The Austrian Lakes

I have no particular plans in visiting Austria. It is just a path between the Czech Republic and Italy. However, my chosen route passes along some of the many lakes which dot the country.

I start in the town of Gmunden which lies at the northern end of Lake Traunsee. Once through the modern, industrialised area, I find the older centre and park up near to the Land Schloss and Lake Schloss, two castles. The Land Schloss seems to have become a commune with clothes drying from the windows and music wafting out from the apartments. The Lake Schloss is the dramatic partner, built on a small island with a long, narrow, wooden bridge providing access from the mainland. During the summer months it is also possible to arrive by boat and the castle is a popular destination for weddings. It has also been used for the filming of popular Austrian TV series ‘Schlosshotel Orth’ since 1996.

A long, lakeside esplanade brings me to the main square, dominated by the town hall and its Meissen ceramic bells, the only ones in Austria. There is supposedly a unique ceramic fountain too, but I fail to locate it. Everyone is out enjoying the fine weather and I’m tempted to join them at one of the expensive restaurant terraces but I end up having a cheap picnic lunch on one of the many lakeside benches instead.

Halfway down the lake I stop at Traunkirchen, a tiny village nestled on a promontory. I want to visit the church but there is a service going on, so I follow a path which winds around a tall rocky outcrop to the small chapel perched on the top. I expect to find it closed but someone has already climbed up before me and opened it.

 

At the southern end of the lake is the town of Ebensee. I think it will be huddled around the lake edge but instead it snakes its way up a valley where a cable car stretches up to the mountain peak. Unfortunately, I’m a day late to ride it but I do find one of the many paths which contour around the slopes, through the forest, and have a pleasant walk back down to the lakeshore.

 

 

I continue south to Hallstattsee and one of the top sites in Austria, according to Trip Advisor. I already know that parking will be impossible and expensive but I want to see what all the fuss is about so I take the side road which tightly hugs the space between the cliffs and the water. I don’t get to see much of Hallstatt as the road is diverted through a tunnel and, as predicted, there’s no hope of stopping anywhere close. Buses and motorhomes must continue another 2.5 kms along the lake and pay €15 for a muddy, desolate car park. A little further on I find a nice layby with picnic tables and distant views back to the town. Although it looks pretty I expect it is very commercial and very crowded.

Further south, the similar sized lake of Millstattersee is a calm and inviting place. I’m able to park in the centre and investigate the abbey. There is a lovely walk, following the way of the cross, up to a small chapel overlooking the lake. The edge of the lake is lined with bars, cafes, restaurants, hotels and spas which are all very tempting. There’s also a very high diving platform, built in 1931 by Christof Benedikt and now a listed structure.

I overnight in a town close to the lake with the unfortunate name of Spittal. In German this actually means hospital and I’m parked quite close to the modern one. The ancient spittal is now a technical college.

In the centre of town there is a lovely park and the old Castle Porcia. Next to it a small fresh food market is set up and rather spoiling the scene are several huge TV trucks where ‘Good Morning Austria’ are broadcasting live from the town. The locals seem quite excited about it, having photos taken with the hosts and crowding around the cameras hoping for their five minutes of fame. But I have no time for celebrities as Italy is calling me.

 

 

The Stairs of Death – KZ Mauthausen

For some reason I seem to keep passing former Nazi concentration camps and each time I see the sign KZ, I am compelled to go in and try to understand how this sad period in our European history occurred and also learn about the people who suffered and often died within the walls.

Mauthausen, like Le Struthof in France, was established above a quarry. Much of the stone was used in building the camp which has more of a fortress structure than either Le Struthof or Dachau. Prisoners were forced to carry the stone up a steep flight of steps called the ‘stairs of death’ due to the number of prisoners who died during this task. Others ended their lives by being pushed off the high cliffs at the so called ‘parachute jump’.

 

 

Like the other camps, Mauthausen had a small gas chamber and a crematorium where prisoners were regularly executed and disposed of. 190,000 prisoners from 40 different nations passed through the camp gates and at least 90,000 never left, having been worked to death, fatally tortured or executed. Records are difficult to find as many were destroyed by the Nazi SS before they left and stolen by prisoners as souvenirs or by locals who were embarrassed about the horrors which took place in their town.

According to the number of deaths, by nationality, listed on a stone plaque at the entrance gate, there were 17 British prisoners at Mauthausen and I want to learn more about them. There is nothing in the comprehensive museum exhibition but a helpful young man leads me through the ‘Room of Names’ and outside to an area behind the crematorium where a plaque lists the names of 40 Dutch and 7 British prisoners who were captured behind German lines and transferred to Mauthausen where they were executed on the 6^th and 7^th September 1944. The British men were mostly SOE wireless operators working with the local resistance.

Before I leave, I drive down to the quarry where I find another plaque at the foot of the ‘stairs of death’ dedicated to the 47 murdered men. What a horrible place to die.

Further south I come across one of the many satellite camps at Ebensee. Whereas Mauthausen was one of the first concentration camps to be opened to the public as a memorial to the victims in 1949, the camp at Ebensee lies hidden beneath a village which used the foundations of the prisoner huts on which to build houses and apartments. All that remains are the stone entrance gate and a small memorial garden on land that was used for mass graves. It seems strange that anyone would want to live in such a place but next to the memorial garden children are playing on the swings and filling their digger trucks with fallen autumn leaves.

Ebensee concentration camp was focussed on building 7.6 kms of tunnels in the adjacent mountains where fuel was produced and the A9/A10 rockets were developed. The camp is quite far from the main town which lies at the bottom of Lake Traunsee. I wonder if the tourists who visit to take boat trips or scale the mountains in the cable car realise what is just down the road.