European Road Trip: Vienna, Hallstatt and Salzburg Day 9 - 14

I can't quite explain it, but it was a nice feeling driving out of the Czech Republic and into Austria.


Our first top in Austria was Vienna. Vienna is a very nice city, but we were a little run down and getting tired of sightseeing by the time we got there. We took our time wandering around the city and stopped to see the Hapburg's Royal Apartments and their tombs.



Driving from Vienna, we made a stop in Melk, a small town on the Danube river. Melk is known for their amazing Abbey. I think they had the most gold encrusted church I have ever seen.



We followed the Danube River towards our next stop. The views were amazing. While we are driving, Colin said "This looks just like Germany". We couldn't believe that he remembered. We were staying the night in Hallstatt, a very small town on a lake surrounded by mountains. Many hotels are closed in November and reopen in December for the Christmas markets. It is very common for people to rent rooms in their house, which is what Craig had arranged. We had no idea what to expect and were a little scared, but the apartment we stayed in was amazing. It was 3 bedroom, right on the lake and it was a nice change from being in a hotel room for so many nights before. The town was so quiet that all you could hear was the water.









Before leaving Hallstatt the next day, we walked the town and visited the Catholic Church and it's Bone Chapel. There is such limited space in Hallstatt that people were only buried for 12 years. Their bones were then dug up and the space was used for someone else. All of the bones were housed in the bone chapel, this was done up until the 60's. The chapel has the bones of about 600 people.


We weren't happy to leave Hallstatt, but drove the next day to Salzburg. Salzburg is best know as the birthplace of Mozart and the home of the von Trapp family from The Sound of Music. It is a small city nestled between the mountains. We stayed in a womens dorm that rents out to travelers when the dorms are empty. On part of the grounds was a cemetary where Mozart's wife is buried. We took a tram that scaled the side of one of the mountains to see the Hohensalzburg Fortress that overlooked the town. Salzburg had the prettiest river through the center of town. The water was turquoise and you could see right to the bottom.

We had not made reservations for a place to stay over the weekend, so we decided to pack it in and drive home on Friday after 14 days on the road. It took us 9.5 hours to drive from Salzburg to Antwerp. On the way, we drove right by Teck, the mountain that my grandmom grew up under in Germany. We have a picture of it having in our house and it was great to see it in person.

Overall, the kids were pretty good on the trip. Every time they we changed hotels, they loved seeing the new beds they would be sleeping in. It is hard to keep them quiet in the rooms, so I think every hotel was glad to see us go. Back in Antwerp, our downstairs neighbor asked if we had a good 2 week vacation that we never told him we were going on. That least we are happy to be home, even if others aren't.