Hallstatt Things to Do

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A lake, and immediately I think of water sports and fishing.
If this was Australia, my husband and I would be enjoying fishing like the couple in my photo, and also on the Lake water-skiing.
I found Kayaks, Boats and Paddle boats for hire, you can go sailing and swimming, even scuba driving in the Lake, and its 100metres deep!
A lake cruise is always beautiful in a setting like this, I wish it had been a sunny day and we would have done this, oh well, a reason to return!

This would be nice too..... Thursday nights in July and August, there is a CANDLELIGHT BOAT TRIP around the Hallstatt lake, wow! I would love to do that!

So you can see why Hallstatt is very popular. There is something here for the whole family to enjoy.

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Well, you really can't in Hallstatt, as the town is not very wide because of its lakeside location.
It is a good idea just to go where ever you feel like exploring. There are plenty of Museums, nice Churches, the Saltmines, waterfalls, and for me, the Austrian homes with their pretty flower boxes were a delight!
I browsed the souvenir shops, found some beautiful sketches, so one is now home on my wall.
The town square is lovely with a Fountain in the centre and Cafes, Hotels, Restaurants and beautiful buildings.
This is what I liked best about Hallstatt!

PS>>.... If you don't want to get lost, then take a GUIDED TOUR through town every Saturday from June to October!

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We had just been to the nearby Dachstein Caves and were heading to Hallstatt, when we came across a nice park and picnic ground by the lake. This was on the L547 from Winkl.
We pulled in and found from here, there were beaut views across the Lake to Hallstatt and the Mountains. It was worth the stop to view Hallstatt from a different angle.

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Salt Carrier monument was the first one we saw upon our arrival to this place.
You can see this monument to the salt culture not far from the parking lot in Seestrasse.
It reminds us of the times when salt was very important for the town and people used to extract it in the salt mines in the mountains.
This monument was the first thing we saw when we arrived to Hallstatt.

If you want to see a very special old custom, why not go to the Catholic Cathedral.
First of all, you will see a huge hall with two altars, the sculpture of Jesus and the Virgin and then you will be taken into the Charnel House that used to be traditional more than a hundred years ago.
The so-called Beinhaus (charnel house) in the yard of the Catholic parish church is very special.
It is full of painted and signed skulls and human bones.
Those are the ashes of the people that died in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The ashes had to be excavated and put in that house for want of land.
The town had and still has very little land area, that’s why there was such a strange custom.

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Maria Himmelfahrt (Mary Ascension) is the catholic church of Hallstatt and the more famous one. It sits on a hill above the village, a beautifully idyllic location. It is also called "Maria am Berg" (Mary at the mountain). It is of gothic style and was built in 1505. It has two naves with two different altars. During the course of history it changed between being catholic and protestant several times.

The "Hallstätter Marienaltar" (see pictures 3 and 4) is one of the most famous works of art in Austria. This altar is of gothic style as well and was created between 1510 and 1520. Most of it is gold-plated. It has four movable wings and thus is arranged differently at several times during the ecclesiastical year. It is ten and a half meters high and five meters wide and there are three different positions:

1. Christmas time: From advent until lent - the inner wings are closed and the altar displays the meeting of Anna, Mary's mother and her husband Joachim (after a legend from the 13th century), the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, the circumcision of Jesus and the Three Wise Men.

2. Lent: All wings are closed and the altar looks a lot more plain, there is no abundant decorum. The pictures show twelve year-old Jesus in the temple, the wedding in Kana, Jesus and Martha and the ascension of Christ.

3. Season: This position is only shown at special days as it is the most luxurious one, when all the wings are opened. The altar the shows Mary's birth, the Annunciation, Jesus in the temple, and Mary's death on the open wings, and Saint Catherine, Saint Barbara and Mary in the middle.

I must say that I personally was fascinated by the art work, but I did not find it that beautiful because all the gold and all the squiggles are just too much for me! The church itself I really loved, it is just like out of a story in this perfect location!

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Next to the church there is a beautiful cemetary. The graves are very small because at this location at the slopes of the mountain, there is not much space. It is nice to wander around the graves though, I like the iron-wrought crosses very much.

Because there is so little space, the dead people buried here are exhumed after twenty to thirty years. There bones are cleaned and the skulls are painted and the name and dates of the person written on them. Most are painted in a pretty folklore style. You can see the bones in the carnel - there are about sixhundred skulls and two thousand bones. They are displayed and arranged in groups by family. This is the biggest collection of skulls in the whole world and Hallstatt is the only place where the tradition of skull painting is still followed, although not by all inhabitants of the village. In the 19th century, it was done all around the Austrian alps.

The carnel is located in the groundfloor of St. Michaelskapelle, a small and pretty chapel from the 12th century. The first floor is the actual chapel and has a gthic glass painting and a baroque altar. Don’t forget to have a look here as well!

Sorry, I did not take any pictures of the carnel.

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Hallstatt's marketplace is located in the centre of the village, this is where the little streets and alleys meet. It is a cute place with an interesting fountain and plague column, surrounded by some shops and restaurants. There are some benches where you can sit down and have a rest. Just a lovely place!