Jun 22, 2018 - Hellbrunn Palace

We headed back to Salzburg today to visit the Hellbrunn Palace. The palace was built by Archbishop Markus Sittikus (1612-1619) not as a residence but as his summer time retreat where he would entertain guest, with a few surprises up his sleeve. The palace stands in a huge parkland so we decided we would walk this first. We found some interesting features and there were some great views over the surrounding area. Firstly, there was the Sound of Music Pavilion which had been donated by the film company to the city of Salzburg. Then there was...

Jun 17, 2018 - Salzburg

As we were very close to Salzburg and a Sunday we decided to drive in and explore the city. There was very little traffic and very quickly found a car parking space near the centre (Austrian car parks are always expensive!) Very quickly we walked into the old town. High above the town sits the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the classic landmark of the town. Salzburg has a huge main square near the cathedral the Residenzplatz, however, it was totally being dug up and replaced so very difficult to walk around. We no thought had been given on the...

Jun 16, 2018 - Pochlarn to Linz

Stage 7 - 100 Kms Well, Bruce had kind of seized up a bit with the the damage he did to himself while riding through Krems an der Donau yesterday, so he decided that discretion is the better part of valor and chose to ride in the van today. Some of our day was still along the Danube and it was lovely to see it again - green and brown though it may be (not 'Blue'). On the one side was the river and on the other were vineyards and eventually we came to Grein, a lovely little town with a castle (of course!) overlooking it. Our Paris to...

Jun 15, 2018 - Horn to Pöchlarn - the sun and the moon and the stars aligned!

Stage 6 - 90 Kms I was last to leave the lovely people at Gasthaus zur Stadt Horn after all the cyclists had gone this morning and, as I was saying goodbye I expressed a wish that the birth of the baby (due to be born by Caesarian section today) to one of the daughters would go well. Grandad, who seemed to be the reigning manager of this family-run Gasthof, asked me what hotel our group is staying at next and said he would send an email to let us all know. As we were sitting down to dinner at the hotel in Pöchlarn tonight, a waiter came in...

Jun 14, 2018 - Telc to Horn - a hard day for The Driver

Stage 5 - 80 Kms Now, I'm not easily intimidated but I have to admit to being very upset today over an incident that occurred. The group had ridden off and I planned to take my time leaving the hotel trying to do a bit of blog catch-up. 'Basil Fawlty' put paid to that by thumping on my door as soon as the others had gone, telling me it was time to go (it was only 09:00am). When I got outside my careful positioning of The Beast to allow for an easy departure was blown out of the window. I'd had Piotr move the van around in front of another...

Jun 12, 2018 - Lake walk and then Kufstein

After two long days we decided on a quieter day by visiting one of the small lakes not far from Kitzbühel. The weather was lovely in the morning but due to rain in the afternoon. Hintersteiner See was a lovely little lake and there was a trail around the lake. The lake was aquamarine in places. There were some strange looking cows in the pastureland near the lake. We arrived back at the car just as starting spitting with rain- so timed it just right. We then decided to head to the main town of Kufstein to visit the castle above the town....

Jun 11, 2018 - Grossglockner Road

Another must do in Austria is to drive the Grossglockner Road 48km of high alpine scenery. The road was originally built by an unemployed workforce(3000 men) during the Depression between 1930 and 1935 and was the first high alpine road. Today it receives more than 1.2 million visitors. The only downside to the road is the motorbikes who just want to beat up the road to say they have done it. Both the noise and their style of driving (sometimes dangerous) can be annoying. The road starts just near Bruck after you enter the Fuscher Valley....

Jun 10, 2018 - Zell am See

We headed out to visit Zell am See. It was an easy drive over the mountains and a lovely hot day. Once parked as we wandered through the town we found the town was hosting a Vespa rally. It looked as if it was just finishing. After exploring the town, we found the lakeside path and enjoyed a walk along the lake along with a number of other Sunday visitors

Jun 8, 2018 - Second full day in Vienna

Pretty lazy day for a pair of tourists in one of "The" cities of the world - I mean, shouldn't we be dashing around with a list of "must see" places, or something?. Not so our group! The first thing was to visit a nearby bicycle shop – sort of a tourist destination for cyclists akin to checking off one of the major sights such as the Hoffberg Palace. Then B and I wandered off and took the yellow tram to go around ‘The Ring’. The fare (9 Euros ea) includes headphones and a commentary on the sights/sites we were passing so we thought it was...

Jun 8, 2018 - Krimml Falls

After the rain of yesterday we thought it would be the ideal day to visit the Krimml Waterfalls. This spectacular 380m high three tier waterfalls is Europe’s highest waterfall and a must see in Austria. We walked the Wasserfallweg (Waterfall Trail) which weaves gently (and not so gently in places!) uphill through mixed forest and had numerous viewpoints of the falls. Trying to get photographs without getting too wet was a challenge! We spent a good three hours exploring the falls and a good cardiac workout! A great place to visit.

Jun 7, 2018 - St Johann in Tyrol – a disappointing day

We decided to revisit St Johann just down the road from Kitzbühel. We had many years ago enjoyed several good holidays based there. It was going to turn out to be a very disappointing and frustrating day. Firstly there was road works on the main road round Kitzbühel, we lost 15 minutes there. As neared St Johann there was another set of road works, here we lost 20 to 30 minutes. We entered St Johann and there was road works on the main road into the town, Fortunately, we were able to park and walk into the town centre. This once charming...

Jun 7, 2018 - Two days in Vienna is Not Enough

First full day in Vienna.......... This morning, me not having slept at all last night in spite of being deadly tired from our journey here, we got up and headed down to the Hotel’s restaurant for breakfast and found 9 others of our group already there and making good use of the pretty decent breakfast buffet that the Novotel offers. (Bruce did manage to get a good sleep - and there is nothing more aggravating than listening to a 'roomie' who is happily snoring while the other one lays awake, staring out at the darkness, most of the...