2018 Zomervakantie Day 3 – Lichtenstein castle and the Austrian Alps

This is post is part of our 2018 Zomervakantie – for an overview of the whole two weeks, visit: https://dutchaustralian.com/2018/08/15/2018-zomervakantie/

We left our apartment this morning and before heading for Austria, went to check out another nearby castle, Schloss Lichtenstein. I had actually never heard of it, but it’s lovely! In fact people may confuse it for the more famous Neuschwanstein, which we are visiting tomorrow. Arriving quite early, we bought a ticket just for the grounds. If I ever return, I’d like to see inside this castle as well.

This was a designated travel day though, so we pile back into the car to head for Austria! We laughed at some of the place names along the way – my personal favourite was Gogglingen. Again, the girls pleasantly surprised us by being great travellers. Bas had first done a bakery stop so we had food along the way!

Then, we entered the “Tirol” region in Austria. We noticed they were actually doing border checks in the opposite direction and there were long queues of cars. In our direction, things were clear, and Bas had done some great research to even be able to take a parrallel road to the main highway that was even quicker.

We arrived in the beautiful Austrian Alps accommodation a little early at 1pm – check in wasn’t until 2pm and they were still cleaning.So we drove for around another 20 minutes, passing another castle along the way with a long suspension bridge that I would have liked to try, but no way was one of our children doing that she said!

More amazing research by Bas, we went to a lake he knew was nearby, where the girls had a wonderful time snorkelling for a couple of hours. Bas also swam and I read a book in the shade and just took in this stunningly beautiful location.

Back to check into the lodge, which is very spacious. Popular as a ski lodge in winter, and for hikers in the summer, it’s a charming old-fashioned Alpine apartment at a reasonable price of around 120 euros a night.

Look at this amazing view, where I could finish my medieval book, with castles on the mountaintops in the distance!

Bas and I enjoyed a drink on the balcony, I tried some Schnapps tasters but could only handle small sips, even with these tiny bottles – these things are 40% alcohol!

We’ve found that our accommodation so far in Germany and Austria has had beer glasses in the cupboard as standard! ;). He tried a local beer, and see below for the amusement of having whole kegs in the supermarket!

Isabella has taken a real interest in my DSLR camera and it’s been fun teaching her to use it, she was keen to try it out on the colourful local gardens. A short walk took us to a lovely view over the village where we are staying.

We’re here for 3 nights and it’s a lovely, peaceful place! Some noise from other tourists, but not too bad. Disappointing that the man downstairs seems to chain smoke, which drifts to our balcony, polluting this gorgeous pure mountain air! Apart from that though, this is a wonderful place to stay and looking forward to spending a few days here.