Day 4: Storming the Castle
This morning we say goodbye to Hallstatt and set off for Italy. As the bus pulls out, Rick plays "A Beautiful Morning," a perfect soundtrack for the day. I will probably always associate that song with the Austrian lakes now! The route takes us back to Salzburg and into Germany onto the first autobahn, past many farms and farm animals. As we pass Innsbruck we all crane to see the ski jump from the Olympics. We take a mid-morning rest stop after which Trish passes around erdnuss, a peanut snack, for us to try. (It's good. Bill and I will end up buying more later in the trip.) Then it's a lunch stop in Hall, where there is just time for a quick walk as well as food.
Foods of the Day
Erdnuss
Venison
Practicalities
City: Hallstatt, Hall, Castelrotto
Weather: Beautiful
Hotel: Cavallino D'Oro
Sights: Hall
Reifenstein Castle
Castelrotto Walk
Unexpected Moments
One of the pleasures of travel is those unexpected moments, not that you don’t get them in everyday life, too, but the ones that occur when you travel seem even more unexpected. Today was a good day for unexpected moments. Reifenstein Castle was all the more exciting for being an unexpected stop on the tour. I had seen Rick’s show about it, but was not expecting to see it on this trip. Wow! Such a great time, and I think everyone in our group thought so. There was instant enthusiasm when Rick brought up stopping there. In the evening there was a second surprise. I was in my hotel room and suddenly heard music. I ran to the window, and there was a costumed band marching down the narrow street below my room. Surprise! I love moments like that.
Hall
After lunch we cross into Italy, and Rick suggests stopping at Reifenstein Castle, an idea which immediately finds favor with the entire group. We arrive about 3, climb the steep road up the hill and storm the castle. :) Okay, possibly what really happens is that Rick asks nicely, and they let us in, while we made jokes about storming the castle and contemplate the difficulty of getting a siege engine up that hill while dressed in armor.
After a brief wait we tour the castle. Reifenstein is a rare castle that still has bits of wooden ramparts. We see the salt store and the grain store. The kitchen has an impressive layer of accumulated soot. Beds in the cellar resemble wooden crates and 14 people would have slept in them -- sitting up. We see the room that has a key guide for a tipsy lord; it takes the key right to the hole. One room has the remains of a fresco of two women. A fancier green room was painted in 1498. There's a dungeon, 15 feet down. And there's a tower for a place of final refuge. In medieval times it would have housed about 40 people, including the family, a defensive force, and a few servants. We are not allowed to take photos inside, so I only have exterior shots and my souvenir ticket, but what a unique experience! I've never seen anything like this before.
We continue on to Castelrotto, arriving about 5:30, and check in to the hotel. This leaves plenty of time for a walk around town before dinner. For dinner we have a wonderful rack of lamb and venison. I haven't seen venison on a menu before on this trip.
View from the Cavallino D'Oro
Venison for dinner
We finish the evening with a stroll up the hill and are treated to the amazing view pictured at the top of this page!
A view of Castelrotto