I snuck out for an early morning walk while everyone was still asleep. I should be looking for a grocery but decided to look for the lake instead. We arrived at our lakeside village of Strobl late last night so we couldn't see it. Now that I've found the lake, the grocery can wait.
The stillness of the crystal clear water and the tall trees, the gentle chirping of birds in the distance, the hum from the cars passing by on the highway, the smell of log fires drifting from the village, the cool (but not freezing) crisp mountain air. As I sit on the shores of Lake Wolfgangsee in Austria, my senses are in overdrive, but in a good way. Not in the chaotic Marrakech kind of way, but in a calm, serene, peaceful kind of way. Not a soul in sight. I can hear myself think. It's pure bliss. Not to mention the playground on the foreshore and the clear water to splash about in (if it's warm enough) which I'm sure the kids will love and never want to leave. I wonder if this place has a good postal system?
We thought using this place as a base for visiting Salzburg would allow us to see both the city and Austrian countryside. Now I sit here and think we may never make it to Salzburg...or to our next planned stops in Germany!
On our way here, we had a glimpse of what this region has to offer at Lake Traunsee. We've been lucky enough to see so many beautiful places on this trip but the view of Lake Traunsee coming down the A1 from Vienna took our breath away. We had to stop.
Lush green foreshore, clear glassy water with a huge snow-capped mountain backdrop all seen through a filter of haze. It was as if I was looking at one of those huge wallpaper backdrops of stunning scenery. Even the photos I took looked slightly surreal. It's the kind of scenery you only see in movies - mainly because some location scout has trekked half way around the globe to find it and some cinematographer has made sure it appears picture-perfect on screen. Well, ok, we have trekked half way around the globe to get here too, but you know what I mean. It was right there, in all its raw natural beauty. No camera tricks.
Unfortunately the gates to the lake front were closed so we couldn't get to the water's edge. Maybe because it was late in the afternoon? Funnily enough the locals seemed oblivious to its beauty. At one point I was taking a photo of the lake through a closed gate. As soon as I left a lady went up to the same spot to take a look at what I was taking a picture of. Hello??!!
Further along the highway at Lake Traunsee Hubby spotted a roadside eatery with several people outside. What's happening there, we wondered. Pleased with the Lake Traunsee discovery we were feeling adventurous so we made a u-turn to find out. It was the most picturesque 'carinderia' (eatery) I've ever seen set between the highway on one side and the picturesque lake and mountain backdrop on the other. We ordered what others were having - fish and chips. But this wasn't your normal battered fish and chips. This was the whole fish served like they normally do in the Philippines. Yum! No guide book ever tells you about this kind of stuff, I thought. Hubby, Kat and I dug in. Bee and Mig just stared at the dead fish on the table. They couldn't get over seeing the fish like that and refused to eat it, despite repeated assurance from all of us that it was delicious. Note to self: kids clearly need more exposure to other kinds of fish dishes - not just filleted battered fish and fish fingers!
While the shore in front of me at Strobl isn't quite as picturesque as Lake Traunsee, I can't wait to explore the rest of this area, maybe even return to Lake Traunsee. Village church bells ring in the distance reminding me of the time. I'd better find that grocery before everyone wakes up hungry.
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