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In the hotel last night while surfing through the brochures about Salzburg neighborhoods I stumbled upon the Werfen Ice Caves and suddenly remembered that those were the caves I planned to visit 2 years ago, when unexpected snow changed our route and we missed those. It was just an hour drive south of Salzburg and we decided to go. The decision turned out to be the best spontaneous decision in this vacation.
Werfen is a small market town in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is mainly known for medieval Hohenwerfen Castle and the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, the largest in the world.
The castle looks magnificent, especially considering that as you approach the town and drive to the caves you get to see it from many different angles all of which provide a truly remarkable sight.
Having bought a ticket to the cave and a cable car taking you up to it, you have to walk 500m more up the hill to the cable car itself. Again, the walk is very picturesque.
The cable car takes you up the steep cliff a little bit...
The gallery, carved in stone led us up and up to the opening in the mountain - entrance to the caves.
On the way back I stopped for one more small photoshoot with local cows, which are everywhere in Alps.
In conclusion, I must say, Eisriesenwelt is a must-see if you love mountains and caves.
It made a grand finale of my trip to Alps this year, making a great impression and leaving me hungry for more.
Next and last stop of our trip was Munich and Freising - a small town near the airport, from where we planned to explore Munich and fly home.
- The route
- Day 1. Die Hängebrücke
- Day 2. Conquering two peaks
- Day 3. Glacier lakes and a small miracle
- Day 4. From the top of the mountain to the depth of the earth
- Day 5. Berchtesgaden. Rossfeld route. Malenwinkler rund.
- Day 6. Klagenfurt
- Day 7. Design city. Schwarzenegger's heritage.
- Day 8. South to North.
- Day 9-10. Up and down Danube river
- Day 11. St Wolfgangsee. 3 Berge, 3 Orte, 3 Steige.
- Day 12. Hellbrunn & Salzburg
In the hotel last night while surfing through the brochures about Salzburg neighborhoods I stumbled upon the Werfen Ice Caves and suddenly remembered that those were the caves I planned to visit 2 years ago, when unexpected snow changed our route and we missed those. It was just an hour drive south of Salzburg and we decided to go. The decision turned out to be the best spontaneous decision in this vacation.
Werfen is a small market town in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is mainly known for medieval Hohenwerfen Castle and the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, the largest in the world.
The castle looks magnificent, especially considering that as you approach the town and drive to the caves you get to see it from many different angles all of which provide a truly remarkable sight.
Getting to the cave is not a trivial task. First, you drive up the curvy mountain road and end up parking about 1500m above the sea level next to the ticket office, all the while being surrounded by magnificent and mighty mountains.
Having bought a ticket to the cave and a cable car taking you up to it, you have to walk 500m more up the hill to the cable car itself. Again, the walk is very picturesque.
The cable car takes you up the steep cliff a little bit...
... past the ominous stone faces of the Alps ...
... above the dangerous hiking trails (you can skip the cable car and take this trail below to get to the cave. It would take you 1.5 hours instead of 5 minutes by cable car. If you get there at all. The trail looked extremely dangerous to me).
At the end of the ride yet another walk awaits you, even more picturesque and amazing. I felt like I was in a movie. High Alps always make me feel very humble and powerful at the same time. It feels like I am seeing this beauty for the first time and I have never seen anything more beautiful than this. Every time I visit high Alps I feel it anew.
The gallery, carved in stone led us up and up to the opening in the mountain - entrance to the caves.
The cave is inside the Hochkogel mountain in the Tennengebirge section of the Alps. It is the largest ice cave in the world, extending more than 42 km into the mountain, with 1 km covered completely with ice. The cave was originally discovered in 1879 by Anton Posselt, a natural scientist from Salzburg. But he did not explore much. Alexander von Mörk, a speleologist from Salzburg was the one who explored it thoroughly and led several expeditions into the caves beginning in 1912. He was killed in WWI in 1914 and is buried inside the cave. Starting from 1920s the tours for explorers were offered in the cave. People came in the evening and stayed for the night in the hut, built specially for this purpose. Now there is a restaurant and cable car's upper station. In the morning they hiked up for 1.5 hours to get to the cave and spent there 6 to 8 hours, climbing on ice about a kilometer up and then a kilometer back down.
Today the tour takes slightly more than an hour, with narrow wooden stairs built on the ice for visitors: 700 steps up and 700 steps down, you make a strange and surreal journey in almost complete darkness, except for small open fire gas lamps given to the group at the entrance and a bright magnesium lights tour guides use.
After +30C outside, even with 4-5 layers of clothing the wet and cold (0C!) air inside the cave almost instantly penetrates you to the bone. On the entrance, due to 30 degrees difference in temperature there is a strong gust of wind, that seems to suck you into the cave and then suddenly subside as you step inside. The pictures are not allowed inside, so this is the only one made at the entrance, the rest are better seen in professional quality at the Eisriesenwelt site.
After the tour we stopped for lunch at the hut next to the cable car station. The birds (obviously, predators) were waiting for food at the tables and didn't hesitate to grab any pieces whenever offered (or eaters not looking...).
On the way back I stopped for one more small photoshoot with local cows, which are everywhere in Alps.
It made a grand finale of my trip to Alps this year, making a great impression and leaving me hungry for more.
Next and last stop of our trip was Munich and Freising - a small town near the airport, from where we planned to explore Munich and fly home.
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