Saturday, June 03, 2017

Day 3 - Admont Abbey, Hallstatt, and Castle Ort

look up not down
it all comes around
even when you're gone,
we can always come back to this.
We Can Always Come Back to This - Brian Tyree Henry

Day 3 was spent taking a day tour to Hallstatt. It's a bigger group this time around that we went in a bus. However it's not that big that there were empty seats and I got to sit on my own, which is truly my perfect situation. First stop was to Admont Abbey which has a beautiful and important library. The library was pretty much the only thing we visited there. It's supposedly an old monastery, but the building housing the library didn't look old at all, so I'm rather confused. It could be that it's heavily renovated or they built extensions and all. The library was empty when we went there, it's just our group and so that was nice. It's quite big and it has a white theme to it. It has paintings on the ceilings, some statues, and books (obviously). I wonder if anyone really can borrow and read any of the books or if these are just for display only and if anyone wants to read them, they just access the digital version or something.

One of the interesting thing about this library is the hidden staircases. So there are shelves with fake books and with a little push here and there and a key, these shelves revealed hidden staircases. One of the staff, a handsome young lad, opened one up for us to see. I think that's one good thing about travelling in a tour group, you sometime get to see something that you may not be able to see if you're travelling on your own. I don't think the staff do this for every individuals visiting. After we're shown that, I started to inspect the shelves and see if I can find other hidden passages and I think I managed to find another one. I identified it by hinges on the shelves and then the books on that shelves do look kinda fake. After the library, we visited a small exhibition that showcased some old books that illustrated the development of typography, especially gothic font if I remember correctly. Honestly, I would have liked more time to really explore the entire compound, but after that exhibition basically our guide ushered us out and just gave us a little time to take pictures in the garden. Well we did need to go to other places, so we really didn't have much time. I think there's a church in the compound and I was curious, but unfortunately there's no time to go inside and I also don't know if it's open for a visit.

Before Hallstatt, I think we made another stop to see some mountain range. I can't remember the name. The drive to Hallstatt was filled with green plains of villages with some mountains behind. There's not much cattle to be seen. I don't know if it's just something that the people there don't do much or if it's not the time to let the cattle loose or if they let their cattle loose somewhere else. Basically it's not New Zealand where every green plains would be filled with sheep.

I don't know what to expect about Hallstatt, but this village by the lake is beautiful. The guide gave us an option to follow her on a walking tour first to the church and market square. If not we can just go explore on our own. Me and some people opted to follow her, I thought at least it would help me to orientate myself. She was quite informative, but unfortunately I don't remember much. I do remember something about there are salt mines nearby and people there used to collect salts and there are souvenir shops in the village selling salts in many different ways.

After following the guide around, I had lunch and then I just walked around on my own. Saw the waterfall up close. It was quite strange going to see it because you basically have to go to a parking lot to see the waterfall closer. After that I walked the recommended upper path way (because it's quieter). Almost all the houses there are quite unique and cute with their decorations and windows. Then I also went to some shops to see what they sell.

After Hallstatt I thought we're done because it already felt like a long day, but we still made other stops. First it was by a lake which I think is Traunsee lake and the last stop was Ort Castle (Schloss Ort). I think the word for Castle in German in schloss. Apparently Castle Ort is a popular place to get married or get your wedding pictures taken. We saw a couple doing just that on the walk there.

Overall I think it was a really nice trip and I kinda enjoyed it more than when I went to Salzburg. For pictures, please go here.

:) eKa @ 8:36:00 PM •