As last Thursday was a National holiday in Austria, I took the opportunity to spend an extended weekend in Salzkammergut – my first visit ever to this region! Unfortunately, the weather was not that good. So, I could not fully enjoy the gorgeous landscape in all its glory.

The first day already set the mood for the whole trip: It started to rain right when I arrived, and did hardly stop for the duration of my first (two-hour-long) hike.

The second day was really wet, so I decided to make an excursion to Eisriesenwelt. The ice formations in this ice cave (the largest of the world) are truly impressive. Unfortunately, I cannot show any pictures here as photography is not allowed in the cave. However, the one-and-a-half hours drive (in each direction) were definitely worth it.

On the third day of my stay, I did not let the weather deter me, and started on a hike to Schafberg (despite heavy clouds). The way up through the forest in thick fog was actually quite nice. On the summit, however, the views were slightly underwhelming, to say the least (as can be seen on the cover picture of this entry).

Luckily, just before I wanted to leave again, the clouds slowly started to clear. This made it possible to catch a glimpse of the surrounding lakes and mountains here and there, giving a bit of an impression of the great panorama.

During my descent, the clouds disappeared almost completely. So, I could at least get a view of Schafbergspitze, and I could finally see where I hiked up to.

Finally, I enjoyed a stroll along the lakeside of Lake Wolfgang, and a boat trip back to St. Wolfgang.

The last day of my stay started like the day before – only this time, a bit of rain also entered the picture again. So, I decided to head back to Vienna. As the rain stopped when I reached Traunsee, I took the oppurtunity for a last short hike up to Kleiner Sonnstein. From there, you have a great view over Traunsee (if the clouds are not too low) – or, as a young boy exclaimed:

Wow, you can almost see the whole world from up here!