Tuesday 19 August 2008

17/08/08 - Crazy road tolls.

Finally we started to leave the Zell am See area as we drove towards
the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße road - a major tourist road that goes
over the Hohe Tauern Range. We stopped and took a 'one hour' walk for
2.5 hours up a very steep hill. It would be fair to say we had no
idea where we were going and that the walk's description of where we'd
wanted to go, was woefully inaccurate. Oh well we did get some
spectacular views across the valley to a waterfall and glacier. After
it took us just over an hour to negotiate down our very steep hill, we
turned Pat around and went back the way we'd come. The truth is we
were horrified by the €28 toll charge, and we only had €23 on us,
though we may have been able to pay by card, I guess. Unfortunately
none of our information sources mentioned there was a toll let alone
such an exorbitant one. Another excuse - the clouds were hovering
around the mountain tops, so we wouldn't have got the best views
either.

A quick trip down to the next valley to the Felbertauren - the next
tourist road that cuts through the 3000+ metre peaks. This toll was
only €10, thats more like it we thought, although the view on the
previous road was probably better as this one went through a tunnel
instead of going over the peaks. Not to worry, we have found a road
(although another €9 toll) that leads high into a side valley that
sits right under Austria's highest mountain - Gloßglockner at 3798
metres. The clouds even cleared away to give us a glimpse of this
monster towering above!!!

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