Two of our Viehhofen guests are part way through an adventurous tour of Europe that is due to last almost an entire year. They embarked on their journey at the end of 2017 and will be visiting some incredible properties and places along the way.
Stephen and Nigel set off from their Scottish home in October 2017 and from there were due to visit Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, the Algarve, the Dordogne, the islands of La Gomera and Lanzarote, before returning home to Scotland in September 2018.
You can read about the first leg of Stephen and Nigel’s journey on the St. Siméon blog page here.
We caught up with them around Christmas to see how the next stage of their journey had gone.
After starting off in Paris, they made their way over to Austria where they spent time in Vienna, Salzburg and Viehhofen. “Salzburg is a beautiful 1.5 hours by train from Zell am See and nearby Viehhofen”, explains Stephen. “It’s a wonderful city offering concerts, cathedrals, Mozart and much, much more.”
Is there anywhere they would particularly recommend to anyone interested in visiting Salzburg?
“Yes! The Sacher Hotel was lovely”. Located on the eastern bank of the Salzach, this beautiful, grand building is worth a visit for its popular café and famous Sacher cake. Drop in to Café Sacher to enjoy a traditional Austrian coffeehouse experience and a delicious homemade pastry or slice of cake. The Sacher Torte is one of the most famous cakes in the world; a type of chocolate cake invented in 1832 whose recipe remains a closely guarded secret.
Take a look at the hotel’s website here.
“There is also the Stadtkrug”, Stephen continues, “which can be found in the heart of the old town, and serves good highland beef”. This little establishment even has its own ranch, so you know exactly where the meat is coming from. If you fancy a wander, the Kapuzinerberg is a hill that backs the hotel, nice for stretching the legs.
Find out more about the Stadtkrug Hotel here.
Stephen and Nigel got the train from Salzburg to Zell am See and then a taxi to Viehhofen. But it’s just as easy to get the Hinterglemm bus, which stops right outside Zell am See station, up to Viehhofen. The train journey was easily done and a nice route, so it would be no hardship to do it in reverse for a day trip into Salzburg while you’re staying.
A brief stop-off at the Zeller See
“Once we were in Viehhofen we were excellently located for walks, snow and the local Getranke Horl!”, which is a little alcohol shop. “There were plenty of things to do; one day we had a brilliant ride up the mountains from the Zwolferkogel cable car station near Hinterglemm, and stopped for a good old-fashioned Austrian lunch at Winkler Alm at the halfway point on our way back down”. Winkler Alm is a nice little ski hut restaurant in Saalbach-Hinterglemm and makes a good stop-off point if you fancy a bite to eat while you’re out and about walking or skiing.
“During our four weeks at Viehhofen Elfie (the manager) and Grundi were brilliant and we were really well taken care of. The local bus service was great and we found a lot of local produce to cook while we were there”.
A very snowy scene from their window
They were impressed with the location itself and how easy day trips would be, not just to Salzburg, but also west to Innsbruck – the two-hour journey on the Regional Express was wonderfully scenic. If you fancy crossing the border, Munich is roughly two and a half hours away and well worth a visit. “If you have only one night in Munich then eat at ‘Wirsthaus in der Au’. But you must book!” (See the website here). And they arrived in the city just in time for the Christmas market, “Just wow! There’s so much around, it’s hard to fit it all in!”
So where next for our travellers?
Well, from the cold slopes of Austria, to the sunny coastline of Portugal’s Algarve! They were due to spend their Christmas down in Rocha Brava, and soak up some of Portugal’s sun for a couple of months. What a way to kick off the new year! We’ll be catching up with them in the next couple of months to find out about their next leg of the journey. You’ll be able to find the update over on Rocha Brava’s blog.
