Into the cold ...

The Ice cave in Dachstein

Being tired and exhausted by the heat that was lingering in Austria, I thought it would be a good idea to visit an Ice Cave. It was on our way so we stopped in Dachstein where a cable car took us up the mountain. We had prepared ourselves with thick jackets since the temperatures is under zero (32 F) in the caves. However, before even coming to the entrance of the cave, we had to walk up the mountain in over 30 degrees heat. And when I say up the mountain, it really was that. A little bit steeper and I would have been a climber. It took me around 20 minutes before reaching the entrance to the cave.

The visit is done with a guide, and as we entered the path led downwards and we entered quite big caves. Good for me who is somewhat claustrophobic. Down, down it went and here and there the guide stopped us and told the story of its evolution. Here lived big bears and other animals in a dark past. You know how it is, when you go down, you have to go up. The second part of the trip was more or less up, up and up. Via stairs, somewhat wrongly dimensioned so it felt that you did not walk into the stairs, but out of them. It was really tough, I must admit, and I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath.

The effort paid out when we came up to caves where the ice makes beautiful sculptures. The ice is melting part of the year, but catch up during the winter. As far as I could understand, there is no danger of the ice melting totally, due to the even, cold temperatures of the caves. At the end we came to a sort of gorge, where you had to walk over a bridge, or around along the edge. I chose the bridge because it looked so beautiful. It was a mistake since the bridge started to sway with people passing over. It made me a little bit dizzy, but I took hold of myself and walked calmly over.

That was the end of the tour, and we came out of the cold cave into the warm temperatures outside. Now it was just to walk down. Yep … it is hard to walk up, but not so much easier to walk down a steep path. I did some stretching at the end so managed without too much muscle ache.

Camping in Obertraun

After the ice cave we were going to Hallstatt. A beautiful town, but one of the places suffering from over tourism. We wanted to be there early in the morning to find a parking, and aimed for a camping by the lake a few kilometres from there. It turned out to be a wonderful camping. The owners were former antique dealers we think, or just interested in antiques. The house where the reception was, looked like an antiquity shop furnished with old, stylish things. In the park you found old, wooded, caravans from the old days when they were driven by horses. You could rent them for a night. We stayed in our modern camper van though, but enjoyed the park and the sea where you could cool down with a swim. The name of the camping is Camping am See, if you ever pass by.

The little caravan below was used by the sea in France in the old days. There ladies could change into their swim clothes and walk straight down into the water. It was taken out onto the beach by horses.