Fulseck Dorfgastein

A walk of 3 KMs from the Bus Stop brought us to the Cable Car taking people to Fulseck. The 4 KM climb to 7000 ft is covered in 2 stages in 6 minutes. After roaming around on the mountain top in the chilling breeze for 1 hour we felt we had earned ourselves a hearty lunch and proceeded to order one each at the Montain Top Restaurant. The lunch consisted of a foot long sausage , a good 2 inches in dia and equally big piece of bread. With some effort the meal was finished,rounded off with Eskimo Ice Cream. Somehow the logo of Eskimo was very close to that of our our Walls ice cream.

We visited the mirror lake, but could not figure out why it was called so. In the Ski season the water of the Mirror lake is used to manufacture artificial snow which is showered on to the Ski Tracks to ensure a good skiing experience for the tourists.

We took the Cable Car back to the valley and thereafter the Postbus took us to Bad Gastein. The people all around were excited and frequently looking up a the dark clouds which were beginning to cover the mountain tops. We asked and were informed by the girl at the Hotel Reception that the seasons first snowfall was expected that night. Our excitement also shot up upon hearing this and we quickly reconfirmed the same from the Weather Channel on the internet. The air was getting chilled and the walk to the Chinese Restaurant , later that night was quite chilling-literally and figuratively.                                                                       

Dorfgastein

We boarded the  PostBus from the Bahnof, purchased our discounted tickets using the Gastein card and were on our way to Dorfgastein.  Dorfgastein is another part of Gastein area where there is a  medieval castile/fortress the kind which used to dot Europe in the middle ages. A visit to the castle does give an idea about the kind of life in the middle ages. There are some wonder full Ski Slopes with a Mirror Lake and Fulseck mountain top or hiking in Summer and Skiing  when there is snow. It is again an Alpine valley town devoted to tourism and Ski Sports.

After getting off from the bus there was a 2KM walk with a stiff gradient to Klammstein castle. The owner purchased the Klammstein castle and converted the same into a tourist destination. At the same time the interiors have been maintained as close as possible to the original although there is a good restaurant in the lawns surrounding the Castle. The owner is extremely enthusiastic about his Fortress and  on the slightest encouragement launches into a detailed  colorful description of the articles inside the 4 floors of the fortress. In German. But the pantomine accompanying the monologue is quite graphic and one can have fairly good idea. There was a box with VI  Ghast written on that. We thought there was a ghost inside the box. The enthusiastic guide told us to look inside the box. With apprehension we opened the box and found a mirror inside which showed our faces. It was indeed amusing becoming ghosts in Klammstein because somehow  the whole atmosphere was such. Later on we found out that Ghast means Very Important Guest and not Very Important Ghost. We could not find any toilets on any floor of the Fortress.

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