Austria

August 24-27, 2019

Salzburg Austria is a great city to visit. There are nice paths to walk along the Salzach River. Most sights you want to see are in the old town area. Everything is within easy walking distance once you are in the city. We stayed at a campground with a bus stop at the main entrance. All we had to do was hop on the bus and 15 minutes later we were in old town, very convenient. You can't visit Salzburg and not take a salt mine tour, so we did. We visited Salzburg many years ago and toured a salt mine, so this was our second tour. They both were very simular - ride a small train into the mountain, go down wooden slides (these are a lot of fun), barge across a large underground lake, and walk a lot in dark tunnels. It is interesting.

Old town area of Salzburg.

Schloss Mirabella

Mirabella Gardens

Mirabella Gardens

Pedestrian shopping street - We were here about 12 years ago. The street with the beautiful signs looks the same, but the crowds are new. My old photo only had a few people in it. 

Pedestrian bridge over the Salzach River.

Salzburg's duck boat tour.

Ducks selling glasses.

Mozart ducks.

Mozart chocolate.

Open piano in front of Mozart statue - Anyone can sit and play the piano. The two we heard were quite good.

Kapitel Horse Pond

Horse drawn carriages next to the Kapitel Horse Pond.

"Sphaera" - man standing on golden ball sculpture in Kapitelplatz Square.

"Pieta" - sculpture by Anna Chromy

Hallein Salt Mine near Salzburg. They claim they are the worlds oldest salt mine.
 

Wooden slide aka miners slide.

Austrian countryside

Roads through the mountains are very scenic.

View of Zugspitze from Austria. Zugspitz is the highest peak in Germany and is on the border with Austria.

Austria

July 21-25, 2017

Our first night in Austria was spent in the parking lot for Molltaler Gletcher , a ski area, near Flattach, Austria. We were going to ride the lifts (it would take 3 lifts) to the top and hike around, but the weather was bad, so the two upper lifts were closed. We decided to move on down the road.

We didn't plan on visiting Austria, but with all the hot weather we had been encountering, we just kept driving hoping to find cooler weather. We found it in Austria, but didn't know where to go. We picked up a brochure for Glossglockner Hochalpenstrasse at a visitors center and decided to give it a try. 

Heilgenblut, Austria - Looking back down the valley we just drove through.

Heilgenblut, Austria - The beginning of the toll road Glossglockner Hochalpenstrasse (High Alpine Road).

View along the road from Heilbenblut to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe view point.

View of the road to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe view point.

 Wild flowers - They were everywhere. We must have been there at the prime bloom time.

 There were lots of beautiful waterfalls.

View of Johannisberg from Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe view point.

Our free parking spot for the night. You can see the van lined up with his overnight parking buddies. We had a wild storm most of the night, but in the morning the clouds began to open up.

 More wild flowers.

I have never seen so many marmots. They were everywhere you looked.

Grossglockner - The highest peak in Austria.

Grossglockner - Look closely and you can see a line of climbers crossing the glacier all the way to the summit. It was the first clear day in about a week, so it was a busy day on the mountain.

Johannisberg and the Pasterze Glacier

Hochtor Pass selfie.

Fuscher Torl - From here the road switchbacks for miles down the mountain. It is an amazing drive.

Moserer See near Seewald Austria. This was a nice hike between monster rain storms. It felt good to get out of the van for a few hours.

 We had very heavy rain driving through the mountains, while the higher elevations got snow.

Belgium to Croatia

Belgium to Croatia

The sprinter just released from the docks. Bill is inside the office collecting the key. The shipping process was very smooth. The only problem we had was the shipping company adding New York to their itinerary so it took longer for the sprinter to arrive in Zeebrugge.

Second night on the road we stopped in Dudelange Luxembourg. We had dinner in a Chinese Restaurant where they only spoke french. We were not sure what we ordered, but what we got was very good.

Sulzemoos, Germany - a free camping spot at a RV dealership. We were one of about 50 other RV's.

Driving the autobahn. We were going 75+ and cars were passing us like we were standing still.













Driving very fast through Austria.

Rovinj, Croatia

We camped at Camp Vestar near Rovinj. It was a large campground, but early in the season. There were very few other vehicles.

Our spot

The view.

The town of Rovinj. We were here in the autumn of 2007 and loved it. The town has not changed much. It is still a great place. This time of year there are cruise ships. There are a lot more tourists.The classic view of Rovinj.

 There are cats everywhere.

 No cars are allowed in old town. The streets are narrow and go in every direction.

All the streets are paved with very old marble cobble stones.

The harbor

 Our dinner. Fresh caught tuna and strawberries from the market in Rovinj. Nothing better then fresh fish.