SALZKAMMERGUT
Salzkammergut TIPS
On Gosausee, you are treated to marvelous views of Dachstein glacier.
Gmunden
Located on the shores of the Traunsee, with a delightful lake promenade. The center of the salt trade until 1850; Salt-Trade Museum located in the former administrative building. Famous as a ceramics town; Town hall with beautiful Renaissance façade( 16 th cent.), ceramic glockenspiel manufactured by the famous MEISSEN company incl. décor by Gmunden’ s own ceramics works. One of only 19 porcelain glockenspiels world-wide. The square outside the town hall opens towards the lake. Parish church( 15 th cent.), with its“ Three Kings” altarpiece by Thomas Schwanthaler. Famous Orth Castle( 17 th Cent.), connected by a 130 m-long wooden bridge to an island with a late- Gothic chapel and pergola.
Traunkirchen
Picturesque town on a peninsular jutting out into the Traunsee. Located on a rock promontory is the Baroque church( 1634, with its famous carved wooden“ Fishermen’ s Pulpit” from 1753).
Bad Ischl
The Imperial Villa was the summer residence of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Housed in the Imperial Park’ s marble teahouse( built for the Empress Elisabeth), there is now a photo museum. Operetta fans should definitely visit the Lehár Villa. Operetta Weeks are in July and August. Salt mine; and the Museum of Transportation & Technology is simply fascinating!
Hallstatt
7,000-year-old salt town. Picturesque setting on a steep hillside on the lake shore. Hallstatt Period graves dating from 800-400 BC( the most important finds are now housed in the World Heritage Museum in Hallstatt). These finds gave an entire period of the Late Iron Age its name. Gothic parish church, with one of the most beautiful late-Gothic carved altars in Austria( winged altarpiece from the Pacher School) and charnel house. Because the cemetery is too small, the deceased are later disinterred. Bones and skulls are kept in the charnel house, some beautifully painted and identified. Ride the cable lift to reach the ancient burial sites and the entrance to the world’ s oldest salt mine.
GOSAU LAKES
The peaks and glaciers of the Hoher Dachstein are reflected in the lower Gosausee; overwhelming view of the Dachstein and the Gosau glacier. Walk: Footpath round lower Gosausee, approx. 2.5 hours – or to upper Gosausee( 1,154 m).
THE ATTERSEE
Spanning 47 km ², it is the largest lake in the Salzkammergut; 20 km long, up to 3 km wide, deepest point: 176 m. Popular bathing lake, wonderful panorama. Pleasure cruisers( Attersee-Schifffahrt) connect Schörfling, Seewalchen, Attersee, Nussdorf, Unterach, Steinback and Weyregg. Baroque parish and pilgrimage church“ Maria Attersee” in the village of Attersee. Reiserbauermühle( mill) in Nussdorf. Local history museum( pilehouse collection) in Vöcklabruck, Roman finds