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The hotel is split in two buildings. One building used to be the granary, the other one the dairy farm of Geras Abbey. Actually I had an excellent view of Geras abbey from my room at the former granary. The hotel is also linked with Geras Abbey by offering a lot of workshops in the rooms of the abbey.
At an exhibition about the history of the fire brigades taking place at Geras Abbey (Stift Geras), I saw this Volkswagen Type 181. It was built in 1974 and was used as service car for the fire brigades in Lower Austria. Reading the story of this car makes me smile: Was this car really called “The Thing” in the US?
View from my hotel room in Geras. I stayed on the first floor of a former ‘Schüttkasten‘. That is a building which was used for the storage of corn in earlier times. From my room, I had this view of Geras Abbey (Stift Geras). Inside the building on the left side I took a lesson in producing hand-made paper lately.
While I was walking through a valley in Hinterglemm there was a certain whirr in the sky. People crossed on a high rope course in 100+ meters high the valley. Though the people dashed down the rope on high-speed I tried to take a photo. Can you see the person near the warning element for planes? Can you imagine to do the same in this scenery?
The hotel is placed near the centre of Saalbach. The owner is not only a good chef but also a good teacher in painting. The hotel offers packages for people who are interested in to improve their skills in painting. The classes take place in a dedicated atelier next to the hotel.
Mural dating back to 1810 seen in Saalbach, Austria. The mural is named Jägerbegräbnis and shows an odd funeral procession. The body in the coffin is a hunter (german: ‘Jäger’), the mourners of the funeral (german: ‘Begräbnis’) are animals. Have you ever seen such a mural or painting elsewhere?
Before I arrived at Villa Excelsior in Bad Gastein I had already read about one of its most famous guests: Sigmund Freud. He spent several summer holidays here. The audio guide talking about sights in Bad Gastein also told me it was here where Mr. Freud was putting down his thoughts about Eros and Thanatos.
Big surprise. The hotel which was used as a home for prelates in earlier times offers a chapel on one of its floors. I was very impressed by the light inside the chapel which was determined by the design of the windows.
Villa Excelsior has already hosted famous guests. For example Sigmund Freud spent several summer holidays here. My tour guide told me it was here where the Austrian neurologist was thinking about the concept of Eros and Thanatos.
The hotel is situated next to a biking route at the northern beginning of the Gastein Valley. The place is fine as starting point for biking, hiking, skiing and collecting mushrooms. Actually I had a delicious mushroom dish while staying at the hotel.
At my hotel in Dorfgastein I had a fun bedside lamp. One can turn on and off the light just by touching anywhere at the metal. Any ideas how this works?
One reason to visit the restaurant of Hotel Klammstein was the ‘Pfandlwoche’. In this period the restaurant offered especially dishes served in pans (‘Pfandl’). I had a pan with mushrooms and dumplings. The owner of the restaurant told me the mushrooms were collected in the woods around the hotel.