JACOBSWEG 2008
4 June 2008
Auckland - Vienna – Krustetten - Mautern
Hi everyone, I made it this far! Uneventful flight with Emirates. They were almost as good as Singapore Airlines. Strangely they serve drinks/ alcohol hidden in trolley, but bad Australian wine available on request, after food. Had a shower in Dubai, next to international hotel in terminal, up escalator, well worth the 13 US dollars. Arrived in Vienna after 28 hours of travel. Stau as Ringstrasse closed for traffic because of football event. Made my way to the station, endless frustrating attempts to locate sim card for mobile, eventually got one and just caught the train to St Poelten on time. From there another train to Krustetten where I was picked up by my hosts Barbara and Hermann, who took me to their picturesque little B and B in a tiny Heurigen hamlet. A Heurigen is a taverna type place which serves wine from their own production along with hearty cold cuts of meat and rustic bread. B and H accompanied me for dinner at one such place, there are no less than 7 in this small place and I had a Spritzer, which is a dry white with mineral water. Very refreshing and a Wustsalat to go with it. This is kind of sausage salad. Hermann insisted on shouting me a glass of Muscat afterwards, which was amazing. On our way home through the vineyards I caught my first glimpse of the amazing Benedictine Monastery high on a hill. Construction commenced in the 11th Century. Barbara and Hermann insisted on sharing home grown strawberries for desert and a glass of their very own production of Marillen Schnaps. Marillen are a locally grown prolific fruit, a bit like apricot and my hosts own 1000 trees on a plot near the hamlet. Marillen jam was served with breakfast along with cheese, egg and cold meats. Enough for a sandwich for lunch as well.
The accommodation was pure luxury after the discomforts of the Camino in Spain, so after a night in a lovely garden room with en suite I set off in the rapidly climbing heat. What a wonderful start to my adventure. I was deeply grateful for the kind and generous welcome I received from my hosts. By lunchtime it got to 32 degrees. I had to walk 4 km to reach the Jakobsweg and after a steep climb reached the Monastery which was just magnificent. I was the only person in the glorious church and a monk arrived to practice the organ. What timing!
After the Stift a very steep descent through forest and on to Mautern through picturesque vineyards in the sizzling heat.
When I arrived in Mautern after one pm I decided to call it a day. Too hot, too jetlagged to face the next part of the walk, 4 hours through forest with very steep bits and no accommodation on the way. Tomorrow is another day.
So here I am in Mautern in a weird B and B, a fat family with grumpy children. Room is nice though. This little village is on the bike trail and prices are noticeably higher than last night. Last night´s accommodation was 25 Euro and dinner a mere 4.50 Euro including wine. Today I have to pay 27 Euro and the Spritzer is double the price, 1.10 Euro last night and 2.20 today.
Now I need to get out of the hosts study. The daughter is getting impatient as her friends are on line. Internet facilities are unheard of here, unlike Spain, so don´t know when you will next hear from me.
Lots of love, Gitti
6 June 2008
Mautern - Maria Langegg - Aggstein - Melk
Dear friends hello from Melk on the Danube, the place of the second most significant Baroque Benedictine th century and today it has a large military camp on the outskirts along with an military exercise area. There are still some remains of the Roman wall to be seen, a Roman museum and some lovely old buildings. The afternoon heat was oppressive and I had to battle against jetlag by having a strawberry ice cream and not sitting down in case I nodded off.
I went to the church and lit a candle for my friend Donald who had an operation on Monday.
At 5.30 pm as soon as the Restaurant Gruener Baum, (Green Tree) opened its doors I went for dinner. The restaurant is owned by an Austrian man in his 40´s married to a young Thai woman with two little children. The chef was Vietnamese and the menu was a bizarre Austriasian mix. I had liver dumpling in beef broth, followed by a green salad with prawns and apple strudel with vanilla sauce, washed down with the inevitable Spritzer. The soil in which the grapes grow in the Lower Austrian wine region is called Loess, it is particularly well aerated and assists the grapes in resisting moulds. The most popular wine here is the Veltliner. I have mainly had the young or green variety, which is dry and fresh. Walking along the Lower Austrian wine route was a delight, with organic producers, operating out of country homesteads painted in different shades of yellow, pink, orange and blue with large wooden barns and central courtyards decorated in flowers on every corner. As I sat under the shelter of the veranda in the leafy courtyard of the restaurant, the thunderstorm hit, which finally cleared the air.
I returned to my pension at 7 pm and hit the pillow, only to be rudely awakened by some strange Poltergeist type carry on upstairs, which went on until midnight and began again at 5 am. It was a strange mix of heavy foot steps, bumping, thumping, moving of furniture, no voices to go with it. I was glad to get out of the place at 8 am after a miserable breakfast in a room smelling of stale smoke, bitter coffee , tasteless rolls and imitation ham, which had dried out in the fridge and curled up at the edges.
I was somewhat ill prepared for the challenges of the day. Soon after Mautern the track ascended steeply into the Dunkelsteiner (Dark Stone) forest and for the rest of the day I walked and walked, up and down hills through dense forest, with the occasional clearing and beautiful views of meadows and forested hills. It rained pretty much the whole day and the forest was very dark. The canopy of the trees kept me dry.
I met not one other person during the entire forest trail. Was I glad they had upgraded the way marking last year, otherwise I would have got totally lost in the myriad of crisscrossing paths.
I am convinced Peter Lindenthal who wrote the guide book is a total fitness freak. He estimated 4 hours for the stretch from Mautern to Maria Langegg, well it took me no less than 6.5 hrs including a couple of short rests. What a relief when I reached the pilgrim’s site of Maria Langegg, with its beautiful church and brewery. A beer, wiener schnitzel parsley potatoes and a mixed salad later I felt a whole lot better. I collected my stamp for my pilgrim’s passport which was provided by the pastor, who comes from a place close to Pforzheim, where I grew up.
After that I marched on through more forest to the ruin of the castle Aggstein, the most amazing castle I have ever seen. It hovers high on a rock and from its walls you get strategic and beautiful views up and down the Danube and surrounding countryside. The women at the entry kiosk shouted me a free audio tour as a reward for walking so far that day. It was fascinating. What impressed me particularly was the fact that this castle had its own well, which cost more to create than the entire castle. Apparently having a well was extremely rare and Aggstein was one of the very few castles not to have its water poisoned by intending attackers. The story has it that one of the castle owners held Richard Lionheart prisoner.
At 5 pm I began the exceedingly steep descent to the shores of the Danube. Still on the whole way so far I had not met another walker, let alone pilgrim - so different from the Camino experience.
Finally close to 6 pm I reached my accommodation for the night, a lovely farmhouse in a hamlet right on the Danube. My room overlooked the river. It started to pour as soon as I arrived and I was very glad not to have to venture out again. My host provided me with a delicious prosciutto on rye sandwich and a glass of wine in their divine little rustic bar. The only other guest was a hunter, a man in his 60´s who was off to spend the night in the forest. His wife is dying of cancer and he and my host had a long conversation about the intricacies of organising one’s legal affairs to do with such an event. It was all in Austrian, but I got the drift of it.
I retired around 7.30, having washed my smelly clothes, thankfully there was a dryer, as my socks, which I washed the day before still had not dried.
I am pretty happy with some of the improvements I made to my gear since the Camino, number one the boots, but also the water bottle arrangement. I have this brilliant Platypus folding lightweight bottle which fits into a halter which hangs off the waist strap of my pack. I am not aware it is there, such an improvement on my previous ones. The watch and the cell phone are a must on this trail.
The other great gadget is a plastic sleeve on a string for my guidebook, which hangs off my pack, which allows me to refer to the route descriptions. Very necessary!
Before I went to sleep I watched the rapidly flowing river from my window. A few barges went up and down so did the last cruise boat for the day.
Today was another longer than expected day. I left at 7.30 and the 5.5 hour hike to Melk took 7.5 hours. I was under equipped for food, not expecting the day to be so long. The villages I passed through had no shops and the only restaurant on the way was closed. Most of the day was on tarmac, mainly due to the fact that the route was impassable due to storm damage. When I finally arrived in Melk, tourist Mecca of the Wachau I was famished. I had minestrone watching American, English, French, Dutch, German and Australian tourists exploring the pretty town. Room prices are a disaster and I finally managed to get a dingy room with en suite for Euro 35, down from 40 because the woman felt sorry for me. The next best option was 50 Euros, which is just about my allowance per day.
I must try and avoid places like this, but I could not have walked on today!
At least there is an internet facility here, at 15 cents per minute I composed this attachment first.
P.S. Did I say my flight was uneventful? Yes it was largely except for the amazing coincidence the one of my Joneses colleagues Jane and her son Louis sat 2 seats away from me on the first leg! Just a gentle reminder as to why I am doing this walk, at least in part.
Until next time!
Love Gitti
8 June 2008
Melk – Maria Taferl - Ybbs
7.6. I arrived in this picturesque little historic town at midday after 4 hours of walking and being Saturday, since I have 2 blisters and sore feet and legs, not to mention the fact that the annual festival was on today, I decided to stay put. I got the last room in town, a bed in a huge dining room with crystal chandelier mahogany furniture, crystal and silver in a locked glass cabinet, a glass door and bathroom down the hall. Bed and breakfast for Euro 20, the cheapest yet. It is upstairs from a butcher shop which belongs to the family and apparently breakfast is a treat.
So far I have completed 90 km in five days, 2 of which were just half days. Going through the usual early days aches and pains, but because
After I last wrote to you I went back to the hole of a place and sneakily put the key on the desk and left. I could not stand staying there. I had not touched anything in the room, so I felt ok about it, kind of. I found a simple, dark, but clean room behind a shoe shop, right in town. The hostess was very welcoming and it was 10 Euro cheaper, no breakfast though. The following morning at 6 am I had breakfast at the local stone oven bakery, it was delicious, great cappuccino, croissant filled with poppy paste, yoghurt and a glass of Marillen nectar. I also bought a Pretzel for my Jause ( Austrian for a refreshment break) , which came to 5 Euro, so I was still ahead.
The Marillen harvest will take place in July. They are harvested the traditional way, by hand and conically shaped woven baskets are used for the purpose. At 7.30 I visited the Melk Benedictine Monastery, I can honestly say the Baroque church is the most beautiful of all I have ever seen. Amazing colours of ochre, caramel and cream marble and deep old coloured non shiny gold. Frescoes everywhere, the dome decorated with scallop shells and even a giant silver incense burner suspended from a steel rope.
I left Melk, crossed the Danube, followed the Danube bike trail for 5 km and then headed into the hills through Leiben, then Artstetten to Maria Taferl, an ancient Pilgrim destination. Artstetten is dominated by a lovely little castle, once the home of crown prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Franz was shot 28. 6. 1914 in Sarajevo. This resulted in the Germans declaring war on the Serbs, who were in with the English and so World War One began.
Back to my walk, what a tough day that was. Endless asphalt, just a few km on soft paths. Lots of ups and downs again. The landscape was lovely, fields, orchards, meadows, patches of forest, again no other walkers.
It rained on and off again most of the day, which brought out the snails. The have a kind of Albino look about them. They are whitish, fat and very large and carry enormous toffee coloured houses on their backs. I spent all day trying not to step on them. I stood on one and felt terrible.
No other wildlife today.
I forgot to mention the other day, the rather refreshing lack of vandalism around the area. There are numerous shrines along the way and roadside, some just open, no glass or mesh, with little figurines and crucifixes, all intact. In the Dunkelsteiner forest I passed one bit where there were a number of huge oil paintings, depicting the local wildlife, they just stood there, leaning against the trees, held in place with a little piece of wire.
I saw just about everyone of these animals that day, a large hare crossed my path, squirrels, a weasel and finally, early in the morning 4 deer in a meadow, just behind the farmhouse I stayed in. The call of the cuckoo, such a familiar sound on the Camino, can be heard intermittently. They had come down to feast on the leaves of the young Marillen trees and the hunter I met the night before was ironically up in the forest trying to track them down. They stood there, fearless and looked at me, just a few metres away and after a few minutes I walked on very slowly, while they still stood and watched. Magic.
Another feature of the lower Austrian Jakobsweg are these signboards, erected next to beautiful rest spots, benches etc. They have in English and German excerpts of Paolo Coehlos´s writings. Most of you will have heard of the famous Brazilian spiritual writer, who has written a book about the Camino and walked lots of it, including some of the Austrian parts.
My night at Maria Taferl was a highlight. The first Pilgrim friendly hotel. They had pilgrim´s quarters like you have never seen. Comfortable double bedrooms overlooking the church, a shower with jets, a beautiful restaurant with pilgrims menu. I had a divine Flaedlesuppe, clear broth with finely sliced strips of omelet, Zander, a fresh water fish, fillet in a paper thin sesame seedy batter with parsley potatoes and salad. For dessert a light nut cake, slightly warmed with a touch of chocolate sauce. All for only Euro 8.50. The Frey family who run the hotel were absolutely delightful and welcoming. Their son Andreas has a major organisational role with the local fraternity of St James. He is very knowledgeable and so friendly and helpful. Would you believe, he offered to wash my grubby clothes in their washing machine and hung them out to dry. I was blown away.
Apparently they had 4 or 5 pilgrims pass through earlier in the week, including the famous Peter Lindenthal who writes the guidebooks on the Austrian and other pilgrims routes. I missed him by one day and my entry was straight after his in the visitors book. He was there having walked from the Czech border sussing out a new potential route for development.
That night there was also a brass concert by the local military, held next to the church, with speeches from the Buergermeister and food from the goulash canon. I presume that is a term that was used in the wars.
I went to bed at 7. 30 and watched the church towers and listened to the music and festivities.
I felt so excited to have this experience, so reminiscent of my time in Spain.
In the morning after breakfast I paid a brief visit to the church, which was under renovation. I lit a candle for my friend Maggie who is battling with breast cancer and sat and thought of my friend Helene from the Camino, who lives near Munich and just lost her much loved dog due to a sudden infectious illness, which was terribly sad for her and her son.
Then I headed off steeply downhill to the shores of the Danube and largely followed the bike trail ( more asphalt) until I reached Ybbs, having crossed the Danube again. Pretty little villages, lots more civilization down here. Quite a nice change, but a bit of a shock.
I had intended on taking a train from here to the other side of Linz and recommence the trail there, but decided to just keep going. I like it around here and tomorrow, the Mostviertel, the fruit region, starts. In August and September you can feast on all the fruit straight from the trees all along the path, but June is a bit early for that.
Apparently there is a lot more tourism the other side of Salzburg, so I decided to stay east of the place for as long as possible.
Love, Gitti
Just discovered one hour of free internet use at the local library because of the festival, could have saved myself 5 euros, never mind, thought I would quickly make use of it. Had a rest and am out in the rain and thunderstorm supporting the festival. Not many people here. Met the retired parish priest, who collected a key for the church and provided me with a stamp for my pilgrim passport. A very kind man of 79, who was very proud because he was able to work on a relief basis because he was in good health. I came across a gallery opening. An amazingly restored 16th century little building in the heart of town, check out their website www.atelier-klaudia.at the art is somewhat kitsch, but the building is lovingly restored. Back to the butcher shop soon. Looking forward to a night of luxury, persian carpet and all. Main road position the only disadvantage, but because of double glazing not too bad.
Servus, Gitti
11 June 2008
Ybbs = Neustadtl - St Pantaleon
Ybbs seems ages away. I am now in St Pantaleon 30 km before Linz, having covered 60 km or so since Sunday am. Saturday night in Ybbs was noisy, drunks passing my window after the festival on their way home, the last at 5 am. At the festival I spotted a stall raising funds for the local tram society. For cousin David´s sake I just had to stop, have a glass and chat. The guys were falling over themselves to talk me through the book they had published, detailing the history of the tramline. It commenced operation in 1907, with 2 carriages and 3 staff it was the smallest tramline in the world, covering the 3km from the town to the railway station. It was powered by the nearby hydro electric power station which was also the first in the world to provide supply for domestic users. It was launched with much ceremony by Crown Prince Max, nephew of the last Emperor Karl. The town suffered regular floods, during which times the tram could not run and people were transported by tall fire trucks on huge wheels. The floods were a regular feature, at least 5 yearly and eventually damage to tracks and an increase in demand for transport to and from the station resulted on the tram being retired in 1956. Now restored it is housed in a museum in Linz.
The houses in Ybbs are marked with flood levels, 1.5 metres, sometimes more. One house had the level above its entry door. Amazingly these houses have survived over centuries. They don´t build them like that these days!
When I left Ybbs on a warm morning I had to climb from the Danube to a ski area, 600 m above sea level. The path led through forest again, with the track so overgrown that the nettles reached up to my armpits. I had to walk with my arms in the air so as not to get stung. When I finally got to the top to the ski area I heard sounds of the accordion and minutes later could smell the Bratwurst. 10.30 am and the ski hut was in full swing. People on the terrace consuming half litres of beer and most (fruit wine) and listening to a live Austrian band in lederhosen. Great stuff. I had a small glass of most mixed with mineral water and a sausage and moved on. Lots of up and down over and over again. Apparently the day in the Dunkelsteiner Forest covered 1800 metres of height variation and Sunday 1400. That is huge apparently. There is certainly a lot more up and down than I expected and a lot more hard surface, which is tough on feet.
After my Jause I continued on cheerfully, through open countryside, fields, patches of forest, farms, little hamlets. T he way-marking noticeable deteriorated and suddenly I found I had gone the wrong way. After roaming around a steep field and meadow, searching for paths, disturbing a deer having a nap I finally made my way back to the track. Everything happens for a reason it seems, because only 5 minutes after my exhausting adventure I heard a voice behind me saying “Buon Camino!” It was Erica, a teacher from Amstetten, my first meeting of a pilgrim. She was doing 2 days of the track over the weekend and had walked part of the route in Spain. I was so happy to see her. The rest of the way apart from long and steeply undulating along asphalt country roads was pleasant because of the company. By 5 pm we reached Neustadtl and we said goodbye as Erica was picked up by her daughter.
I checked into the one and only basic, somewhat dingy, little hotel and was lucky because the owner made me Schnitzel with lots of fresh garden salad. I spotted my fist tick, a tiny spot of a thing moving rapidly across my foot, heading for dark spaced between toes. I had just had a shower. I was glad to have noticed it. Tick inspection is essential during and after the day, as the ones that carry nasty, sometimes irreversible, diseases are endemic in the region. Most people are vaccinated.
I went to bed early and took off again at 7.30 the next morning.
The sky had cleared and it was promising to get hot. By lunchtime the temperature touched 30 degrees C. I walked along more asphalt roads up and down past more little hamlets and villages. As I bumbled along slowly, feeling the heat I was again greeted from behind and low and behold, there were 2 more pilgrims! A really nice couple from Tyrol, Gerhardt and Steffi, who had started in Wolfsthal on the border, near Slovakia. They regularly cycle and mountain climb and admitted that this route was extremely challenging because of the height variations and percentage of asphalt. The guide book said over 90 percent of the route was on soft paths, well so far not so. There has probably been only 50 percent on soft paths.
After they walked on I again hopelessly lost my way and eventually the lady who does the school bus run stopped and delivered me back to the route. I gladly accepted her offer at that point.
I met up with Steffi and Gerhardt in Zeillern and we had lunch together in Zeillern. Then we set off again. It was really hot by then. We walked uphill, again on asphalt, into the forest, the fit Tyrolese ahead of me. They disappeared and after only a few minutes all route markings had disappeared, the guide book was extremely ambiguous, I thought I followed it, there was almost a whole page of instructions on how to tackle 12 km, should have made me suspicious. Needless to say I got majorly lost this time and erred around endless steeply sloping fields and edges of forest in the burning sun. Eventually I figured it out with the help of my compass and rejoined the route by climbing cross country. The sun was burning my arms, it was not a high point. Along more asphalt roads, through picturesque little hamlets and past more farmhouses.
The day seemed endless, nowhere to stay, no one to be seen, other than farm dogs. All of a sudden they were no longer tied up as had been the case at the beginning of the route. Every time I passed a farm that day the dogs were loose. They would bark and sometimes growl, their owners never in sight. I would psych myself up every time with good vibes, exuding calm and managed fine until the very end of the day. I had been walking since 7.30 am, it was already nearly 6 pm and I had 2 more km to get to a Pension where I had booked a room. All of a sudden the way markings reappeared in a hypocrite kind of a fashion. I could have kicked the sign when I saw it, having cursed the writer of the guide book all day long for his careless instructions. Well what happens when you think bad thought, bad things happen. Just as I passed the sign at the bottom of yet another hill, a huge black dog dashed out of a farm house and would not let me pass. It just growled and gnashed it´s teeth. No one came to the rescue. I slowly backed away, climbed back up the hill and clambered across a paddock to avoid the dog. Finally after another steep descent I reached my destination, a very nice looking typically Austrian farmhouse in a little valley with stream. The owners greeted me and ushered me past a group of workmen sitting at a table in the yard smoking and drinking beer. I had a beautiful glass of Holunder juice.
The owner said I had to wait for the shower to be free, before she could show me my room. Strange I thought. I asked how much it would be, worried it might be a lot because the house was so attractive. 18 Euro, seemed to good to be true. And it was. The room was in a barn, accessed via a unisex washroom with showers and a basin. It was tiny, dark, smelt damp, no curtains. The toilets were outside. I could have cried, but was so exhausted I could not face the 2 km to the village of Wallsee.
The host made me a salad, which I had with a piece of leftover pork I packed up from my lunch, then I cooled off my feet in the stream, had a shower washed my clothes and only then began to grasp the scene. The workmen were there to stay, in the same building as me. They turned out to be travelling chicken farm cleaners from Thuringia. I have never seen a more repulsive group of guys in my life. They might have been brothers, all had terrible squints, crooked noses and unhealthy complexions. They were already half drunk. They ordered the host to get me to talk to them, when they heard I was from New Zealand. They were extremely intrusive in their questions and would comment about me while I was in earshot.
One in particular, with the mannerism of a chicken, was extremely smartassy and they all seemed to be lusting for pleasures of the flesh. No projection I assure you. I realised they would be using the showers outside my room, which meant I would be trapped either in it or outside it. At night I would have to go out to the loo, I was trying to figure out as to whether I could get by without going to the loo all night if I stopped drinking water straight away. Then there was the thing about no curtains. Impossible. I had visions of them lurking around at night.
When the hosts said they were going out for the evening my heart sank even more. I told them that I could not stay in that situation, paid 7 Euro to get out, threw my stuff into my pack and escaped. They gave me a lift up the hill. When I got to Wallsee, it turned out to be a beautiful little town, with a pretty village square and a gorgeous castle owned by the Hapsburg family.
The best hotel was the only one open and as I walked in there were Steffi and Gerhardt. Was I happy to see them! They had also got majorly lost and were close to giving up, but felt revived after dinner. The rooms were fantastic, recently tastefully refurbished with pine furniture and a view of the square. 30 Euros seemed reasonable for the standard and I was so relieved to be out of that terrible scene.
Suddenly the world was rosy again, we shared some wine, and all had a good night.
After a late breakfast and posting off some unnecessary stuff, I set off to St Panteleon. Instead of the traditional Jakobsweg I chose the alternative route along the shores of sidearm of the Danube. It was lovely, shady, soft paths, fish jumping, the sound of frogs, the odd little boat.
Eventually it the track met the cycle path, more asphalt again, but flat all day for the first time.
I stopped at a pub, had a goulash soup and walked on through extreme heat to St Panteleon, a sleepy, pretty little place. En route I accepted a 3 km ride from a pleasant local woman and then walked on. I checked into a nice little hotel with a beautiful guest garden, did my washing and just relaxed for the afternoon. Tomorrow I plan to take the train to Linz, a very friendly lady Elisabeth from the local shop is giving me a ride to the railway station 7 km away. Tomorrow afternoon I will bus or train on to Lambach, the other side of Linz and commence the Jakobsweg through the Salzburg region. Apparently it is well signposted, much flatter and on predominantly soft paths. Well we will see.
Until next time, Gitti
12 June 2008
Linz
Just got into Linz for a quick look at the famous main square having spent the morning with Elisabeth, who works in the store in St Pantaleon. She took me to her home to show me the silk paintings and water colours and pencil drawings she creates. They were really special and gave me a book of her paintings with poems by a friend. Then she insisted on showing me the beautiful Stift monastery at St Valentin (saint for the fire brigade) a short drive away. We went into the church and became part of a funeral service for a 45 year old man Johann who died of cancer very suddenly leaving behind a mother with 2 young children under 4. It was so sad. The theme was around "In the middle of life you are surrounded by death and in the middle of death you are surrounded by life" in a nutshell. After that we took a look at Enns, the oldest preserved little town in Austria, well preserved, with a square much more beautiful than the one in Linz. We had lots of girl talk, lunch and then I took off on the train. As soon as I walked onto the square in Linz, there were Steffi and Gerhardt. We had a beer and said good bye for at least the third time. Now I am off to spend the night at the monastery in Lambach.
Tomorrow I walk on. Gitti
18June 2008
Lambach - Mondsee - Henndorf - Salzburg
Wow, it has been days since my last email. From Linz I took the train to Lambach and arrived at the monastery in time for dinner with the monks and 5 other pilgrims, all men. Amongst them two lovely young guys Arnold and Josef in their early twenties who study biomedical engineering at Vienna University. The others were middle aged and retired men en route to Santiago.
The meal consisted largely of pre packaged and processed foods and the monks looked miserable and unhealthy. Jamie Oliver would have had a field day. After dinner we were shown to our pilgrims quarters all single and double rooms on the top floor of the monastery with en suites and lovely linen and fresh towels. Food and accommodation were free!
I went out for a beer to the monastery cellars with Josef and Arnold, treated their blisters using the needle and thread method and then went to bed only to find one hour later that I had caught a tummy bug. 48 miserable hours of fever, diarrhea and vomiting followed. Luckily I was able to stay another night at the monastery and luckily I had Steffi and Gerhardt´s phone number, who I knew were somewhere close by and were planning to drive back to Tyrol, passing Mondsee, where my friends Sigi and Arno were staying. They gave me a ride, which coincided with the end of the acute phase of this thing.
After 3 days sharing Sigi and Arno´s lovely apartment in the Salzkammergut lake district, close to Salzburg, eating organic and largely vegetarian home cooked food, life was back to normal. Overall things could have been a lot worse.
It was really special seeing them again, we originally met in Fiji, where they lived for over twenty years and now live in Brisbane. Sigi´s grandmother was Austrian and Sigi has a special attachment to this area and I can see why. It must be the most perfect place on earth. Picturesque countryside, pristine clean lakes and mountains, 4 distinct seasons, fantastic healthy food, beautiful, healthy looking people with a real sense of joie de vivre. Lots of traditions for their own sake, not the tourists, of which there are relatively few except for Salzburg, which is crawling. Everything blends together beautifully, the landscape, architecture (the cow barns are pieces of art far superior to most of the dwellings we muddle around in in New Zealand), traditional dress, music, food, ceremonies and festivals, art etc. There is a feeling of going with the rhythm of the seasons, a relaxed and peaceful and gemuetliche way of living life. Sigi and Arno gave me a tour of the area and we passed the Attersee, where Mahler composed 2 of his major symphonies. A tiny wooden beautiful shed on the edge of the lake, containing a grand piano and a desk and a few pieces of art. Two windows overlook the lake, a third the mountains. We went for a walk around a lake, tucked right against a huge rocky mountain. You could just hear Mahler´s music in the landscape. It was very evocative.
The second day I was there we went up into the mountains further and just missed mass up on the alm, with music and singing. We saw lots of people in traditional costume descending the steep path back to the valley.
In the evening we had dinner in a traditional Austrian restaurant by the lake, fresh whole fish, liver dumplings in broth to start and the most amazing dessert of dumplings made from potato dough, filled with a whole Marille, the stone replaced by a Marillen syrup, the whole thing dusted with crispy crumbs containing lots of cinnamon. Divine. You can see I had suitably recovered by then.
The next day, Monday, Sigi and Arno took me back to the Jakobsweg and accompanied me for the first 3 hours. We left at 11 am from Frankenmarkt and after 30 km I finally got to Henndorf around 7.30 that night! I had planned to stop around 5 pm, but the hotel was full with school kids, so I had to push on.
Temperatures have been arctic around 7 degrees for the last few days, a huge change from last week and I am seriously short of gear.
Today my Camino friend Helene, who is a health practitioner in Bavaria came to see me, we walked into Salzburg from near Henndorf, had dinner together and she has now gone home. It was great to share some of our Spanish experiences from 2 years ago and spend some time exploring past, present and future.
Looking forward to a day in the Sound of Music city tomorrow, then on towards Innsbruck.
Love, Gitti
20 June 2008
Salzburg – Jettenburg - Lofer
I left Haus Wartenberg in Salzburg at 8 am and got to my destination in Jettenburg around 5.30 pm. One of my Salzburg highlights was a visit to the St Peter Stiftskeller restaurant. It belongs to the monastery, part of the restaurant is carved into the rock on top of which sits the castle and is adjacent to the catacombs. The building was first erected in the 600´s and it has functioned as an inn since 803. Now it is the most noble and elegant restaurant in town. I remembered eating Salzburger Nockerl there 40 years ago when on a ski trip with my school. They were then and are still now renowned to be the best Nockerl in the whole of Austria. For tradition and nostalgia´s sake I just had to have some. They arrived on a large oval platter, mountainous peaks of soft fluffy, creamy, warm and delicious decadence, vaguely reminiscent of Pavlova, served with a tangy raspberry sauce. I could only manage half a serving, but it was superb.
Anyway, I took the bus to the airport, where I picked up the Jakobsweg. Public transport is so easy here, trolley buses, cheap, quiet and clean and you never have to wait for more than 5 minutes. Then there are the bikes, which seem to be part of everyday life. People in business clothes, ladies in dresses, skirts and pumps, school children, students, shoppers, they just use their bikes to get about their daily lives. Of course there are the recreational users too in the latest gear zooming along at great speed.
Another thing I love about this country is the fact that every small village and town has a music school, usually right next to the church. The schools are funded as a joint project between the state and the church and as a result most children and adults here play some sort of instrument. It is really great.
There are incidences though of tension between the church and the community. I witnessed an interesting series of events in St Pantaleon last week. The hotel Winklehner is adjacent to the church. Unlike the rest of Austria where the church bells wake the villagers at 6 am, the church bells in St Pantaleon do their thing at 5 am and have done so for hundreds of years. Hotel guests were complaining and some of the regulars were threatening not to return unless there was a change to the morning routine. Herr Winkellehner spoke to the conservative parish priest who to his surprise agreed to hold a vote with his congregation. So one night, when Herr Winklehner and his supporters were busy watching the soccer games, eating and drinking, the cunning priest asked the congregation consisting mainly of a few older members of the community to vote. Not surprisingly it came out in favour of the status quo. Herr Winklehner was furious and so were his guests....
Back to yesterday, the day was long, 10 km discrepancy in two different brochures covering the same part of the track! Very confusing. Most of the day was along the Saalach river and hydro lake, lots of shade. Summer had returned with a vengeance, back to 30 degrees!
I passed through a tiny corner of Bavaria, nothing but a rock to mark the border. I walked through the elegant spa town of Bad Reichenhall and in the evening stayed in a tiny hamlet in an ancient farmhouse. Frau Wichler, a widow, who has left the farm to her son, still runs the house as a bed and breakfast. I had a beautiful room with painted Bavarian furniture, balcony overlooking a 500 metre tall sheer rock face. It was very dramatic. Frau Wichler gave me a wonderful quarg and strawberry dessert and insisted on inviting me for a glass of wine. We sat outside on a bench in front of the house, a local schoolteacher who was walking her Dachshund joined in and we had a lovely time. The major issue of concern was the haymaking. The weather has been very unstable and the hay is overdue. One needs 3 really dry days to make good hay and the weather forecast is a little so, so.
After a superb breakfast I said goodbye to Frau Wichler. As I left I tried to pay for the wine and dessert, but she did not allow me to do so. She said the evening had been an enrichment for her and she did not want me to pay more than the usual 20 Euro.
She suggested I should take the secret route through the Aschauer Gorge instead of the normal Jakobsweg. This has been a smugglers route for centuries, even after world war 2. Coffee and rum were very cheap in Austria and Frau Bichler´s mother and other villagers would transport goods through the gorge to earn some extra cash. It was very lucrative apparently. The mother had a specially made petticoat which had lots of compartments for coffee bags and bottles of rum. One day on her way through from Austria Frau Bichler, only a child at the time and her mother were followed by a custom official, who noticed the woman´s clothes bulging and the petticoat dragging heavily. He ordered her to remove her petticoat and confiscated the goods. He gave her a stern warning which was subsequently ignored.
The whole smuggling business finally came to an end, when some of the locals were noticed flashing their new found wealth, buying motorbikes and new clothes and a few people, not the mother though, ended up "inside".
The gorge was also used by Napoleon, who ganged up with the Bavarians and led his troops through the gorge to attack the Austrians from behind the lines. The Austrians were slaughtered. There is about to be some sort of festival to re enact the gruesome event.
I was full of anticipation approaching the gorge and was not disappointed. There was a scary sign saying "for experienced walkers only" and " risk of rabies". The track was spectacular, a bit steep in places, not for the height challenged, you had to hang on to steel ropes in some parts and slips had made the track difficult to pass at times. Crystal clear rock pools, waterfalls, forest and a multitude of flowers. Not a human in sight. At one point I heard the grunt of a pig, slight moment of panic, but nothing happened. It was great. I soaked my feet in the icy water and when I emerged from the gorge I was rewarded with picture postcard alpine scenery. Huge rocky mountains, covered in snow, high meadows with wildflowers, ancient farmhouses, some labeled as Erbhof, a term awarded to farming properties, which have been in the same family for at least 200 years.
I passed a memorial stone dating back to 1643, where an entire village apart from one little girl was wiped out by the plague. There was a little painting of the valley and a little girl held by mother Mary floating on a cloud in the sky.
I stopped off at a little country inn and had the most divine Topfen cake, a cake made with quark, still warm from the oven, the recipe dating back to the great grandmother. It was absolutely divine.
Then I set off through the wild romantic devil´s gorge and finally arrived in Lofer, a pretty little Tyrolean village, not really touristy. About 24 km of pleasant walking, mainly on soft tracks today. Booked into Haus Edelweiss and hope to get to St Johann in Tyrol tomorrow.
Tonight Turkey plays Croatia!
Love to you all, Gitti
22 June 2008
Lofer – St Johann – Soell
At the end of the day, when I was absolutely stuffed and the km distances in my guidebook were inaccurate, i.e. shorter than in reality, I got totally lost, due to poor signposting, which cost me over an hour. I just about cried, it was terrible. I managed to get a ride for the last 4 km, which was a relief. I got to Soell at 5.30 pm, having walked since 9 am. Unfortunately there was no one at the pilgrim´s hostel, which looked lovely and was only 12 Euro, so I ended up looking around for alternative accommodation, finally after several unsuccessful attempts I got a private room for more than twice the price.
I landed in the tourist Mecca of Tyrol, St Johann last night, which was the absolute pits. Huge hotels, pubs, bars, Armani shops, minigolf, gondolas, pizzas and souvenirs. Get me out of here! The countryside is nice and Soell is rather charming and more low key.
I thought about the Bichler family today and whether they got their hay in. In the old days, when it was done manually as a community exercise, the hay was raked and draped over cone-shaped structures until it had dried, before being bundled. Nowadays a lonely farmer on a tractor cuts it and then it is rolled using machinery and wrapped in a plasticky sheet. Hence the obsession with cutting it when bone dry, as it would otherwise spoil.
When I walked through one of the many small picturesque villages today, one of the inhabitants, a man in his 70´s stopped to speak to me. He insisted on showing me the rather gorgeous little baroque church and proceeded to tell me that he had lived under the same mountain in the same little village all his life. He said life had been very "narrow" in many ways, that he had been to Spain once, Andalucia, loved the wide open spaces and the sea and the smell of salt and fish ( he had a goitre ). Well for some of us the praised land is always the one where we are not!
I have now covered 322 km in 15 days of walking, just about the same pace as in Spain in 2006. By the time I get to Innsbruck on Thursday I will have walked through half of Austria East to West, the total distance is around 800 km.
It is meant to stay hot and not being able to get on the road until 8.30 or 9 am because of the late breakfasts is a pain. In Spain I used to set off at 5 am when it was still cool and here I end up walking through the worst part of the day and getting very very slow towards the latter part of the afternoon.
Bye for now, Gitti
23 June 2008
Soedl - Breitenbach
Another scorcher of a day, 34 degrees C again, just a bit much. I left Soell after breakfast at 9 am and the 2 and a half hour stage to Woergl took me more than 4 hours. I got lost yet again traipsing across a steep hill for no reason, the view was nice though. Again the guidebook description, map and signage continue to conflict and many times I take a guess, which of course turns out to be wrong every so often. Woergl, I have taken to calling it Woerstl, was one hell of a place, a busy, chaotic, industrial transport hub, noisy, sprawling and ugly, set in a narrow valley, heat, humidity and polluted air trapped between the mountains, by the time I had got halfway through I had had enough. I hopped on a bus to the station and decided to take public transport for the last few km. I left my guidebook on the bus, damn and ended up waiting for the bus to do another round of the place. It finally turned up again half an hour later and I retrieved my book. Phew! Then I bused to Breitenbach and walked to my pilgrim´s accommodation 20 mins outside the village in a farm house. After my shower I ventured back into the village and as I entered the restaurant where I was about to treat myself to a beer, the rain came. Along with it a huge thunderstorm and hail. Just as well I had abandoned the last few km.
The heatwave seems particularly bad in these tight valleys, I could not stand living here, it is all very closed in. Strange, when one is used to being so close to the sea.
60 km left to Innsbruck, should get there by Thursday evening. Can´t say that I will be sorry. I can see why the Camino in Spain is so popular, it does beat this hands down, despite the crowds.
Off to have some dinner now, while I wait for the thunderstorm to stop, so I can get back home.
Love, Gitti
24 June 2008
Breitenbach – Jenbach
Well I think yesterday was a low point forme. After I finished my email, everything improved dramatically. I had a wonderful meal in a low key attractive Tyrolean restaurant, lined with timber, tiled floors, tiled built in fireplace come oven with integrated seating to warm your back and bottom in the winter, very cosy. French doors leading out to a beer garden with mature chestnut trees. The menu was based on traditional cuisine and I opted for a Brezensoup, a delicious soup made from stale Pretzels, soaked in beef broth spiced with coriander and cumin, finished with melted gruyere type cheese and topped with chives and parsley. It was piping hot. The recipe was passed down from an old lady in a neighbouring valley. A fresh green salad to follow and with it a large beer. After the rain I meandered back to my room on the outskirts of Breitenbach and after and early breakfast I set off at 7.15 am. The air was still cool and fresh from the rain, the trail led through meadows and patches of forest to the shores of the Inn River, along undulating natural tracks, no asphalt!
I passed through the beautifully preserved medieval town of Rattenberg, which had a very Italian look about it, through a magnificent park belonging to the castle and finally along a several kilometre long Lindenallee, again natural surface to a huge old farming estate, now used as an agricultural training college. The path led through cherry orchards, ripe cherries at my fingertips, plump and sweet.
I was making great time today and treated myself to lunch at Strass in the Zillertal. Quite by accident I ended up in an Erbhof Restaurant (remember the Erbhoefe are places that have been in the same family for 200 years plus). Everything on the menu was local cuisine and all the ingredients were from their own organic production. I had cream of carrot soup, followed by a huge mixed salad of freshly picked leaves and vegetables from the garden with warm mushrooms, in a garlic and herb marinade, taste and texture of escargots. Very nice. I had a large glass of beer mixed with lemonade, referred to as a Radler. The bill was under 9 Euro, which was exceptionally reasonable.
6 more km after lunch and by 3.30 pm I got to Jenbach, after close to 20 km of walking today. The early start made all the difference, and I must say today was a perfect pilgrim´s day.
2 more days to Innsbruck and 4 more sleeps until I pick up John and Sophia, can´t wait,
love, Gitti
26 June 2008
Jenbach - Thaur
Hi everyone, well I made it. Just on the outskirts of Innsbruck in a little lace called Thaur. It was begging for me to stay. A quiet little village a beautiful hotel, a bus stop (20 mins to Innsbruck) at the door and the hotel owner who is a pilgrim himself offered me a room for 30 Euro including breakfast instead of the normal 60 Euro. So here I am in a luxurious 4 star hotel with wellness area, sauna and steam bath and I have completed 400 km with no major ailments to report. Tomorrow I will take the bus to the Innsbruck Dom and then head for the train to Vienna.
Yesterday morning I left the copper and silver mining town of Jenbach at 7.30 am. I had had a really bad night for some reason the events of last year, move, job, Joneses, job loss, share loss, surgery, future employment prospects, future income and survival strategy all hit me with a vengeance. I had not given this stuff a thought so far on my trip, apart from the odd fleeting moment but that night it all flooded in. The mattress was really uncomfortable and yet again I had one of these awful toweling type sheets which was so hot and hard, it hurt my skin and felt like sleeping on an exfoliating glove. My feet were really painful and busy. I could not keep them still. I got up at 6 am, sore head, neck, back, tired and miserable.
After breakfast I headed off to St Georgenberg, a popular pilgrim destination high on a mountain. 2 hours, it said in the guidebook. After 1.5 hours of steady uphill, there was a sign saying 2 hours to go, half an hour later, another sign, still 2 hours to go and 15 mins later another bloody sign saying 2 hours. Is this just bad organisation or some sort of test of one´s spiritual commitment?
The scenery certainly made up for it, soft track meadows, hills, rock faces, a medieval castle, glorious sunshine.
Eventually after 4.5 hours I reached the 2 churches of St Georgenberg and treated myself to Quarg Gnocchi in raspberry sauce. A couple at the neighbouring table recommended a detour via the Wolfsklamm and I set off through the most remarkable Gorge ever. Very steep, very tight, massive forces of water gushing through tiny gaps between rocks waterfalls and whirlpools, steep steps hundreds of them, suspension bridges and wooden planks tucked under overhanging rock faces. It was very dramatic and worthwhile. After that a tedious stretch through industrial areas, extreme heat and humidity not much fun.
I arrived in Terfens, gross and smelly, soaked in sweat. No accommodation it seemed. I went into the Gemeinde Amt and the Buergermeister himself was there, found me a room in a semi disused pension come restaurant and asked one of his colleagues to give me a glass of water and a ride to the pension 1 km away. I was so grateful.
A few minutes later the black clouds had obscured the valley and a huge thunderstorm hit, lasting several hours. Donner and Blitzen pretty much continuous.
I lay in bed watching the spectacle and caught up on some sleep.
This morning I set off around 8.30 am through beautiful countryside, a magical little valley,
I saw deer and even a fox, ginger coat, black markings around head and tail, he leapt off elegantly, as he heard my footsteps. A little later a barn, a goat family and caramel coloured horses with white manes. Just the sound of the birds, otherwise silence. The mother of god is meant to have appeared here on 2 occasions and given the blissful and tranquil and heavenly environment one can imagine that she might have got muddled as to her whereabouts.
My money is running out so I will leave it there lots of love and thank you for all your good wishes on the way. Gitti
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