ERT Day 5

European Road Trip Day 5

Tuesday 5 July 2022

Today when we woke up we were quite tired, especially Lukas. While Kim lay in bed and did some research for the upcoming days, Lukas got to sleep in a little bit. A quarter past nine Lukas was up and drove down to the closest gas station where we found a free toilet (🙂). We then went to buy some breakfast at a store. Today was a yoghurt and sandwiches day.

Next up was the main attraction of the day: Eisriesenwelt. Through tunnels, over tunnels and up mountains we went, winding our way higher and higher. In the distance we saw Hohenwerfen Castle situated on a smaller mountain in the mountains. But as we got higher, the castle decresead in size, and from staring up at it a few minutes earlier, we were now staring down it.

Hohenwerfen Castle

When we reached the parking it took us sometime to figure out how everything worked, but apparently if you didn't want to go up with the cable car, you had to buy your ticket at the cave entrance.

So we started walking. Past the other tourists that were just on their way to the cable car, and suddenly we were alone on a small trail that was winding up the steep mountain side. We walked. And walked. Took plenty of breaks and stopped to enjoy the view. The heat was sweltering.

Up among the clouds

1 h 40 min later we were back to the crowds again, and soon we reached the entrance of the cave and the temperatures quickly dropped at least 15 degrees, probably more. We started queueing and when we got the chance we also asked about paying since we had been told to pay here if we didn't take the cable car up. The guide was a bit stressed, so he told us to ask someone else. After asking around a bit we finally found one other guide who helped us with payment, and he also told us that we were the first ones today that hadn't taken the cable car up. And we probably were the last ones too.

We were handed some authentic old oil lamps and then we could head inside. Here it was even colder, around 0 degrees, so bringing down jackets was a good choice. The good thing with waiting a bit extra was that now we were first in line, so we could talk a bit with the guide while walking. The guide said that normally you're not allowed to take photos but he would allow us to do it this time when we were standing still. It was really amazing getting to see the sculptures of ice that had been created in the cave, and that also changes every year, growing with each season. The guide was using magnesium as a lamp, and was holding this close to the ice to get it to light up better than with a regular lamp.

Castle of Hymir

After the guided tour in the cave we shared a meal at the restaurant close to the top of the cable car before heading down again. A good idea so we wouldn't be hangry 😅

After a long (but not as long as going up) walk, we took the car and drove all the way to Gosau. Here we found a parking lot close to a glacier lake. Lukas made some tortellini with carbonara sauce on the kitchen, then went to take a bath in the super cold lake. Kim took a shower again from the car. It was not so warm either.

Start: Golling an der Salzach, Austria

End: Gosau, Austria

Via: Eisriesenwelt, Austria

Drive time: 1 h 39 min

Distance driven: 85 km

Toilet fees: €0

Parking fees: €0

Total drive time: 23 h 56 min

Total distance driven: 1 798 km