A to Z of Balconies – Hallstatt in Austria

In 2007 we took a train ride from Salzburg to the nearby village of Hallstatt. I liked it immediately. The village was thoroughly charming and I was straight away prepared to accept its claim of being the most attractive village in Austria

The village is set on piles driven into the lake with an intricate system of intersecting timber ramps, butresses and ascending terraces like hanging gardens creating an air of mystery and the eeriness of mirage, a village that seems to be almost lost in the middle-mist of folklore and fable. The mountain flanks rise sheer from the lake, leaving no room for a road and all but the smallest of vehicles are prohibited from entering the centre of the village.

We walked through streets with houses sometimes built into the mountain, sometimes hanging on to the mountain and at other times on top of the mountain and on the other side they were built right up to the edge of the lake.

Riga, Jurmala by Train

Not one of the World’s great train journeys.

We have been to Jūrmala both by mini-bus and by taxi before but this time we decided to travel by train.  Thankfully this only involved a journey of about thirty minutes or so because take it from me – this was not the Orient Express and certainly not one of the great railway journeys of the world.

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