Summertime in the Austrian alps

Summertime in the Austrian alps

Monday, 31 July 2017

Apart from ice skating, winter sports really aren't my kind of thing. I've never even been skiing and to be honest, being cold on holiday just isn't my style so the Alps wouldn't usually be my first choice when it comes to holiday destinations.

Saying that, I have been invited to visit Austria in July both this year (to Styria with Thomson Lakes & Mountains) and last (to Lech) and I have discovered that during the summer months, there's much more to the Alps than the snow topped mountains and skiing down them. Whilst I'm not the most outdoorsy person - you guys should know you this by now; Austria in the summer gives way to some gentle adventure. The opportunity to get out there and see the mountains without it being a stressful and exhausting expedition means I am able to take in the scenery and actually enjoy my experience of a place.

My recent trip was just a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed my time there! So what sort of things are there to do? Here were some of my favourites:

Take A Gentle, Guided Hike

Our hike was more of an enjoyable walk with beautiful scenery. We walked up to and around the Black Lake in Sölktäler Nature Park, before stopped off for tea and cake but more on that later. This was a great route for our group because there was a stony path for us to walk on for most of it so we were able to enjoy the scenery rather that spending the whole morning looking down at where we were stepping.

With no signal it's easy to disconnect from the rest of the world; and with such breathtaking scenery, I didn't even miss my twitter feed for a few hours. Just the seven of us, the sound of the waterfalls and lots of cows wandering around as they pleased.

Indulge In Alpine Treats

As I said, once we had finished our walk it was time for tea and cake. We had many tea breaks over the four day trip so I have come to the conclusion that this is a very popular pass time in Austria! Austrian food isn't something that I come across all to often in London but as always, I love to try local food so if it wasn't tea and krapfen (mountain doughnuts) for elevensies, then it was trout caught in the lake, Tiroler Kasspressknoedel (gooey, cheesy dumplings) and lots of Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancakes with fruit compote and my number one).

Zip Line Down A Mountain

Ziplining was another one of those things that I hadn't done before and this one I was absolutely petrified of. When you pay, you are given a backpack thing which actually turns into your harness; we took these with us on the bus up to the top of the mountain and put them on ourselves when we got there. It was a little nerve wracking but the staff checked us over before attaching it to the line. Next thing I knew, I was speeding down the side of a mountain at 120 kilometers per hour. After I got past the fear of essentially jumping off the side of a mountain, what I thought was going to be an adrenaline inducing roller coaster turned out to be really peaceful, serene and calming experience.

E-biking

 Normal bike riding is also an option and there were alot of people doing it but when you are riding said bike up the side of a mountain, then that little extra push from the e-bike is going to be much appreciated; and anyway, I said gentle exercise didn't I? I hadn't ridden a bike for years and I was a bit worried at the start but with a guide on hand, I was fine! There are lots of stunning views to see along the way and once you get started, there is the promise of lunch and hot chocolate when you get to the top.

The Ice Palace

After lunch at the top of that mountain, we caught the cable car right up to the glacier at the top. There was lots of adventurous stuff to do up there like walk along a wobbly wire bridge and standing at the bottom of the stairway to nothingness (very eeary ion the cloudy day that we were there) but I preferred The Ice Palace which we discovered once we had gotten inside the glacier itself. The floors were frozen so we were slipping and sliding everywhere but that all added to the fun. Inside, were intricate ice sculptures all lit up with different coloured lights!

*Big thanks to Thomson Mountains & Lakes for hosting me on this trip.

Other Austria Posts:

Hotel Gotthard Review

My First Day In Lech 

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My Third Day In Lech: Waterfalls

My Third Day In Lech: Waterfalls

Sunday, 4 September 2016

Our final full day of the trip was a much more relaxed one. We were given the choice to do what we fancied in the morning so whilst some of the others went back to the mountain we visited on the first day, I decided to have a lay in and have an hour or two on my own. I had a late breakfast and then wandered into town to pick up a shot glass for Andrew. The weather was beautiful - blue skies and warmth, I felt like I got the see the place in full summer swing!

 Soon enough, the others had come back and with a packed lunch fresh from the hotel bakery, we took a hike into the forest and this hike, I really enjoyed. The ground was flat and dry, the sun was shining and I was actually able to take in and appreciate the vast views. We ate our little packed lunch on a bench right  on the river. The flowing water that we saw the day before was just a trickle compared to what we saw here. 

Our tour guide took us further into the forest as we followed the stream where our trip finished up by to a beautiful roaring waterfall. We spend a half hour there sitting on the rocks as it passed us by. 

As the hotel Gotthard are now running golf package holidays, we visited their golf course later that afternoon which was a short drive from the hotel and Austria's highest altitude golf course! I'm not a golfer myself, obviously, I sat in the cafe which had an amazing view over the whole course and drank mango juice but just look at that backdrop, what an incredible setting to play in.

Everyone was in high spirits for our last evening! We had been on this wonderful walk, the other half of the team had a fun afternoon rock climbing! We spent our last evening together back to the little communal area where the market was earlier in the week; except this time, it was kitted out with a stage and some food stands. There we ate Austrian sausages and drank beer whilst we listened to the band play traditional Austrian music. It was a pretty lovely end to the trip!

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Mountain Hiking in Lech

Mountain Hiking in Lech

Monday, 29 August 2016

Our second morning in Lech was an early one as we wanted to go down to explore the hotels bakery before our days activity. Clements took us to the huge bakery underneath the hotel and showed us how they made the apple strudel that they serve upstairs. He told us that the bakery supplies bread for the whole town and brings in as much money for them as the hotel does! It took him all of ten minutes to perfectly stretch the dough paper thin, fill it with ingredients and roll it up, we were all in awe of his skills. With the promise of a slice for when we return later on, we were off on a big hike.

I'll be honest; hiking, OK but hiking up a mountain in the freezing cold isn't really my idea of fun. It looked like a nice day and we were told it'd only be two hours so when given the choice, I went along. We soon realised it was actually snowing in the mountains and we spent the next four hours up there. Of course, some of the views were really breathtaking, that is, when I did look up, as I was so worried about slipping on the wet stones that it didn't happen often. I did however stop to watch each small waterfall we passed because I loved how the water moved and was always interested to see where they started and how they ran down the mountains. I  also loved the sound that came from the cows and their cowbells. That stuff, was all very storybook.

By the time we'd reached the top we'd seen snow, rain, sun and hail and been soaked through and then completely dried again. We also came across a hut full of goats which my personal highlight, I love goats!

We finished our trip at a little old wooden house without any electricity. We bought lemonade and cloudy cider and ate cheese, chorizo and ham whilst we marveled that at how we managed to get there - me especially, I didn't think my body was capable of that and although I found it extremely hard, I did it, I kept up for the most part and I was proud of myself. 

Saying that, I never want to do anything like that ever again. The panic I felt when the tour guide disappeared completely out of sight was like no other. It was pouring of rain and the very thin path that I thought I'd seen him go up was now occupied by a couple of cows. So yes, I did have a panic attack on the top of a mountain but luckily it was only for a couple of minutes as I knew how to get through it.

When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain, we were picked up in the hotel's mini van and driven back to civilization with a piece of strudel waiting for each of us. I ordered mine with a scoop of ice cream and a peppermint tea and then went straight to the room for a bath and a well deserved nap. Ready for dinner a couple of hours later, we all hopped back into the van and drove 10 minutes to a little hut next to a huge lake. All eleven of us bundled inside and filled the whole place which I loved, it was so cosy! We ordered fish caught fresh from the lake and tried some more delicacies - I started with a creamy fish soup which was just what I needed after the day I'd had and for dessert, we had Kaiserschmarrn which translates to shredded, fluffy pancakes which I really enjoyed. Some bits were crunchy whilst others were thick and stodgy - all the better dipped in sweet apple sauce.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and had a drink. Austrians are all about their Schnapps and Clements has a bit of a press trip tradition on picking a flavour to suit each person. He picked hazelnut for me which was the sweetest of them all, he had obviously noticed that I like my desserts hahah.

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The Hotel Gotthard, Austria

The Hotel Gotthard, Austria

Monday, 22 August 2016

The drive from Zurich Airport to the hotel on my recent press trip in Austria was pretty incredible. It started off as a normal car journey but soon we were traveling up a mountain. Snow in July was unexpected but to go into the tunnel just as it started and come out to a blanketed white landscape was pretty cool. I think it made the whole experience seem a lot more authentic, this Alpine landscape looks so beautiful topped with snow. The lighting was pretty terrible so here are a couple of photos I took when the sun came out!

As we arrived at the hotel we were greeted in reception by Nicole in traditional Austrian dress, with a lovely warm (literally) welcome and a glass of Prosecco. She runs the hotel here with her husband Clements, it's been in his family for four generations after his great-great grandmother opened it in 1932. You could tell that it was a family run place, they seemed to know each and every guest, stopping to ask about their day and just generally making everyone feel very welcome and very much at home. They've passed this lovely manner on to all of their staff - everyone was very friendly and said always stopped to say hi! 

We dropped off our cases and went straight down for dinner. One of those big sharing meals which was a lovely way to get to know everyone - and very delicious as well! We had a selection of hard mountain cheese, cured meats (the venison chorizo was something new), fish and some more prosecco.  Full of cheese and ham, we all went back to our rooms for a well needed sleep (and some wifi time)

As I woke up the next morning and drew back the curtains, I instantly fell in love with the view from my balcony. It looked over the mountains with a couple of cute alpine buildings and a (very loud) river running past - I hadn't even realised it was there, the triple glazing was very good!

and then the sun came out..

I've never been on that sort of holiday before so I wanted everything to be as authentic as possible and was very pleased that the room continued the alpine theme from outside. It had wooden paneling and was super cosy with fluffy white duvets and a couple of big armchairs to snuggle up in - these also brought a really lovely pop of colour into the room! I loved to wrap up in the hotel robe and sit in one of the chairs with the window open listening to the river whilst I waited for the bath to run. That's actually another thing to mention - the bathrooms were kept very clean throughout my stay and after a long day of exploring the mountains, my favourite thing to do was come back to the room and have a long hot bath in my very deep tub!

I was a little bit worried about being cold but was pleasantly surprised with how warm the hotel was at all times even if it was freezing outside; so taking advantage of that, I went down to breakfast in a crop top and tracksuit bottoms! The breakfast buffet was pretty impressive actually, the hotel has a huge bakery in its basement so apart from the usual spread, there was a huge selection of freshly baked Austrian bread. The tables were all well set and as soon as you sit down, one of the staff would come over and light the candle.

And thats the first post of my little trip to Lech! Watch out for the next one to see what we got up to after breakfast!

*I was a guest of The Hotel Gotthard but all views are 100% my own.
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