in the pubs or just passing through like us.
There was not much in Zell Am See itself, nothing new anyway. It was very much like the majority of Alpine villages in Austria that are magnets to tourism. It was still a picturesque and quaint place, though. The lake was also very beautiful. It covered a large area, right up to the foot of a large mountain that stood on one end to another large mountain on the other end. Its surface was still partially iced over from Winter, which obstructed what may have been a perfectly still reflection of the mountains, forests and sky.
We found a café in the village and ordered locally brewed beer and some Apfelstrudel with ice cream, something that I first tried out in Hallstatt and have instantly had a soft spot for. Heather got an Apfelschorle or something similar, and Dai peculiarly ordered a Radler, unaware that it was actually a shandy. As he asked the waitress for a Radler, the confused looks on the three of us were silently posing the big question of what just happened. Dai? A Radler? It definitely couldn’t have been a sign that he was suffering from the night before; we stayed in. It can’t be jetlag after the flight from Berlin to Salzburg. What happened to Dai? Someone who could, and possibly would drink this Earth dry ordered a Radler instead of a proper beer.
And so we asked him, why did he get a Radler? Apparently it was because he thought it was a kind of beer, and was completely unaware that it was actually beer mixed with lemonade. We were surprised that he had never heard of Radler before, even though he’d been in Germany for the past seven months. But then, he said he wouldn’t have needed to use the word Radler before!
After a brief wander about the village, we got back into the car and drove to the other side of the lake to get a different view and perspective of the landscape. There was a small park and a small pier at the lakeside. We could just about see the village we were at earlier, however the Sun shone towards us making photographing a bit difficult due to the glare, but it did make up for it by creating a good photogenic reflection on the lake and ice.
Next to the wharf there were three small wooden huts that stretched out on stilts into the water, maybe old boathouses but without ramps. These also provided some good photo opportunities, especially how they were away from the rest of the buildings. The three huts were lined up in a row, they didn’t look the same, and were different colours of wood, but all were dark coloured, as if they weren’t painted or varnished or even used for such a long time. They stood in such idyllic positions, infinitely staring out onto the still waters of the Zellersee.
At some point, a fisherman turned up at one of the huts and just sat there at the edge of the platform of the first hut. At first, he didn’t set up anything, but just sat there smoking, leaning on his knee with the other leg dangling over the water. He was in one of those contemplating moments, looking over the lake and across to the mountains, as if he was thinking and wondering about the big things in life and the world. It seemed he was at peace with himself. As it wasn’t often that opportunities of people sit in such places and at such times like this, so we made the most to photograph this moment, and he may have soon become aware of all our cameras pointing towards him, even though it was some distance. But he carried on doing what he did and soon set up his fishing rod, still being such a great subject to photograph.
When we exhausted the scene of photos, we moved on to Salzburg, a place that all of us apart from Dai have visited, if the airport isn’t included. It has been nearly two years since I was last there, and I still remember a significant amount of it and where the places and streets were. As we were driving along the Autobahn, we discovered that Dai was very fond of tunnels, even though it got a bit boring and monotonous going through them for me and Rob by now, he also liked the idea of trolley buses, which is a very popular mode of public transport in East European countries.
But it was getting dark as we arrived, and made the most of the light by taking as much photos of the places as we could, and then find a pub later. Where the places would be crawling with people and small horses and carts, it was empty and quiet. The main squares in front of cathedrals and churches were clear. There were also no market stalls that I remember filling up the square and where I also bought my famed Austrian, badge filled, feather hat. But the scaffolding and building work was still in the same place on the same church, unless they did finish after I was last there, but they seemed to have restarted or just didn’t bother taking the lot down.
We eventually headed back to Bad Ischl, by which time it got dark yet easier to find the way as it was just the same route as the day before. And this time, we did manage to find the hidden route that evaded us last time.
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