Strobl, lakes and the kiddos

It has been a while....

Life was terribly busy with finalizing my last exams and other things, too much to do and afterwards to tired and/or confused for blogging, but here we go again.

This very while ago we went to Strobl at the Wolfgangsee. It is a tiny little health resort in the same area as for example the famous Bad Ischl, but really much much smaller, with hardly any crowds, lovely for relaxing and still wanting to spend a day - okay, let´s make it half a day - in a small spa village with all that it takes. A park, a concert "hall", places to relax and look at the lake.... They also have a boat station here, so if you are in the area and make a tour around the Wolfgangsee I definately would recommend to hop off at Strobl for a few hours.

When we got there it was quite cloudy, sun was on and off, but it got better over the hours we explored the place (and had some great Surschnitzel-Semmeln from the local butcher).

The main square of Strobl. There might be loads of people in the high season, which is usually July and August, but when we were there end of May it was almost like a ghost-town. Wonderful!

The place for little concerts, as you like to hear them when in a typical Austrian spa. Although I have never seen such a tiny, tiny place. Anywhere, they got everything, and size does not matter, right?

The park. I must say it is definately nicer than the one in Bad Ischl, especially this year. Ischl has its famous Kurpark, but this year it looks as if a crazy organic farmer has attacked the place, just high grass and ferns and old flowers.... Maybe I am just too bloody boring and don´t have a clue about arts - but for me Strobl is the better choice this season.

And because the view is so wonderful and my Swiss White Shepherd is so gorgeous here again a photo with Indy posing in front of the Wolfgangsee.

On our way back to Mitterndorf we made a right at Obersee/Untersee, where we always had wanted to go before but never took the time to explore. But this time we did, and here is what we found.

Again: no people, just nature and the lake - the Hallstätter See this time - and a little restaurant where it is said to have lovely food. Unfortunately we were too full from our Surschnitzelsemmeln, but we definately want to go there some other time and enjoy some food and a good view of the lake.

The kiddos had a great deal of fun too! Dessa, enthusiastic as always, waddling in carefully and then hanging out without movement, cooling down with a "zzzzzzzz", Indy following his balli or stick or man or whatever you throw in, dashing into the water, making sounds like a river steamboat.

And Stefan swears it is the best place by the lake he has ever been.

It is definately one of them "come again" places......

Food and Farewell

Last but not least I would like to tell you a little bit about the great food that we had in wonderful Turkey.

We did not eat out a lot - we simply did not have the time. Our trips, the beach.... it all took too much time so we just could not afford to wander about Kemer or Antalya to try the beautiful food in all the restaurants there, even though we had very much wanted too. Most of the time we ate in one of the restaurants at the hotel - and what great meals we had! I really have to emphasize: Whatever we had - also the last zillion times we were in this country - it was of perfect quality, the freshest fruit and veggies possible, with lots of tasty spices and excellent ingredients. The Turkish take food very seriously - as one should - and they insist on freshness and good taste. And e.g. a Kebap, which is the typical Turkish to-go food in Europe, here is eaten on a plate, sitting down. When we told people that at home we just grab it as a bite and run off they just shook their heads. Well, fast food definately was no Turkish invention - and this is how it should be!

One night we went to the "barbeque" restaurant. So cool! You had your own little grill at your table, got what you wanted to put on it from the bar and you were all set! Oooh, it was a night with lots of red wine. I still get a headache thinking about it. But maybe it was because we teamed up with a German couple later on and ended at the disco at 3.00 a.m. in the morning...

Here you see our 5* chef at work. I really wonder if he does the barbequeuing because I expect him to do so, or if he really likes it. Hm?? Behind us there was this Russian couple, and she was bored all over, and he never had grilled a sausage in his life. She wanted to leave and he wanted to make a scientific experiment. During the time we had like lots of sausages and meat and grilled veggies they had one sausage. No wonder she was pissed off! lol

And lets not forget about the Asian Restaurant we went to another evening. the setting was beautiful, all right! The portions were tiny baby, but still nice tasting.

E.g. shrimp in sweet-sour sauce, my absolute favorite! Okay, the portions really were not that big, but there were lots of courses.

"Pide" is something you eat when you are out. They call it "the turkish pizza" and it comes with meat or with cheese or with a mixture of both.

The food in the main restaurants were perfect too. This is just a tiny bit of the breakfast selection. You got all kinds of American breakfast - potatoes, hot sausages, beans in tomato sauce -, all kinds of eggs and pancakes, everything you could ask for in Europa (dozens of jams, salads, cheese and sausages) - and don´t ask what you could get in the evening. It was hillarious!

Black cat from left to right, what the heck!! I do not believe in that kind of superstition, I love black cats! But still it was time to say good bye...

As you can see I was not too happy about it. I just loved my little place by the sea, the great food and all the places to go...

Bye-bye, lovely Turkiye, bye-bye, wonderful beaches and great sights! We had such a wonderful time, and we definately will be back! Güle güle - for now. We will treasure everything that we have seen and done in our hearts!