Walked about a mile from the Mayrhofen hotel, (1) past a campsite, houses with firewood stacked high against their walls (2) and a beautiful old barn, (3) to the Erlebnis Sennerei dairy (opened in 2001). (4)
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We took the tour of the cheese-making facilities. It was surprisingly fascinating stuff, from whey-making processes to "brine baths" and "cheese worms". There were signs stating things such as "Look into the cheese tank", and heavy machinery moving and rotating huge slabs of cheese.
(5–6)
5–6:
It was very "Willy Wonka". We saw a
lot of cheese. There were also sampling stations, where we could try the just-made yoghurts of various flavours (strawberry and coffee were the most delicious).
(7) What was impressive was the meeting of cutting-edge technology and ancient tradition. Their cheese-bots work tirelessly to pasteurise and homogenise. One room full of endless pipes was entirely robotic, with no humans allowed. The pipes apparently store 15 years' worth of data about their activities.
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We then walked around an animal farm, with goats you could stroke
(8) and a few cows and chickens, before heading back to the Obermair to pack and check out.
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Thus ended the Austrian walks.
Other highlights from the week in and around Mayrhofen included:
• swimming twice a day in Hotel Obermair’s small pool, which started out warm and got colder as the week progressed.
• watching the hotel rabbits out of the window and feeding them dandelion leaves.
• watching the family of semi-wild cats – Mum, Dad and two kittens – living under the hotel wood shed. One of the adults could be seen out hunting all day every day in the adjoining field. On the far edge of the same field were some unidentified brown animals – too large to be rabbits, so possibly deer.
• eating the lavish hotel breakfasts of eggs, breads, cheeses, cereals, coffee, hot chocolate, fruit, granola, “multivitamin” fruit juice and more. I didn't try the "Hunter's meat paste", though.
• meeting the super-friendly people: everyone was so kind and generous.
• seeing two folk concerts at Hotel Berghof: Die Finkenberger consisted of two men (guitar and accordion) playing sweet traditional tunes. Rita & Andreas, meanwhile, are apparently Austrian celebrities. He played accordion and sang. She played guitar and sang harmonies. The elderly people in the bar, some wearing the traditional dirndl, stood up and danced when they played certain old songs. But the singing couple brought a modern twist, too. They had their own tour bus and their own merchandise, including CDs, sunglasses, badges, mugs, scarves, T-shirts and a miniature Rita & Andreas tour bus.
• observing the chalet-style wooden architecture.
• walking up and down the main street, looking at the exotic shops and admiring the complete lack of mess and litter.
• playing table football in the shed outside the hotel.
• playing table tennis next to the hotel annexe.
• trying the hotel sauna and finding it just too hot to cope with for more than a few seconds. Not understanding the “rules” re: clothing (my swimming trunks stayed on) and possibly offending a naked woman.
• enduring the crazy weather – mist, sun, rain, more mist, more sun, more rain.
• repeatedly visiting "Ciao" restaurant, which served the best "cream of tomato soup" I've ever had in my life.
• bumping into David and Sylvia regularly and getting to know them a bit.
• visiting an interesting exhibition about the painter Klimt in the Hotel Neue Post, displaying numerous postcards he had written to his sweetheart.
• talking to the big ginger cat living in the haberdashery shop and the stuffed marmots in the chemist.
• living among the endless trees and the endless mountains.
• not missing anything about Totteridge except for the piano and the cat.
