Our Travels

Sunday, 21st of October, was a very sunny autumn day again, so we wanted to make use of the still good weather and go outdoor again.

However, on this day we wanted to go more than just a hiking path, so we selected a route which also has some climbing parts to make going up more interesting and also more challenging.

This is why we chose to do a route in eastern Austria, which includes some iron ropes, artificial steps and a long steep ladder.

The beginning of the climbing route.

Soon we reached a nice resting point to stop for some food and drink.

This route is very popular so many other people were visiting there on that Sunday.

The route is clogged up with slower people ahead, so we have to wait.

At the long ladder. It's really very steep!

After that ladder we soon reached the top and could enjoy the view up there.

A lovely area with beautiful nature.

One of some restaurants, which not only have delicious food, but also nice views and beautiful surroundings.

This day saw some lovely autumn weather and we passed by many colourful trees.

When going down we had to do some more climbing again.

It's a bit scary but also lots of fun.

Finally on safe ground again.

Before driving back home to Linz, we decided to go to the eastern-most province of Austria, the "Burgenland", to have dinner there.

We had mixed barbecue with lots of french fries.

As the east of Austria is famous for its wine, we were drinking some more "Sturm" (fresh, sweet wine) again.

Cheers!

It was my first time to wear looking like a professional outdoor traveler, before i never tried this style clothes, coz i thought it would make me look like a guy, actually i like the feminal clothes. But from the pictures, i really was a little surprised that i looked not bad with the new style clothes, haha...

I always dreamed to be a farmer...

Nothing is nicer than working in nature.

A very typical type of animal in rural Austria: A cow.

Colourful autumn time.

My honey climbed an old tree.

Finally we reached the top.

Nice resting place.

"Urfahrmarkt" is a local fairground in the city of Linz, which takes place twice a year, in spring and in autumn.

There are many different things to do at Urfahrmarkt.
One can take one of the many fairground rides; shop for toys, clothes, accessories or many other things; taste some local or exotic snacks...

...or visit one of the big tents to have a beer there and listen to Austrian folk music spiced up with some comedy acts and other entertainments.

From left to right: Me, my sister-in-law and her best friend.

Drinking beer together with my brother-in-law, his wife (on the left) and her best friend.

"Chaos" - one of the many attractions to play with on Urfahrmarkt.

The "Barmsteine" are not very high, just two small, rocky peaks, which are located exactly at the border between Austria and Germany.

So one can choose to climb them either from the Austrian or the German side. As it was already afternoon when we started our hike, we chose to climb them from the German side, so we could enjoy the warm afternoon sun whilst walking there.

We started at the end of a small road, near some farm houses.

Cute sheep.

Such beautiful nature.

Some more farm animals.

The small Barmstein and the Austrian side.

The big Barmstein and the German side.

It was the worst trip so far, the stupid weather forecaster "cheated" us, the real weather was too bad, not enough sunshine, too much fog and thus quite cold.

Mr. Schoeffel is known as the "saviour" of the Vienna forest. About 150 years ago is was the plan to cut down the wide woods to the west of Vienna and sell it to private property, but Mr. Schoeffel finally could persuade the authorities not to cut the forest, but keep it alive and free accessible for the public. Soon people started to like going there for recreational purposes, and after Mr. Schoeffel's death they decided to put up this memorial stone to remember the "Saviour of the Vienna Forest".

Artificial view point at the western edge of "Vienna Forest". It's about 25 meters high and on clear days one can see large parts of the Austrian capital from the top of this wooden tower.

Too much fog made us almost could not see the whole view of Vienna from the top of the tower, it was very pity!

Climbing Schober mountain was my first formal climbing. i wore the new hiking shoes and the new outdoor special shirt. The feeling was quite good.

As you can see most of Schober is covered by forest, but the way up still is offering some lovely views...

...such as here, where one can see lake Fuschlsee.

View down from about half way to the top.

The higher up the more difficult the route gets when climbing Schober. Fortunately they put up a steel rope at the most difficult parts, so making it safer to climb the last meters.

Though this has been my very first time to go such a difficult ("black") route, I could do fine and climb to the very top without any help.

From this point it are only a few more steps to the peak of mountain Schober. To the upper right one can see lake Fuschlsee again.

Another lake on the other side of the mountain.
Actually from Schober one can see as many as 7 different lakes when the air is clear.

Me and my honey in front of Dachstein, the highest mountain of Upper Austria, which you can see to the far back.

My naughty honey climbing the absolutely highest point of the mountain, haha.

Nearly every higher Austrian mountain got a cross on top.
So of course one has to take a picture at the cross to prove that one has climbed the mountain.

Lake Wolfgangsee to the left and Mountain Dachstein to the far right.

My honey likes this picture very much.
Now we use it as the wallpaper for our computer.

Going down again this mountain is far from easy!

Actually Schober has two peaks.
These pictures have been taken at the second peak

It was my first time to use the walking sticks, really very useful.

Down again, phew!

Spitz is a cute small village near river Donau in the "Wachau" valley. There are many grape fields, the wine is of very good quality and thus very popular and famous in Wachau.

This day we were taking some ~2.5 hours walk in the wine fields and later tasting some fresh wine ("Sturm") at a restaurant along the way back.

The church in the village of Spitz.

In the center of Spitz.

Up in the wineyards.

The feeling of being a farmer is not bad, see, my honey and me looked so cool when we were sitting on the tractor, haha!

These grapes are nearly ripe for eating or producing delicious wine.

This place is called the "Red Gate".
When we took the picture there, suddenly so many visitors came, if not, i thought maybe the picture would look better.

After our walk we visited a restaurant to eat some local food, and drink my favourite type of wine, the sweet "Sturm".

"Almsee" is another lake of the Salzkammergut region.

It's a popular place for swimming or having a picnick, particularly during summer time. In the autumn people come here rather to take a walk, or climb one of the mountains which are surrounding it.

Parts of our route were leading through the forest.

"Traunsee" is the northern-most lake of the "Salzkammergut", an area of many lakes and mountains, which is a popular holiday destination for tourists from Austria and abroad.

As Traunsee is the nearest lake to Linz, many people like to go there for swimming, hiking or taking a walk on sunny days, so it's almost always guaranteed that one is never alone there.

However, despite many people walking on the same route, there are many different routes to choose from, from very easy to very exciting, so it's usually always a pleasurable experience to spend a few hours at this beautiful place.

So we visited a few other places on Pöstlingberg, such as...

...a fairy tale world, which is featuring scenes of many popular stories (in the picture: "Sleeping Beauty").

...the church on top, which is also a popular wedding place.

Like this feeling...

...and finally a restaurant, where we took this nice picture just outside the restaurant on a kid's playground.