Road-Trip Day 3

We awoke in Innsbruck at our “hotel” (that was actually student accommodation) and left as soon as we could, heading into town for breakfast. Expecting to have to use the horrible German I learnt at school, it turned out English was happily welcomed at the café terrace we found.

After breakfast, we started to explore the base of Hafelekarspitze, but didn't make it to the top because it was off-season. We had a wander around what seemed like suburban Innsbruck, and wound up heading into a Spar supermarket to grab some snacks and bottled water for the next leg of the journey.

The houses there looked like a mixture between holiday houses and those owned by locals, with many of them looking very expensive. It was a surprisingly hot morning, so hiking up some of the side streets with their steep inclines was quite an effort!

We hit the road, and followed ViaMichelin's advice by travelling north into Southern Germany to get back to the north of Austria. While in Germany, we stopped off at a Burger King in the middle of no-where for a quick lunch. We did think of going to Munich, but it would have meant losing a day and doing some back-tracking to return to Austria.

At Burger King we were served by a young German guy who was extremely proud to be able to serve us in English, possibly never doing it before. He took this to such an level where it sounded like he was quoting directly from the employee handbook; even when we'd handed him the money, he was still telling us the price and how much change we would receive and thanking us for choosing Burger King. The kid was literally beaming he was so happy!

Skipping past Salzburg completely (and hence avoiding any Sound of Music references), we arrived in Werfen in the afternoon.

On the way, we'd spotted so many castles upon hill-tops, we were keen to visit one. Overlooking Werfen on a small hill is Burg Hohenwerfen, a medieval castle with a long and dark history serving as a retreat for Salzburg's rulers, a hunting lodge (with a long history of Falconry), and even a prison. We walked up the hill and spent several hours looking around, and it's interesting how you can see over the centuries how the castle had been expanded and recycled into new uses.

We finally ventured into the village and found ourself a small Bed and Breakfast run by a really friendly old couple. If you're heading there, both Scott and I recommend you visit Haus Karin (☎ +43 (0) 6468 / 5400, ✉ haus-karin@sbg.at) for the night. When we arrived, it was already quite late, but we were lucky enough to find a suitable room.

We spent the night in the village, which is so neat and friendly it's quite lovely. I started to practise my German a little, and we settled into a restaurant on the main street for some decent food and several drinks.