Hallstatt
Hallstatt is beautiful and interesting town in Upper Austria. It is located on the southwest coast of the same name near Lake Hallstatt - Dachstein in Salzkammergut. Hallstatt is located about 50 km from Salzburg and about 210 km from Graz. If you go east, you can see three smaller lakes - Altausseer See, Toplitzsee and Grundlsee. North of the town remains Bad Ischl. Hallstatt can be reached by water. There is also a road, but it is much longer.
Hallstatt is a small town - can be gone around in about half an hour, but that does not mean that there is not much to see. The beauty of the place comes from both natural terrain and the amazing atmosphere that reigns here. Hallstatt offers excellent conditions for eco-tourism, cultural tourism and skiing. In 1996, Hallstatt is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hallstatt is surrounded by steep slopes and extremely beautiful mountain regions of the Alpine Dachstein. By the 19th century, the city could be reached only by water. The town has a more than 1200 year story, and nearly 7000 years back, salt is extracted and processed. No wonder that in Hallstatt is the oldest in the world salt mine. The waters of the lake in January accumulate along the mountain and so over time it became one of the regions with the highest salt content - 26%.
Salt mines kept mining equipment and transport material from one time and you can see the longest wooden slide in the world, which is accessible to tourists. In 1734, in one of the salt deposits, was found perfectly preserved body of a prehistoric miner, from about 300 BC. Hence the title of the area known as the Austrian man in salt.
It became a common name for the whole region and is eternally alive in a sort of spirit that accompanies visitors on their journey. Several years before the opening of "Man in Salt" in 1719, close to Hallstatt, in the region Saltskamergut is open the "Gallery Christina" the oldest salt mine in the world, named after the mother of Maria Theresa - Christina Elizabeth.
The entrance is reached by a small wagon railway, which begins at the gallery itself. It is 12 levels deep, about 200 meters into the mountain, but only 7 of them are open to tourists. The temperature here is absolutely natural - 8 degrees Celsius and the humidity is 65%. Each of the guests gets special equipment.
Once a commitment in the sacrament of extracting salt is made and you climb up to the last level, the exit is only one - the already mentioned 64-foot slide (Edlersberg), in which you can develop a speed of 30 km / h, detected by a specially fitted radar, and then to the exit - with the train.
An interesting landmark in Hallstatt are the ice cave and mammoth cave, which are part of the third largest glacier in the world. They are located at 1586 m altitude and can be reached by a lift, followed by 15 minutes steep climb on foot to the entrance.
From 1913 onwards, caves near Hallstatt are available for visitors, but they can see beautiful ice sculptures and domes. Created by nature itself, without the intervention of human hands, among them you can recognize the figures of a girl, animals and many others.
Another landmark of Hallstatt is called the Glacier garden, which is located in the valley Ehern. In 1926 the glacier is open to tourists. This is actually the highest part of the Dachstein massif. Rope lift helps you to reach the 2740 meters, where from the solid glass platform is a breathtaking panoramic view of the Alpine glacier.
Here is a palace of ice, open a few years ago, which takes visitors into the glacier. All figures in the palace are made of ice, and among them are characters from the Ice Age animation production figure of the great composer Joseph Haydn. In this landmark Hallstatt is a restaurant - panorama.
Among the notable places in Hallstatt are the City Museum, housed in the oldest building in Hallstatt (14th century). The prehistoric necropolis is one of the most important places for burials in ancient times, opened in 1846.
Interesting in Hallstatt are the Catholic church and cemetery- dating from 1181. They are a symbol of Hallstatt, respected and loved by all noble and wealthy miners from Salzburg.
