Postcard from Bad Hofgastein in October

Like a coin the valley has two sides.

One side of the valley faces North East and has all the skiing. The mountain restaurants on that side are now closed and the lifts are taking a rest until December. The other South West facing side is more for the walkers and has some excellent cafes dotted around, all with sun terraces. You are never too far from an apple strudel!

The sun drops behind the mountain soon after 3pm if you are down in the valley. When it hides it's just like the fridge door has been opened. The light's on but theres a cool blast of air.

Up the South West hill there's an extra hour of solar warmth.

School time is definitely rush hour. They start at eight in the morning and the streets are swarming with older kids on bikes and the younger kids carrying multi-coloured back-packs. Don't see any parental school runs and less Chelsea tractors than you see at home which is bizarre when you consider the relative terrains. The kids seem quite happy jumping off the buses from the local farms and hamlets. Much of the town is pedestrianised so morning trips to get fresh bread can be a bit hazardous as they tend to swarm in groups across the streets. Good excuse for going out later!

There is a big tourism college in town, students come from all over the region. Tourism is a major industry and working in a hotel or in catering is seen as a proper job and people get trained. They seem a happy, lively lot anyway.

As for the weather, its been a lot brighter of late and good for cycling. No problem staying warm on the ascents but need to wrap up for the downhill. It takes so long getting to the top of the hill but then a fraction of the time to get to the bottom even with the brakes on. Did my own personal Mont Ventoux, not nearly as steep or as long as the real thing, only up to 1200m, but a regular challenge as its a climb all the way.

Bad Hofgastein beat local rivals Radstadt 6 – 2 so that was good. Football looks to be a decent standard and is played on Astroturf. A crowd of about 100 saw the match from the touchline, no stands yet.

Sauna you than me

Across the road from us is the Palace Hotel which is pretty convenient because we can use their indoor tennis courts and their swimming and sauna area. The Hotel might be considered to be a bit dated, I think if you were building a hotel today in the style of the 70's and 80's this hostelry would give some creative inspiration. Bring back those Formica Years! It seems popular all year, the car park is always full with Austrian and German plates. Probably the buffet dinner, with beer and wine included, is a success factor. Need to be quick off the mark before all the puds disappear though!
They seem to have a formula that works and know their customers.
For example, the sign telling people not to reserve sun loungers is only in German. The sign telling people not to wear swimming costumes in the sauna is only in English and Italian.
Modesty must be language specific.

One feature of the Austrian Sauna to be wary of is the Aufguss. This is where one of the victims, or the attendant, pours water on the stones and then waves a towel like a demented football supporter to direct the super-heated steam to the furthest corners of the wooden box. If you know Aufguss is coming you have the opportunity to beat a swift retreat. If you are caught unawares its a brave man or woman who tries to open the door and escape during an Aufguss. Imagine your welcome to Hell - a fire breathing dragon burning the flesh from your back, yes that's Aufguss. Still might be favoured over the abuse you'll get if you try and leave in the middle though!
Anyway, the sauna visit brings to mind the old joke – two old colonial types are sitting in their club when an elderly woman 'streaks' through the lounge. One old boy says to the other, “what on earth did she have on?”. “No idea old boy, but it needed ironing!”

The swimming pool gave me a first, Aqua Aerobics! I was happily honing my new found swimming skills when we failed to notice a fitness instructor had landed and all the residents were getting ready for their afternoon session. The pool steps had been blocked, there was no escape! “You vill exercise now”. Being severely uncoordinated this was a bit of a concern however 1.5m water hid my lack of balance and timing and I survived the 30 mins without too many reprimands and I don't think I injured anyone.
The swimming and sauna costs 9 Euro each and the tennis is 12 Euro for the court.

Postcard from Dorfgastein in October 2009

Dorfgastein is the smallest and arguably the prettiest of the three towns in the valley. Its certainly the most rural. There's a distinct farmyard smell about the place. Many of the visitors here are Dutch for some reason, there's a joke there somewhere. It has excellent ski runs and links to Grossarl in the neighbouring valley. The ski area doesn't link to Bad Hofgastein but there's a free bus down the Valley in Winter that takes about 15 minutes..
In summer its great for walking, the Gondola normally runs every half-hour. For bikers and there is a smooth and easy cycle ride, mainly off-road, from Bad Hofgastein to Dorfgastein and back.

The pins are definitely stiffening up after all the walking we have been doing! Nothing like walking downhill to make the legs ache.

Trachtenmusikapelle Bad Hofgastein

As we are now officially tight wads we are always on the look out for some free entertainment. This is one of the local bands putting on an Autumn concert in the Kursaal. There's a whole mix of ages in the band and they sound pretty good. The programme is mainly folksy with one or two Strauss standards. The difficult part to sit through is the long verbal preamble before each song given by one of the members. Also, before the concert started, we had a lengthy introduction of all the local worthies in the audience, people like the Burgemeister. So it's a big relief when the band finally strikes up. Its probably a clever ploy, nobody cares about a few duff notes after all the waffle.

A Gold miners lunch!

Traditional lunch-time fare here is Tyroler Grostl. It consists of chopped up ham, meat and potatoes with herbs all topped off with a fried egg – lovely.

Back in time, in the 15^th and 16^th century this was a big gold mining area. One of the local attractions is the Heilstollen which is a disused mine. I was told that it was dug in the early 40's when the 3rd Reich wanted some silver. The miners digging it felt as fit as fleas, they found good health but no precious metal. The high humidity and radon gas in the tunnels are alleged to be great for giving relief from respiratory complaints, arthritis and rheumatism. Apparently you go into the tunnels on a old mining railway. Its a really big operation and includes a medical centre. You have to have a medical before they will let you down there though. Some of the older people swear by Radon treatments, including our next but one neighbour who is in her eighties and still plays golf. I suppose when you get to her age its too late to bother about any possibly nasty side effects.

Bad Hofgastein – a Polar Expedition

A few of our ski lifts run in summer to get walkers and families to
the top of the mountain without too much effort. Once at the top, over 2000m, walks radiate in all directions and have varying degrees of difficulty, marked blue, red and black. Some of todays punters were quite happy sauntering around or having snowball fights or sitting on the sunny terrace with a beer and a strudel. Anyway, we set off on a walk down to the middle station. Its a bit late in the season so some of the mountain huts (Alms) are closed so we could not plan a route with nice lunch spot. Many of the farms in the valley take their cows up the hill to the summer pastures and a nice sideline is to open the Alm to serve beer and simple food like bread and cheese or ham. The weather has been bitterly cold the last few days so if the cows have any sense they have all scuttled down the mountain with their herders to a nice cosy barn!
The Hofgasteiner Haus was open but we decided to save that for another day. The Haus is a good ski coffee stop and will accommodate about 60 people overnight. It gets fully booked in winter and is good value at around 35 Euros half-board! Luggage is delivered on a piste basher as it stands alone at 1900m overlooking the valley. You get to see the sunrise in the morning, the stars at night and, of course, you beat the lift queues. Its more hostel than hotel and not for the chalet fraternity but we like it.
Today was cold but without a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. The snow was dry and crisp and every footfall brought that nice squanching sound that we rarely get with our UK slush.

With snow about a foot deep it could have been hard work but the snow was so light and powdery it was surprisingly easy walking. It took about 3 hrs, including our half hour lunch stop sitting on a rock eating marmalade sandwiches. Our rock was at the junction of one of the busiest winter ski runs but today not a soul could be seen and hardly a sound could be heard.
By 3pm we were back in the town, a youth football match was being fought out on the football pitch and people were sitting on park benches enjoying the autumn sunshine. No doubt the golf up the road was in full swing.

At home our balcony was still in the sun so sat and had a nice cold beer and watched the sun behind the mountain - cheers! A one-off ride on the lifts can be quite pricey but a 5 day pass costs about 10 euros a day which is fair value on a day like today. It opened up a winter wonderland of virgin snow and peace and tranquility. A Polar expedition just a 30 minute ride away.

Home and Away

Marlow on Thames

Making use of the latest Zizzi voucher for a farewell meal.

Bad Hofgstein Oct 2009

Wherever I hang my hat - 0n the balcony. I think winters come early to the Alps, warming up midweek though.