Day 17 - Ice Caves & Schloss Hellbrunn

Today we got up at 5.00am! We were on a mission to get to Eisriesenwelt - the biggest ice caves in the world. We wanted to be the first ones there as we had read that the lines can get very busy with lots of waiting time.

We quickly got ready and then walked about half an hour to get to the train station. From here we caught a train to Werfen. Once again, it was another beautiful train ride.

At Werfen, Johnny met us so he could come too. Sadly, Sam had to work. We then waited about half an hour for the bus to arrive at 8.18 to take us to the ice caves.

On the bus trip, we had the most beautiful view of Hohenwerfen Castle. It is set up on a hill overlooking Werfen, and it looks like something out of a fairy tale! Imagine being the person who saw a big hill and was like ‘I want my castle there!’

We arrived at Eisriesenwelt, quickly bought tickets and then started the steep climb up towards the gondola. Part of the walk included walking through a tunnel which the girls though was so exciting!!

Even though it was meant to be cold, we were all sweating by the time we got there. We managed to just get there in time and we squeezed onto the gondola (literally squeezed, I think most people couldn’t breathe) and started our ascent.

At the top, the climb was not over! We had to keep walking up and up - after all, we had to get to an elevation of 1656 metres. The climb wouldn’t have been so bad, except Ali was carrying Titus in the pack, Auke and Johnny had backpacks, and eventually Auke and Johnny also had the girls on their shoulders.

Finally we reached the entrance of the ice caves. We all stopped to put on gloves, beanies, coats etc.

The tour guide told us we had one minute to be ready before he went in and we would have to join the next group so we rushed. As soon as we were ready, the tour guide gave every third or fourth person a lamp to take in as there is no lighting in the caves whatsoever.

He then explained to us that we have to walk 1400 steps in the ice caves, and that they are very cold, and no photos are to be taken. You can however download for free off their website, the photos of the ice caves - they just don’t want to ruin the experience as you would need a flash on for the photos to work.

He then opened the door to the ice caves and white air came pouring out with a huge gust of wind. It certainly set the mood for cold how the ice caves were going to be. We all walked through the door and the wind was so crazy that Mila got blown over, Lana lost her hat and Titus started screaming! As soon as you walk through the door there is no wind at all. Once the door was closed, the tour guide explained that cold air is very heavy, and warm air is light. When the door is opened, the cold air rushes out of the ice caves to get outside, while the warm air from outside tries to get in, causing it to be incredibly windy. He said on a very hot summers day, the wind can get to over 100 kms an hour when he opens the door.

We started the climb up into the ice caves. Straight from the very beginning you can see ice formations which look spectacular. The first thing we had to do was climb up approx 300 steps. This definitely warmed us up quickly. The tour guide would then stop and talk to us about the ice formation in front of us.

Words cannot describe how amazing they look! He explained that they constantly change. Every time they go back into the caves after winter they have no idea what they will look like. One particular formation was called ‘The Elephant’ but looked more like a shark as it had changed so much. The original staircase has disappeared into the ice and is so deep down (apparently 7 metres down) you can’t even see it anymore. Some of he hand rails are covered in ice too. He told us the ice in the caves has grown by 30 percent in the last 7 years.

Inside the caves, there is a little cross drawn onto the side to mark the place where the person who discovered the caves in the 1800s got to - he couldn’t go in any further as it was so steep and dangerous. He never got further than the first 200 metres into the cave but he published a report about the caves.

One of the people who read his report tried also to get into the caves in 1913 and started exhibitions there. He was killed in World War I and his last wish was to be buried inside the ice caves, so his urn is in the ice caves.

We climbed up another 400 steps to get to the highest point - 1656 metres high.

Once we had finished looking at all the beautiful ice, we started our descent. Much to the girls delight, we took a different path down and this path went right through the ice. We walked down a stair case where we were completely surrounded in ice on all sides. It really was amazing!

When we were about half way down the steps, we started seeing lights in the distance from other tour groups coming up. Eventually there were lots of lights as I think we passed another four tour groups. It was then that we really appreciated we were the first group of the day as when we walked through the caves they were completely dark and quiet and it felt like we were all alone inside a giant cave.

We wish everyone could see the caves in real life. The photos just don’t do it justice as they’ve obviously been taken with light and we saw it in the dark. These are some of the photos we were allowed to download from their website.

Auke snapped a photo looking out from where the entrance of the cave is. Johnny also snapped a quick family photo.

Once outside of the cave, we walked downwards until we got to a cafe. Here we all ordered apple strudel and some fries to share. The apple strudel was absolutely amazing, even better than the fancy restaurant we had been to two days beforehand!

We then walked to the gondola, caught it down, and then went back down the steep part we had come up. Our bus didn’t arrive for another half an hour, so we had a quick look through the gift shop.

Eventually our bus came and we all hopped on to go back to Werfen station - sadly we arrived TWO minutes too late for our train and we had to wait over an hour for the next train. This is at a station that is much like Carterton, with no food or cafes or anything except a small room to sit in.

By the time our train came, Titus was pretty upset. Thankfully Auke managed to settle him about ten minutes into the trip. Mila was so exhausted from all the walking, so she fell asleep on the way home.

Once back in Salzburg, we looked for a bus to take us to Hellbrunn Palace. Sam was going to catch the train in after work and meet us there. We managed to find the right bus and buy tickets, and Auke pulled out his phone where he showed me a new app he had - one that told you exactly when your bus stop was as we didn’t know when to press the stop button on the bus.

When the phone told us we were coming up to Hellbrunn, we pressed the button and got off the bus. Turns out we were in a random place which was ages away from Hellbrunn (great technology). We decided we would wait for the next bus so we waited about ten minutes and then all of a sudden Auke said his phone was telling him we were at the wrong bus stop and we actually had to walk somewhere else. So we all started following him up a random street and at that exact moment the bus we were waiting for went past the bus stop we were just waiting at (great technology). So we went back to the bus stop we were at and had to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus to get to Hellbrunn.

Finally we arrived at Hellbrunn Palace. We met Johnny here again and we all got an icecream. Ali was so excited to find they sold Toblerone icecreams here!!

We then explored some of the gardens, the lake, looked at the palace, and then found the gazebo from the Sound of Music.

After that we walked to the playground there which was huge! Ali looked after Titus and the luggage while Auke, Johnny and the kids all played.

Later on, Johnny left to go get Sam from the train station as her train had been delayed by nearly an hour. They then joined us back at the park for a while.

At around 5.30pm we had to leave because Titus was due for his next bottle at 6.00pm and we didn’t have any left with us as we had been out since 6.00am. Auke and Johnny took the car to go get some more formula, and Ali, Sam, and the kids went to take the bus to Old Town where we were going to meet up with them.

By this time Titus had totally lost it and screamed while we waited for the bus to come, the whole bus ride, and then also while we waited for them in Old Town. After about 50 minutes, finally Johnny and Auke arrived and all was right in the world again with Titus who was very happy to see his bottle.

After this, we headed to Cafe Mozart for dinner. It had mostly traditional Austrian food and was very nice!

When dinner was over we went to a nearby icecream place for dessert. Lana was excited to see they had a flavour called ‘pink’ and she said it was her favourite ever flavour. We walked back to our place where we said goodbye to Johnny and Sam. Along the way as we crossed the bridge, the sun was staring to set.

It was such a full on day we all crashed!