Bad Gastein - a little spa time

Our little place is in Bad Hofgastein, but just to the south, a one euro bus ride away, is the older town of Bad Gastein.
St Nicholas Church
It is right at the head of the valley and, like the waterfall that runs through it, Bad Gastein cascades down the mountain. Today, as well as being an historic spa resort its also very popular with us skiers. In former times the old Hapsburg Emperors like Franz Josef used to take the waters here along with Kaiser Wilhelm and Bismark. Some of the town looks very faded and jaded but there are plans to re-develop the central area. The main Stubnerkogel ski lift which I use quite often has been renewed this year and the town is quite lively and very popular with young Scandinavians.
I didn't like Bad Gastein much at first but its growing on me.
There's quite a bit of history, this church of St Nicholas is 14th century, the murals on the wall have faded quite a bit since they were painted in 1517!
Some of the streets were designed for mountain goats but todays walk, along the Kaiser Wilhelm Promenade took us around the mountain to a side valley called the Kotschachtal. This area has become a favoured destination. Where this valley starts there a very swanky Hotel complex called the Gruner Baum, we don't go there! Just before it there's a nice pub/restaurant 'Sonnschein' run by an Austrian and his Danish wife, we do go here. The speciality is a fish dish, bit of a Danish thing.
Once into the valley its a 1 hour 15 min walk alongside the stream to a restaurant at Prossau. For me, its a great bike ride first thing in the morning, for others its a fairly gentle uphill walk walk with a coffee or beer and a strudel waiting at the end.
Kotschachtal
In the winter the wife (TW) comes to the Kotschachtal on the bus for the beautiful cross-country skiing area.
As yet, we haven't even scratched the surface when it comes to summer walks in the area.

The scenery takes your breath away sometimes!

One of the questions people asked when we bought our place was 'won't you get fed up with going back to the same old place'. To be honest it was concern but in reality we like the place more each time, and because we come back we find new things to see and do every time.

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