Written by Them
Annaberg and Abtenau, Austria 20th -23rd December 2016
Annaberg and Abtenau, Austria 20th -23rd December 2016
As a special Honeymoon treat, we decided to book a couple of nights in a luxury chalet in the Austria Alps. Deciding against hiring a car for the duration of our stay, we felt the seclusion would force us into relaxing and recovering from the chaos of the wedding. We were not prepared for how comfortable the chalet would be or how breath taking the views, it turned out to be the most memorable experience of the entire honeymoon.
The Chalet from Heaven
| Although pretty pricey, Luxuslodge, a company run by Christine has three luxury chalets in the ski area of Annaberg Lungotz. The closest lift to the ski slopes is just 100 metres away. All of the chalets offer panoramic views of the Bischofsmutze and Dachstein massive mountains. In reality, the chalet was a home away from home. Better equipped than any property we’ve ever rented, the chalet was warm, comfortable and impossible to leave. Christine kindly agreed to show us around on arrival, she explained how to light the modern glass fireplace, how to keep the outdoor hot-tub at a cool 40C day and night. |  |
Christine explained that she had taken the liberty of filling the fridge with champagne, cold beer and Austrian groceries. A cake stand of homemade biscuits stood on the countertop beside the stocked nespresso machine. Having thanked Christine profusely and coyling pretending that we were used to all this luxury, we sat down to watch the sun over the mountain with a glass of wine in hand. After dark there’s not much to do in Dachstein West but Christine knew that and had thought of every eventuality. The TV had a DVD player, Xbox and most importantly Netflix (we may have watched the Gilmore girls!) and the kids room was fully stocked with board games!
Snow Shoeing
Okay, so we stayed in a dream Chalet, miles from a village or town, literally on the f..king mountain of an Austrian ski resort. You might think what else could one do in such a place but ski. Well, we are not ones to shy from a challenge as you know and we did in fact manage to entertain ourselves on a ski slope for two days (wait for it) without going skiing! Yep! impressed? We went...not like your other cliche tourists...for a walk.
 | We did encounter our own treacherous and perilous undertaking when we had to walk across the actual ski path to make it to the only pub on the mountain. We doned our thermals and our snow / hiking boots, our hats and gloves and we braved the wild outdoors, of this luxury Austria ski chalet resort. The sides of the roads were icy and slippery so it was enjoyable. We made our way to the side of the slope and watched locals literally fly down the ski slope. The kids in particular, were fearless as they launched themselves without sticks, off the slope clearing some 20 feet before zooming down the hill. |
We are Irish and there is probably something deep down within our psyche somewhere that allows us to seek out pubs no matter how remote and treat them like a home from home. We sat in a classic Bavarian style lodge, grabbed a couple of Weissbiers, a sausage with kraut, strudel for the lady and gazed out at the most spectacular white mountains you will ever see.
A quick snowball fight (she won) and it was back to the hot-tub to recover from our Tom Crean like snow walking expedition in honeymoon style. It’s a surreal experience to shed your clothes and walk through the snow to an outdoor hot tub but once inside you feel no cold. Feeling like royalty, we sat in the tub marveling in the scenery of forested slopes, snow peaked mountains and rocky outcrops. The chalet felt completely private, from our tub we couldn’t see any other homes nor were we overlooked by any other chalets. It was perfect. Magical. Once in a lifetime.
Service to write home about
 | -On our last evening we asked Christine to bring a Fondue kit so that we might cook a leisurely meal. As usual Christine went over and above our expectations, arriving at 6pm with a huge box of treats. Included in the ‘fondue kit’ was a bottle of Austrian wine, washed and prepped salads with a variety of dressings; four types of meat all pre-cut for fondu-ing along with a variety of different vegetables and dipping sauces. We spent the evening cooking, chatting about the wedding and relaxing. It was just what we needed and set us up for the rest of the trip. Upon hearing that we were on honeymoon, Christine arrived back to our chalet a few hours after checking in, with a beautiful hand written note and a heart shaped cake. It was a lovely touch and served as a necessary reminder that this trip was different to the others we’ve taken, this is the only time we’ll ever be on honeymoon! Thanks Christine! |
Adventures in Abtenau
Abtenau is a village in the province of Salzburg, an hour’s bus journey outside the city. It is small, very small. There are no tourist attractions here and there is no skiing done here. We had put it on the itinerary for one very important reason, to have the most romantic experience of the whole two week honeymoon.
| From the Chalet office we booked a horse and sleigh going from Abtenau into the surrounding hills. Neither of us knew what to expect but we were optimistic. We took the bus for the 30 minute journey from the ski resort to the little village of Abtenau. Wheelie suitcases in tow we literally rolled into town. We were an hour early for the sleigh so we hit “Tony’s café” for a coffee. The little café was perfect for a quick stop, local, nice staff and an array of local dishes at cheap prices. We enjoyed a local hot chocolate and a warm bowl of goulash soup (tiny meat balls and veg in a rich tomato broth). |  |
The time came and we dragged our bags down to the town clock for our rendezvous. We were met by two huge, beautiful black horses, their broad backs warmed under their wool overcoats and jangling bell reigns. They were magnificent. Our driver was every bit as authentic, an could-be understudy from “Miracle on 34th Street” he was a kindly old Austrian man with a white, grey beard under a warm black Russian Winter hat.
We put our suitcases in the convenient baggage compartment at the back of the open top carriage, climbed in through the dinky quarter height side-door, fixed the latch, pulled the wool blankets up over ourselves and snuggled down for our sleigh ride. The driver, with what little English he had turned and asked simply “sun or snow?”. “Snow”, she exclaimed without a second thought. “Good” he nodded with an actual twinkle in his eye. We were off. We bumped and bobbed our way out of town and into the brilliant white hills. Christmas trees lined the hill sides with both big and small wooden houses dotted along the quite, meandering country road.
We passed only a handful of people throughout the whole trip. The people we did pass, families living in this Winter wonderland were friendly and their kids only too happy to wave to us as we passed. At one point we stopped for some photographs. Stepping off the road to get a better angle his foot went down in the snow to knee deep. With a shallow, babbling stream along the other side of the road, picturesque was never a more appropriate description of such a magical place.
 | We arrived back half an hour before the next bus to Salzburg (herself is a genius at scheduling). Just enough time to pop back into Tony’s and grab a coffee, basking in a honeymoon well done…….. We also destroyed the poor woman’s café floor with all the mud and snow we tracked in from the fields. Whoops! |
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