A bike ride from lake to lake
I found my place of luck. From the terrace I look at the Wolfgangsee. Now it shimmers blue-green, as a backdrop, a slightly curved mountain chain on the bank opposite. In the morning, clouds of mist still covered the hills, laying like thick duvets over the water. The sun has chased them away, making the lake sparkle, where giant trees are reflected. On my breakfast table smell fresh bread, in bowls are homemade jam and honey bottled. Next to it is fresh fruit, cereal. And the absolute coronation: the creamy sheep yoghurt from the nearby organic farm Eisl. Every day in the "Landhaus zu Appesbach" at the gates of St. Wolfgang begins so wonderfully. I feel in this small, efeuumrankten hotel with salon and fireplace room not long strange, could here damn lazy. At most stroll to the boardwalk, order a water taxi and explore the ten-kilometer-long and two-kilometer wide lake or swim a round, then stretch out on a lounger, sunbathe, daydream, napping.
But I'm glad that I get to know this country house only at the end of my bike ride through the Salzkammergut. Otherwise, maybe my whole travel plan would have changed.
Cycle tour in Salzburg: Always along the Salzach, past Baroque buildings and coffee houses.
I started three days ago. The route: from Salzburg to Mattsee, over the Mondsee on to Wolfgangsee. Every day about 30 to 40 kilometers were on the program. I did not need to worry about the luggage, it was transported. The goal of each stage was: a particularly beautiful accommodation, sometimes in the castle, sometimes in the monastery or in a mansion. As a reward, so to speak.
Salzkammergut: Start early and cycle in the morning. Just lovely!
Master tailor Magdalena Nussbaumer-Jonas shows the most beautiful Dirndl.
Salzburg is completely gray. The fortress blurs in the mist, and the baroque buildings look dull and not so powerful. People from all over the world, the Mozarthaus, the Alter Markt with its pastel-colored burgher houses and confectioneries full of Mozartkugeln are thronging the streets; to the cathedral square, where the scaffolding for this year's "Jedermann" performance will be set up. I prefer to circle the city center, cycle along the Salzach in the direction of Hellbrunn and then hang directly at the dirndl manufacturer Lanz. "Every woman looks good in a dirndl," says Magdalena Nussbaumer-Jonas, a master tailor for 35 years in the traditional house. She tugs at pink aprons, at red ruffles, strokes silk corsages with jumping deer. There is a different dress for every occasion, to go to church and to the big opera, to the family celebration and to the city stroll. "Twenty-five years ago, the whole Getreidegasse was full of dirndl," she says, now you can only see jeans there. Magdalena Nussbaumer-Jonas wears them as well - but only with laces.
Further into the green, through archways and avenues, past the castle Leopoldskron, the former residence of Max Reinhardt, with ancestral gallery and cherubs and a large library. For 20 years, the founder of the Salzburg Festival lived in the rococo palace, for him "one of the most beautiful, liveliest housings in the world". The current owners from America use it mainly for international congresses and seminars.
It smells like elderberry as I drive through Anif, a village near Salzburg. The farmhouse of the great conductor Herbert von Karajan I leave right and take a break at the famous "Schlosswirt". During the festival season, every place here is fiercely contested, outside in the shady chestnut garden, but also indoors at the wooden tables with checkered ceilings. On the menu fine home cooking: Beef fillet with green asparagus, Tafelspitz, Wiener Schnitzel.
Holiday Salzkammergut: lots of enjoyment
When I cycle down to the Mondsee in the morning, not all umbrellas are stretched in the town yet. But the iceman has already opened: a fabulous selection, as colorful as the houses in the center.
That's the good thing about a bike ride that burns calories fast. I believe in that. Especially important when driving through a country of enjoyment like the Salzkammergut. At every corner there are pubs serving fabulous dishes, cafés serving cakes and coffee. And the choice is great. "Ah, for the Gnä's wife have a coffee." "Well, what would you like to have?" Little Brown or Big Brown "Melange, Prolonged or Einspänner?" If only I knew that! I just can not remember the differences. On my second day at the wheel I explain the "Riesnerhof" on Lake Mondsee, formerly only an ordinary wine tavern, today the absolute meeting place for the evening.Here sit girlfriends at long tables, families with grandmother, business people from the nearby town of Mondsee and look down on the lake, on white steamers, swans and the yellow collegiate church with its baroque towers.
On the way to Bad Ischl, I get into conversation with Sister Sebalda. The nurse from Linz likes to hike and enjoy "this air, this peace".
The recommendation of the day: trout fillet, pasta and steamed tomatoes with apricot foam. In addition, green Veltliner. When the stars start to sparkle, I order a taxi, because my bike has a break in the evening. Without success. "Our taxi drivers are somewhat idiosyncratic," laughs a gentleman from the next table. "They seldom go after 7 pm!" But there is the extra service of the house. Owner Andreas Landauer drives me back to my accommodation for tonight, the "Schlosshotel Mondsee", an old monastery with modern designed rooms and roses in the courtyard.
The Salzkammergut knows well with guests. Already at that time you traveled by coach from Vienna and Salzburg to this unique summer resort with its 76 lakes and dramatic mountains, the Dachstein, the Totes Gebirge and Traunstein. Even the Sisi came with her emperor, he went hunting, she wandered or climbed into the brine in the spa Ischl. Artists fell in love with this enchanting landscape, and the great theater man Johann Nestroy mocked in the middle of the 19th century: "For you see, it is a cross, the world does not grow bigger and the Mahler become more and more There are three painters sitting around on the rocks and banging on it, every brook bridge, every Seitel waterfall is emblazoned on the canvas, the whole Salzkammergut exists in Öhl. "
During a tour of Leopoldskron Palace in Salzburg, I also end up in the library. The American influence is obvious: in the section "Romantics" u. a. a book by Hillary Clinton.
The sun burns. Quickly another ice cream on the hand, before I leave Mondsee. In front of brightly colored houses on the market square, the chairs have already been cleaned, flowered ceilings flutter on round tables. At the lake Elvis sings "It's now or never", and the boat-hire companies look like captains on cruise ships in their uniforms. Today, I will not just drive along the shore, past holiday homes, where geraniums decorate the windows and horticultural hedges prevent the view of the garden. Will not just roll over green hills and wave to the farmers happy.
Today it gets serious. "It's just a lump," said Ernst Haberl of Pro-Travel, as he explained the route to me and clicked the GPS to the steering wheel. A piece! Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that! I have to conquer a mountain between Lake Mondsee and Lake Wolfgang. 600 meters in altitude. On the roadside are wooden crosses reminiscent of deaths: Gustav Pichler, 24 years. Convertibles bend over. How I would like to trade with them. And immediately. There comes back up my mistrust of the navigation device. Maybe it shows me the wrong way, as at the beginning of the tour in Salzburg, when I first went to the south, but had to go north? Have I pressed any button again that triggers this sky-jumble clutter? I do not have this time.
Everything is correct. Unfortunately. But even such hurdles have something good: After every climb comes a downhill. And this one is gorgeous. I'm going down the serpentines, no, I'm flying. I would like to spread my arms. In a short time I reach St. Gilgen with its beautiful villas, where the water spills almost to the coffee cup. Ex-Chancellor Kohl visited this resort for decades, and for the summer interview on television, he posed on an alpine meadow.
Salzkammergut: Rain in paradise
At the Traunufer I sit down in the "Grand Café Esplanade" in Bad Ischl and order a marzipan cake, a specialty of the confectionery Zauner.
The air sticks to the poor, the way goes along the shore of Lake Wolfgang. It grumbles from the mountains. Black clouds gather behind me. I shift up a gear so I can move faster. Lightning flashes across the water. Rain patters like under a tropical shower. I flee to the seaside resort of Strobl, looking for protection in a large, open on the sides snack bar for bathers. Three girls are shivering under their wet towels, the water is dripping from their pigtails. The innkeeper is rapidly expanding his offer and offering mulled wine.
In front of us, the lake sinks into nothingness, gusts of rain whip across the lawn, it bangs so loud that we shut our ears. As fast as the storm has come, it moves on so fast. The riverside paths sink in the mud, in large puddles elite wriggle, small fish washed out of brooks. I take a shortcut, the Panoramaweg from Strobl to St. Wolfgang. It is an enchanted trail that winds its way through a grove and on boardwalks around a boulder. On the left side of the Wolfgangsee, which still has to calm down a bit from the thunderstorm. How quiet it has become. No more rumbling, no drumbeats from the dark sky. The sun has left for today, will not dry me. But luckily it is not far to the "Landhaus zu Appesbach".
The gravel crunches as I push my bike to the hotel. A red runner leads over a staircase to the reception. Quickly jump under the warm shower, then drink a hot tea in the salon. "And an aperitif can certainly be well tolerated by S," says waitress Manuela, who recognizes in seconds what cyclists like me want after such a day.
Cycling makes restless and curious.
Cycling makes restless and curious. So I take over the map again and again and look for new routes. So today I will not go to the "White Horse Inn", drink a mélange on the terrace and think of Peter Alexander, will not bump uphill and downhill in the village at the souvenir and traditional shops, not a ride on the paddle wheeler "Emperor Franz Josef " do. I prefer to explore Lake Hallstatt by bike.
Endstation Wolfgangsee: Here I will be completely lazy in seconds
It's a summer day as I love him. 23 degrees, the sun disappears now and then behind white sheep clouds. The town Hallstatt on the southwest bank, famous for its salt mining and extremely photogenic built on a slope, I leave quickly. Too many coaches. It draws me more to where the lake is quite calm, almost untouched, I cycle on sand paths, sometimes on suspension bridges along the rock, sometimes on train tracks. On the 30 kilometer route, I meet two cyclists and five hikers. Roses climb up to the balconies on balconies, spades are stuck in summer flowerbeds, rowing boats have been taken out of the shed for the big holidays, and wooden benches are waiting for visitors under fruit trees. The guests then look at a deep black lake, which cools down so nicely when bathing, on the high Dachstein, embroidered by conifers, in his thick folds he has hidden the last snow. Maybe then they will come in somewhere and drink "Elderberry Kracherl".
My lucky spot is waiting for me in the "Landhaus". There I watch Wolfgangsee as he slowly falls asleep, seeing the moon rise, round and bright. I enjoy one of those balmy summer evenings, which radiate a special lightness and should not really end. Today I try a rosé from Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg. He tingles a bit. A good choice. And then I'll probably take a look at the bike map.
Travel Info: Holiday Salzkammergut
Cycling tour. The ride described here is provided by the bike operator Pro-Travel (Pilgerstrasse 152, A-5360 St. Wolfgang, Tel. 0043/61 38/252 50, Fax 30 54, mobile: 06 64/145 28 06, www.protravel.at ) organized. Price z. For 4 days 595 euros, including accommodation, trekking bikes, maps, GPS, luggage transport. Without hotels 230 euros.
Accommodation on the route: "Hotel Auersperg", charming city hotel with stylish rooms behind a classic façade. DZ / F from 130 Euro (Auerspergstrasse 61, A-5020 Salzburg, Tel. 0043 / 662/88 94 40, Fax 889 44 55, www.auersperg.at).
"Schlosshotel Iglhauser", in the old castle brew on a peninsula in the Mattsee, casual atmosphere. DZ / F from 135 Euro (Schlossbergweg 1, A-5163 Mattsee, Tel. 0043/62 17/52 05, Fax 52 05 33, www.schlosshotel-igl.at).
"Hotel Schloss Mondsee", spacious former monastery complex right in the center. DZ / F from 115 Euro (Schlosshof 1a, A-5310 Mondsee, Tel. 0043/62 32/50 01, Fax 50 01 22, www.schlossmondsee.at).
"Landhaus zu Appesbach", as in an English country estate, directly on the Wolfgangsee. DZ / F from 160 Euro (A-5360 St. Wolfgang am See, Tel. 0043/61 38/22 09, Fax 22 09 14, www.appesbach.com).
Even more wonderful accommodations can be found in the guide "Schlosshotels und Herrenhäuser in Austria and the former crown lands". Here are about 60 hotels presented in detail. Available free of charge from: Schlosshotels & Herrenhäuser, Moosstr. 60, A-5020 Salzburg, Tel. 0043/662/83 06 81 41, www.schlosshotels.co.at.
