Exploring Bad Gastein - waterfalls, thermal spas and views.
My favourite way to travel now is by train and at any opportunity I am happy to just hop on a train and see where it takes us. Today we chose a town called “Bad Gastein” and it was 1.5 hours by train. Jessy was sick this weekend and Daniel just wanted to stay home so Ben and I put on as many thermals and layers as we could and headed off to explore the town.
It had been consistently snowing for the last few days and the town was covered in a blanket of snow. The skies were a vibrant blue and there was only the slightest breeze so the conditions were really pleasant.
If there is a mountain or a hill or any incline Ben will want to climb it, and I will happily follow and enjoy the amazing areas he finds but then I will also want to explore the town itself and the shops and try the food and drinks at the cafes and restaurants.
Today was that, we hopped off the train and usually there is an entrance or direction into the town but all we could see was the snow slopes, gondolas and alps. We walked around the town and then found a walk up the hill to a viewpoint and then came down had some snacks on the way and followed the signs to town saying wasserfall. I was picturing a smallish waterfall but right in the middle of town cascading down in 3 tiers over 350m in length was a beautiful waterfall framed in snow and icicles.
Unlike many waterfalls I have seen which are usually tucked away in the remote wilderness, this one flows right through the town, weaving under historic bridges and past charming buildings. We walked down to get to the bottom where we had a great vantage to see the waterfall up close and it is quite impressive and was in full flow.
We then walked through the town and took in the sights. There are thermal baths and steam rooms and saunas, however these are just like all the saunas I have found in Salzburg which require you to be very free and at ease with being surrounded by everyone in their birthday suits, they are naked saunas and from the age of 16 up you can visit these and partake in the freedom of no clothes. I wish I was game enough to try this but I’m just not quite ready to trade my swimsuit for total freedom.
It gets me thinking about the type of people who can embrace that level of nudity and the sense of liberation it must bring. Those who step into a sauna without hesitation must have such a comfort in their own skin, a kind of peaceful acceptance.. I can’t help but admire the courage it takes from this act of letting go.
Once I finished philosophising with Ben over the mindset to have naked saunas (which he would do and has done without hesitation) we moved on to exploring further. Many of the walking trails were closed but there were still so many other tracks and paths to take. Walking through it, we were constantly going up and down steps, ramps, and narrow lanes and coming out to a stunning view or a beautiful church or a cute cafe.
This hasn’t happened since we have been overseas but due to all the filming and photos we were taking both our phones ran out of battery pretty much at the same time. It felt so strange all of a sudden not to be connected or able to call the kids or access my cards (it just shows how attached I am to my phone). We wandered round a bit longer but it was now getting on 3pm so we thought we had better head back. We couldn’t look up the time the train was leaving so we just whinged it and walked to the station to get on the next train and we didn’t have to wait long.
The great think about the trains too is they provide charging points for your phone and we brought our charging chord with us so very shortly we both had battery life and all was well. They also have tables on many of the trains and comfortable large seats and they are always so lovely heated and you can also order snacks. What more could you want.
The section we sat in for some reason had a loud piercing ringing sound and it was excrutiating. I was looking around at all the other passengers and wondering if they were annoyed by it too but no one seemed phased. Then I thought perhaps it was just my seat so went for a walk and nope both train carriages had the sound. Ben pulled out his ear plugs from work which blocked it out completely however I endured it for 20 minutes then couldn’t deal with anymore. We grabbed our things and I was prepared to stand in the middle of the two carriages where they come apart and there is no wind protection instead of listening to the noise which felt like pure torture lol but we walked through into a whole other section and found not only was it silent but there was the most adorable private 6 person cabin that we could have. Ahhh bliss. We sat down and enjoyed the remainder of our train ride with sweet sweet silent harmony back to Salzburg.
