Hallstat (AUSTRIA) - It's chocolate, coated in chocolate, wrapped in chocolate

Hallstat (Austria)

13 September - 15 September 2015

No doubt, I was grateful that this would be the last stop on such 'bomb riddled' ride across the continent. Of course there had been highlights and of course there were moments of collective enjoyment, but the exercise of mandating active journeying for 'tick box' purposes made no sense, and neither did the active complaining. Still, Hallstat as the final destination was to be a real highlight.

Perhaps some 16-18 months earlier I had opened the travel section on a beautiful Sunday morning and come across Hallstat for the first time. A fairy tale like alpine village nestled between the Hallstater See and the Dachstein mountains. The Sydney Morning Herald had nominated it as one of their prettiest villages in Europe and hence is automatically made it onto the travel schedule that I had created for my parents as they traveled around Europe that year. I could not have imagined then all the changes that took place between that time and me arriving now. All the participants were the same except for me, I had replaced my father in this mission. Still, I'm glad that he had the opportunity to have seen it when he did.

Hallstat - Austria

Hallstat - Gmunden district - Upper Austria

Obertraun - Austria

Hallstat - Gmunden district - Upper Austria

Without question, this village is the epitome of cute, or sweet, or 'picture postcard' perfect. It has everything going right for it. Gorgeous scenery, picturesque architecture, a lovely cool climate, clean, crisp air. It's dream-like in Summer and I can only assume that Winter turs this place into something unearthly. It really is that impressive.

We actually took up residence in a town on the other side of the lake, a short drive from Hallstat, named Obertraun. Quaint in its on right but infuriatingly heedless, or unmindful, by way of their numbering system for commercial/residential premises. There literally is no rhyme or reason to the way they do it, No.2 stands next to No.47, No. 63 stands next to No.17.  There's no logic, no algorithm, no code that can comfortably distill what you have into something that you may safely utilise to find your way. What's more, asking for assistance will either get you blank looks or directions that are unlikely to be of any real use. Apparently the travel crew had encountered exactly the same mindless situation the year before, and hey presto, he we were giving it another whirl just for kicks.

 Hallstat - Austria

Hallstat - Gmunden district - Upper Austria

Hallstat - Austria

Hallstat - Austria

Another kick in the gonads was received whilst we checked in at the DORMIO RESORT in Obertraun. I wrote about this ridiculous situation on TripAdvisor, which you can also read about via this link SHOCKING BILLING PRACTICES - DORMIO RESORT (OBERTRAUN)

...the short of it being that a one night stay of 181 euros had a little 'cleaning fee' of 191 euros added to the bill, apparently 'fine print' which I had missed whilst making the reservation on booking.com. I've also seen that amount described by other people in the same situation has a 'Hallstat tourist tax' or some other fanciful name. Either way, completely bogus and shameful I have to say.

DO NOT STAY HERE! DORMIO RESORT - OBERTRAUN - AUSTRIA

Our days in Hallstat were pleasant, its hard not to appreciate a place as beautiful as this. Scenery and views in such abundance in the same sort of way that extremely attractive people somehow don't feel right to walk amongst the also-rans, they just feel so far removed from normal that they edge into uncomfortably abnormal territory - right! - you know what I mean.

An interesting attraction in that area are the salt mines, which have an estimated date of first utilisation sometime between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. Who knows, maybe I had some ancient ancestors that cruised this area for salt back in the day? Ancestry.com tells me that it's a possibility at least. 

Salzwelten - Hallstat - Austria

Hallstat - Austria

Hallstat - Austria

At the end of the day you go to Hallstat for a dose of beauty and perhaps a great schnitzel, if you do that then guaranteed you won't be disappointed.

Somewhere on the road in Serbia - motoring back to Belgrade

After a couple of days we finally turned the car south and heading back to Belgrade, what was to become my new home. This trip, mercifully, had come to an end, but new adventures were just starting to appear on the horizon, and boy, the 'holiday attack' fleet looked absolutely stacked. I really had no idea.

Interlacken (SWITZERLAND) - Far Ken

Interlacken (Switzerland)

12 September - 13 September 2015

Another day and another day on the road. Pointless, the whole trip was pointless and by this stage I had really gotten over the useless departure and arrival situations, the fact that we were simply driving for no reason and the endless bickering that was occurring in the car. Generally, the whole thing had become unpleasant and I'd much rather have just gone on my own, stopped where I wanted to, seen that places that I wanted to and not be bound to whatever agenda we were on.

Anyway, another early morning and we left Chamonix, bound now for Interlacken in Switzerland. I think this choice belong to Vladimir, perhaps he'd been there when he was younger, that amount I can only surmise.

One thing about Switzerland, 'Where are the masses of people that do the work to keep this place so darn neat, tidy and orderly?'. It's a little bit sick, and kind of weird. Everything has its place, everything is too perfect. Even firewood is stacked so perfectly that it makes you wonder how it was done, by whom and how long it took. The grass here was be genetically manufactured to look the colour that it does and to grow to the height it does. There are meadows of perfectly manicured grass that seems to just be, because from what I saw, there was nobody outside doing any work of any sort. No hoards of people cutting vast swathes of lawn or masses of cows chewing up these rolling hills. Sickening, odd and fascinating. Welcome to SWITZERLAND.

On the road - Switzerland

On the road - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Interlacken - Switzerland

Chamonix (FRANCE) - Snowriders

Chamonix (France)

10 September - 11 September 2015

Warren Miller's 1995 movie 'Snowriders'. That's when I discovered both Chamonix and the Counting Crows, it was also about that time that my passion for snowboarding was ignited. When I look back at that movie now it actually looks and feels like a movie made in the 90's - remember, this was before the era of the X-Games, before events such as 'Slopestyle' and 'Big Air' made backflips a compulsory part of the layman's run down a slope. What I hoped hadn't changed since that time was Chamonix. I was still hoping for a smallish village style resort at the base of some of the highest mountains in Europe, cobblestone streets, quaint French bistros, beautiful scenery and apres ski life (well, considering it was only early Autumn, just bar life). What i found, thankfully, was all of that.

...What we had to get through however was a 9 or 10 hour drive from San Sebastian to Chamonix. Why? I still don't know, I didn't make the rules for this trip but apparently that's what we had to do. I still can't figure out why the hell we needed to do so much driving, we weren't on a deadline.

We all endured the 9hr ride, for whose benefit I'm not sure. What I do remember however is that the scenery was impressive. Beautiful, imposing, almost regal style mountains overlooking the beautiful village/town of Chamonix. Absolutely picturesque and undoubtedly a stunning place to be once the Winter season was in full swing. You could just imagine how picture perfect this place would be at that time of year. I remember years ago there was a period of about a month when I'd put some serious planning together to make it here for a couple of weeks of snowboarding. Like a few of my trips over the last few years, sometimes life just intervenes and morphs your thoughts and desires into something else entirely. Never the less, here I was. In Chamonix after a wait of some 20 years. So to that I say, 'Alexa, play The Rain King by the Counting Crows'.

On the road - France

Yup - that reads 7.5hrs to go!  Somewhere in France

Chamonix - Mt Blanc - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonox - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - Aiguille du Midi - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

Chamonix - France

San Sebastian (SPAIN) - bite size sightseeing, pintxos style

San Sebastian (Spain)

09 September - 10 September 2015

San Sebastian is an incredible place to me. It has everything that you could want from a coastal destination, great beaches, a wonderful, quiet bay, beautiful scenery, the most bars per capita in Spain, Michelin star restaurants such as Mugaritz & Arzak, tapas galore and a gorgeous climate. Once again however, I seemed like the only one in that car that could understand what the rest of the world understood, that this place was (is) truly fantastic. I don't know whether it was too hot, people were too tired or just plain uninterested but there was no real impetus to have a look around and enjoy the place. This trip had become a perpetual frustration, and as I mentioned in my write up on Toledo, a true opportunity missed.

What you miss if you don't look around are the golden beaches, especially the long sweeping playa de la Concha which is the epicentre of the cities outdoor activities. Then there' the iconic Isla Santa Clara at the entrance to the bay which itself is framed by beautiful, lush mountains all around. On the other side of town you'll encounter your more 'rolling wave' type of scene with surfboards at playa Zurriola. For me however the real treat are the proliferation of tapas bars and the nature of the food they provide, there's just an abundance of all things wonderful that the trap is wanting to try everything and not really giving yourself the time to appreciate a few. Simply savouring the moment. That's the thing, limiting your time pushes you to limit your appreciation.

I'll come back to San Sebastian, of that I'm sure. Spain is one of those countries that is always at the forefront of my mind when it comes to travel, its just a shame that this time the stop was underdone and underwhelming through no fault of its own.

San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian - Spain

 San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian - Spain

Basque flag - San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian - Spain

Playa la Concha - San Sebastian - Spain

Toledo (SPAIN) - 'nearly'

Toledo (Spain) - Madrid (Spain)

08 September - 09 September 2015

Like so many places on this trip, Toledo was an opportunity missed.

I had heard that Toledo was the one time capital of Spain but I can't find anything that verifies that suspicion. I've found out that Toledo served as the capital of Castile intermittently, then I found that Charles I of Spain's court was in Toledo and served as the Imperial capital. Later on, the Spanish court was moved to Madrid. Still, this doesn't give me the green light to actually have called Toledo a country capital.

Going back further, apparently in the 7th century, the city 'emerged from relative obscurity to become the permanent governmental centre of the Visigothic monarchy', that was from 542 to 725 AD.. So, that appears to be 'something', but not quite the 'head honcho' that you'd expect of a prime city. Still later, a few years before the 1100's Toledo became the capital city of one of the richest Taifas of Al-Andalus, a taifa being an independent Muslim-ruled principality. So, a capital? Again, perhaps, but definitely not of Spain. 

Close but not quite close enough Toledo. 

Toledo - Spain

Toledo - Spain

 Toledo - Spain

Toledo - Spain

What Toledo loses in 'prestige', or what I would call prestige, it definitely makes up for in terms of aesthetic appeal. Dramatically set atop a gorge overlooking the Rio Tajo, the 'city of three cultures' has a magnificence that lives up to the extend of its hidden treasures to. It's a city that should command attention and should draw tourists from far and wide, and I guess, to an extent, it does that...but when it comes to two Elishers' and two Janic's, that didn't quite happen.

An opportunity missed. We entered Toledo and immediately my mum wanted to have lunch, and of course have a drink. Which we ended up doing. Then, for some reason, both my mum and my aunt wanted to do some souvenier shopping. I don't know, that kind of mentality just didn't and doesn't make a whole load of sense to me. I would imagine, and this is me calling it out aloud, that you would probably want to have a look around the place first before you starting arranging various keepsake's for your bathrooms.

 Toledo - Spain

Toledo - Spain

Toledo - Spain

What's more, we only gave ourselves a couple of hours here, most of which were absolutely turfed by lunch in a very ordinary restaurant and buying stupid stuff that I'm sure they totally forgot about a day or so later. And perhaps it sounds a bit harsh but the crux of the matter is that was the dichotomy between my cousin and I and my mother and aunt, the whole trip was pulled in competing directions due conflicting views, differing priorities and physical capacity to do things. From my end, as unfortunate as it sounds, a large part of the excursion sucked in the fact that opportunities to see and do something of the real important things in those cities were substituted for things like need to have a 'drink somewhere' or getting ready for bed at 7pm. Let me just say, I will never, ever do a trip with them of that nature again. I have other ideas for them, it would probably involve lounging around a pool and have the capacity to get up from the sun bench and make it to the bar - that would be the extent of that.

Madrid - Spain

Madrid - Spain

Puerta del Sol - Madrid - Spain

After a few hours in Toledo we headed back to Madrid for an evening pit-stop, and that's really all it was. My aunt and mum went to bed early again, probably around 8am, and Vladimir probably joined in an hour or so later, tired from the drive that he had done that day. I took the opportunity to head out and walk around the city myself. Something that I like to do, just walk about with no real purpose or direction. Sometimes it pays dividends, and other times, well, you benefit from the exercise. Either way, walking around Madrid is never, ever a bad thing.