We woke up early to Martyn’s annoying phone alarm and set off for the nearby Werfen to visit the ice caves we’d read about. We weren’t prepared to be driving to a height of 1,100m into the Alps. My poor little Sköda only managed to get out of first gear a couple of times. The view was absolutely magnificent in the sunshine from this height. I daresay the most amazing sight I’ve ever experienced in person. I’m slightly scared by heights, so that probably contributed to it taking my breath away too as we stood at the top of a sheer cliff face (slight exaggeration, but it was steep and rocky).

Ice Cave

A 20 minute walk, a 3 minute ride up a very steep ski lift, and another 20 minute walk later we were at the altitude of 1,557m and at the entrance to the ice caves waiting for our tour guide. We were the only English speakers in a group of around 30 people, but the tour guide was patient and translated everything for us. I know it makes sense that ice caves are going to be cold, but it suprised us just how cold they were. The hour long tour seemed to turn our toes into ice blocks that took some time to thaw even once we got back outside.

The caves themselves were awesome though. We walked into the first kilometre of 42; the kilometre stetch of ice, making it the biggest ice cave in the world. The sights were awesome, the ice being lit up almost eerily by our oil lanterns.  I can’t really explain anything the picture doesn’t, so click it to see it full size.  Incidentally, most of the pictures we put on here should be clickable from now on, so you can see them in their full-sized glory.

On the evening, we had a little walk around Salzburg, nearly getting the car locked in a parking garage when we couldn’t find our way back to it, closing on 10pm.  We got a bit lost driving home, picked up a few beers on the way back and sat on a bench in the camp site drinking them before getting some kip.