hotel – Energy and Time

Austria days 34-35: Obertraun & Hallstadt

September 22nd: A long driving day. We stopped for lunch at a small roadside food stand that turned out to be surprisingly good, with many regional specialties.

I had a “bread soup”: beef-onion soup with chunks of bread and thinly-sliced crepe/pancake “noodles”.

Carol had a nice fried bratwurst that came with an intense mustard and grated horseradish.

We didn’t buy an Austrian toll-road pass, so we had to drive back roads that wound through a lot of scenic mountain passes. But the weather was a bit cloudy.

Eventually we arrived at our almost-lakeside hotel, the Seerose, in Obertraun.

The next-door Pizzeria Kegelbahn looked pretty good, so we had dinner there. It turned out to be excellent. I ordered soup and a cutlet, while Carol went for comfort-food lasagna. (Kegel is an Austrian form of bowling or skittles, so “Kegelbahn” could be translated as “bowling alley”; the restaurant has 2 lanes near the back.)

The garlic soup was creamy, intensely garlicky, and utterly delicious.

Turkey schnitzel with cranberry relish and parsley potatoes

Lasagne Bolognese, and yet another attempt to find a decent dark beer

September 23rd: We planned to see the Dachstein ice cave in the morning, but their cable car lift was out of order. They said it would be fixed in half an hour, but 2 hours later it was still not working. So, we wasted a couple of hours sitting around waiting for it, but eventually gave up, which was wise , because they never did get it running that day.

So instead, we went to the nearby Salzwelten (“salt worlds”) salt mine above Hallstadt. This is the oldest known salt mine on the planet, dating back about 7000 years.

It’s a long cable-railway ride up to the mine.

Looking down across the lake to Obertraun

For some reason, I don’t appear to have taken any still photos inside the mine. But Carol did.

About to enter, wearing my pink knit cap

Video of Carol and I descending the wooden slide

For dinner we went back to Pizzeria Kegelbahn. Why go searching for something else when you’ve got something this good right next door?

Carol opted for a Salzkammergut Pizza featuring local meats with corn, onions, and mushrooms.

I got the Hearty Lumberjacks Steak, “pork with roasted potatoes, onion, bacon, mushrooms”.

Slovenia day 33: Lake Bohinj

September 21st: We scored some nice raspberries and strawberries at a grocery store, so I cobbled together a fruit-and-granola breakfast with low-fat milk. Both kinds of berries in Europe tended to be smaller, darker, and more intensely flavored than their American counterparts.

We were thinking about biking around the lake, but the bike I got had rather sudden braking, and I fell while trying it out. So I stayed home while Carol biked.

On the way to dinner, we stopped and got someone to take a picture of us.

We ate at the Hotel Tripič. Carol got fried local trout filets in Bohinj corn flour with sour cream and buckwheat porridge with mushrooms, and I got the rumpsteak filled with smoked ham and Bohinj cheese, in pepper sauce, with Krapi (buckwheat ravioli).

Slovenia day 32: Lake Bled

September 20th: Headed to the bus station to take an early bus to Ljubljana airport to pick up our new rental car. Took a lot of pictures to document the existing dents and scratches. Then we drove up to Lake Bled, and had lunch.

Carol had pork in a plum sauce, while I got pounded chicken.

Lake Bled is famous for many scenic buildings on cliffs and islands.

The map (below) is not the territory (above).

Then we drove to our hotel near Lake Bohinj and Carol made omelets for dinner.

Iceland day 13: Golden Circle

After packing up on Heimaey, we had a ferry ride back to the mainland, and then a moderate drive to get into the “Golden Circle”. Our first stop was for lunch at the tomato farm of Friedheimar, which is geothermally heated, artificially lit, and hydroponic. It produces over half of Iceland’s tomatoes. They also have a famous restaurant emphasizing tomato dishes.

They have to import bumblebee hives as pollinators.

The all-you-can-eat tomato soup and bread buffet is the best deal.

The garnishes included sour cream, a shredded cucumber relish, and a live basil plant with scissors so you could cut off and chop up fresh basil leaves.

For dessert, we split an apple and green tomato crisp with whipped cream.

We didn’t try the green- and red-tomato beers.

Next we stopped at Hraunalaug hot springs. It was originally developed as a sheep-washing station.

Next up was the mighty Gullfoss (“Gold Waterfall”) that gives the Golden Circle its name. It was putting out a lot of spray and you couldn’t get within a hundred meters without getting drizzled on.

The upper part of the falls is a series of gentle drops. Almost looks like it would be fun to raft.

But the last drop is gigantic, into a narrow slot canyon.

On to the famous Geysir hot spring area. Geysir itself, the source of the English word geyser, has been dormant for years and only erupts occasionally. But its neighbor Strokkur erupts every 5-10 minutes.

Strokkur in action. It actually goes about twice this high, I just caught it in mid-spurt.

By now it was 20:55 and most restaurants closed at 21:00. We were looking at possibly no food until breakfast. I managed to find one 5-star luxury hotel (Grímsborgir) that was open until 23:30, so we made a beeline for it and were able to order dinner off the very expensive menu. There was a jazz guitar duo playing instrumental versions of standards like Days Of Wine And Roses; they made me miss Tago-san. Carol ordered duck and I ordered the lamb filet. Both were stunningly good, easily the best cooked meal we had in Iceland, so maybe worth the price tag. The wine list was massive with over 60 wines, but we were too tired to try anything.

Iceland day 9: East Fjords

At 08:00 the Viking Jupiter cruise ship arrived. It was on an “Iceland’s Natural Beauty” tour that circumnavigates the island.

I thought about taking that tour sometime in the future just to eat sushi here again, but $2800 for a sushi meal seems excessive. 🙂 Cheaper to fly in and stay for a few days.

At the summit on the way back in to Egilsstaðir we passed the old (now unused) bridge from when it was a one-lane road. Well, actually we passed it on the way out too, but I missed taking a picture then.

In some of the Eastfjords there is fish farming.

For lunch, we stopped at the Hotel Framtíð restaurant in Djúpivogur. I had the Fish Soup, which came with bread and an extra pitcher of soup.

Carol had the catch of the day (salmon in Bearnaise sauce) with onion soup.

After lunch we headed to the famous “black sand reflecting beach”.

Except it wasn’t sand at all (Icelanders do not seem to know what “sand” means), as I found out when I tried to walk on it. It was a mud flat. I sank in up to my ankles.