A Natural Wonder: Austria’s Liechtenstein Gorge

Hi friends! After many hours of travel, I arrived back in the good ole USA last night. My trip was amazing, and as usual when I go on trips, I’ve caught the travel bug and am plotting my next 5 excursions! 😉 Here’s a look at the route we took once in Europe:

Last year my hubby and I bought a timeshare. Since we’ve experienced some buyers’ remorse from the moment we bought it, and since we’ve been paying it without seeing anything up front, we wanted to be sure to use it for the first time during this vacation. I checked out my timeshare options with only about 6 weeks notice, and this is how Austria became a big part of our vacation.

To be honest, I didn’t know too much about Austria until planning this trip, but once I started to learn more about the country, I knew it’d be an awesome place to visit. As soon as we arrived in the country, it was breathtakingly beautiful. Thankfully our hotel, Alpenland Sporthotel, was pretty nice, centrally located and full of amenities. It wasn’t too bad looking at this view from my hotel room every day:

Our time in St. Johann im Pongau was full of outdoor exercise with spectacular views like the one above. The first day we were there, we hiked to Liechtensteinklamm – one of the longest and deepest accessible wild water ravines in the Alps – and soaked in the beautiful views in getting there.

I loved the outdoor gym in the middle of the park! Why don’t they have those anywhere near where I live?!

The waterfalls were so cool, and photos hardly do them justice, but here’s my attempt at doing so:

Since it was wet and cold at the falls, afterwards we warmed up with a bite to eat. Adam had some traditional bratwurst (no comment), and I had cheese dumpling soup and tea. We split a soft pretzel too, and even though they originated from Germany, I must say that I prefer the American way of eating them. In Austria & Germany, they serve them cold with no ketchup or mustard.

Side note: Pretty much anything vegetarian in Austria has cheese in it, so I’m not sure how vegans would make out there. I already knew that German/Austrian cuisine is not very conducive to non-meat eaters like myself, so it wasn’t a big shock to see restaurants with nothing but that on their menus.

Between hiking there and back and walking the waterfalls, it was a good 4-hour trip. I certainly got my movement in for the day and then some!