Del and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year in Austria, in a little mountain village called Grossarl, which is approximately 85km south of Salzburg. We had our honeymoon in Zell am Zee (on 22nd December 1991), and loved it so much we wanted to go back!
This year we stayed in the Hunter Suite at the Grossarler Hof Hotel, which was absolutely superb in every way. Details here: http://www.grossarlerhof.at/hotel-in...lzburger-land/
Anyway, here are some snaps we took of the hotel and the surrounding areas we visited...
The stunning view from our balcony, which we woke up to every morning:
From another angle, showing part of a lake at the bottom:
We took a ride up to the top of one of the mountains in a cable car, and enjoyed amazing views like this:
The front of the hotel at night:
Some views of the inside... In the lounge where we spent many an hour relaxing by the log fire before and after meals, sipping cocktails, after-dinner drinks or enjoying a cool glass of the local beer:
Outside of the cute little bespoke annex of the hotel's main restaurant, designed in typical alpine style, called the Jagersub'l:
And the inside, where we ate breakfast and dinner every evening:
Some of the food we enjoyed there...
Assorted peppered sushi with garden herbs and pickled vegetables:
Del had grilled goats cheese with caramelised walnuts:
Roast haunch of chamois (a type of goat-antelope), from the local Hüttschlag region, accompanied with local Pongauer wild boar, served with a leek tart and chorizo savoy cabbage, and loganberry compote, in a rich game jus [this was one of the nicest meat dishes I've eaten]:
A palate-cleansing mid course of fresh raspberry sorbet, infused with Campari:
And one of the nicest vegetarian dishes Del's ever eaten, which was Sous Vide cooked root vegetables with assorted local wild mushrooms and a verjus sabayon:
An impressive looking hand-made and painted wardrobe in one of the halls leading to our bedroom:
Close-up of some of the panels:
Some views of the village of Grossarl, where we stayed:
The local church:
Inside... The poshest confessional box in the world?
Superbly constructed crib/nativity scene:
Altar, etc:
And some of the most impressive looking gravestones I've ever seen (with an amazing backdrop, too):
Town centre:
Even the roundabouts in Grossarl are pretty at Christmas:
The 'rival' four-star deluxe hotel in Grossarl, called the Edelweiss, which had a particularly impressively Christmassy entrance area at night:
A nice little pub we had a few beers in:
In the local village of Hüttschlag:
We loved some of the locals Christmas decorations, made from natural wood and trees:
And a nativity scene, all beautifully hand-carved from wood:
And even a Christmas tree constructed from logs and pine cones, which we intend to replicate at home next year:
Another local town we visited was St Johann:
We bought some beautiful hand-blown and painted Christmas tree baubles from here:
Marco.