Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . .

Friday, 7 June 2019

Mittenwald to Mondsee Austria

Friday 7^th June

What a contrast with the weather today.

Yesterday cool and cloudy, this morning lovely clear skies and warm sunshine lighting up the mountains and pastures surrounding Mittenwald.

I went to the village to take some photographs and noticed that the cable car was working, going to the top of Karwendel which is the mountain that rises steeply above Mittenwald.

This is German's second highest cable car and I knew the views would be amazing, so I couldn't resist.

I was indeed correct about the views, it felt like being on top of the world !

There was still quite a lot of snow around, I think the 18-19 winter produced a bumper amount and much is still on the peaks. There were a number of viewing areas that couldn't be accessed due to the snow.

Below are some photographs.

Next it was off to Mondsee which is in the Vocklabruck district east of Salzburg.

There is a cloister church in the town used for the wedding scenes in the Sound of Music so we'll go and find that later.

The journey here was a bit of a nightmare.

Google maps suggested it was two hours 39 minutes, which seemed quite a leisurely drive.

Except I think we got caught up in the Friday rush south out of Munich !

There were holdups on the German autobahn and the Austrian motorway around Salzburg.

Coupled to that, trying to find the correct place to buy a Go Box Grrrr (see below) got me quite worked up.

I queued at two service stations only to be told it was the service station further on I needed.

Eventually we arrived at our destination, the pretty little town of Mondsee with a lake of the same name.

Our parking for tonight is just the town general car park that appears on web sites as suitable for motorhomes to overnight.

It's free, quite, not overlooked and I don't think anyone will bother us here.

Best of all it's just a short walk into the town.

We`ve just returned from a walk around the town and down to the lake and it is a very smart little town. A little bit of Austrian perfection.

We found St Michael Basilica, the church in the Sound of Music. In fact it turns out we can see the tops of the two spires from where we`re parked.

There was a bit of a party going on down by the lake with a live band, and people enjoying the warm evening sunshine.

If only Austria was as easy as Germany for the visitors in motorhomes.

The road toll system in Austria for motorways is quite complicated.

No barriers or toll booths, here you have to stop at a service station near the border and if over 3500 kg, which I am, and therefore classed as HGV, you have to purchase a device called a dars Go Box.

This sits on your dashboard and when you pass overhead gantries it clicks to recognise your presence and a hand reaches into your bank account for cash !

Last year we managed to avoid all Austrian motorways so avoided any tolls here, but with going into Vienna I fear we have no option but to purchase this device.

It would have put quite a bit of time onto the journey avoiding motorways.

There are heafty on the spot penalties for those that try and avoid payment.

It remains to be seen how much it`s going to cost but I`m hopeful it will not be too expensive.

The Go Box is returned for a refund on leaving Austria from what I can gather.

We eventually got our Go box and off we went.

Sure enough every now and again it beeped as we passed a reader.

We paid 80 euro and I`m hoping that when we leave Austria we can return it to another service station for a refund of whatever we`ve not used, a good bit I`m hoping !

Tomorrow we head further east and hope to reach Vienna or Wien as the Austrians call it.

We`ll probably have a few days there chilling and enjoying the scenery.

Mittenwald in the sunshine

River Isar Mittenwald

Karwendel

Karwendel - a friendly bird, not sure what yet. Much bigger than a blackbird maybe some kind of Crow ?

Mittenwald from the cable car

You can see the Stellplatz where we`re parked, in the centre by the railway

Mittenwald from the cable car

I saw this car in Mondsee, never seen one before, then saw another three !
Some kind of amphibious craft I think

Mondsee Town

St Michael Basilica as in the Sound of Music

Mondsee Town

Mondsee

Mondsee some kind of festival going on

Mondsee Town

Mondsee Town and St Michael Basilica

Our route to Mondsee

Thursday, 6 June 2019

Walchensee to Mittenwald via Linderhoff Palace

Thursday 6^th June

This morning we set off early from our perfect spot on Walchensee and had Linderhoff Palace programmed into the Sat Nav.

It took about forty minutes, after a wrong turning. Sat Nav user error !

Linderhoff Palace is very small and very beautiful from the exterior and set in superb surroundings with mountains all around it.

It seems it is one of the few Castles King Ludwig ll actually finished in his life time and lived in for a few years. Having said that it seems he spent most of his time here living in a Morrocan style house in the grounds of the Palace.

Our English speaking guide was very much in awe of King Ludwig ll, telling us at every opportunity how handsome, virile and what a wonderful person he was.

The fact that he was a loner, completely bonkers and stone broke with massive debts was all glossed over !

Internally the Palace is all gold leaf and chandeliers, completely over the top.

But a great monument to a man who was clearly on a mission, had some big ideas and was intent on carrying out them out and building a lasting memorial for which I`m sure the Tourist Office of Bavaria are eternally grateful.

No photographs allowed inside.

Apparently there were many more castles planned that never got off the architects drawing board.

The ground are interesting and have some nice, but not spectacular gardens, it`s the views that take that honour.

It`s a pity the Venus Grotto was closed, and there was a builders skip in front of the Palace and a construction crane behind but never the less it was an enjoyable to spend a morning.

The weather today is completely different to the last few days, much cooler, cloud cover and the mountain peaks are hidden in the low cloud.

Quite welcome in some ways after the heat of recent.

After lunch we set off for the town of Mittenwald where we enjoyed an afternoon wandering the streets and looking in the shops.
I love the mountain stream running through the town.

We are parked tonight on the town Stellplatz (GPS 47.43752 11.26408) which is near the railway station but the trains are so quite I don`t think they will bother us, and they`ll probably stop running later.

Once again we share this site with mostly German and Dutch motorhomers.

So it`s very convenient, just a hundred yards up the road in the main high street.
All for a bargain 14 euro.

Rain threatened earlier but it never arrived.

Tomorrow we`ll set off east again in the direction of Vienna.