So after reluctantly leaving Ramsau, we soon found ourselves in Zell Am See. What a strange place this is. We suddenly found all the tourists in the world concentrated in this small town. Don’t get me wrong, it has a picturesque lake and mountains (of course) but it also had LOTS of traffic and LOTS of hotels.

Our first meal was a late lunch at our hotel. Food was ok, but the bees that kept crawling on to my plate in the outside courtyard was not enjoyable. We moved inside.

Later we went on a boat ride on the lake. Very lovely.

Dinner of gulasch at a nearby hotel/Gasthaus.

The next day after a subpar hotel breakfast, we abandoned all earlier plans and decided to drive up the Grossglockner mountain, Austria’s highest alpine road with over 30 hairpin turns.

At the top of the mountain we had cheese toastie, sausages and coffee. And views. Did we mention the view?

Once down the other side of the mountain, we decided to stop by Lienz for lunch. We went to a random Gasthaus. Steve votes his lunch he had there, meal of the trip. Mine was good too but not award winning. Lienz was a cool town. Would visit again.

Steve also had a gelato, and being so close to the Italian border, by all accounts it was superb. I sadly had to forgo getting an icecream as I was feeling a little under the weather and snotty and didn’t actually feel like one. Disappointing.

I made up for my disappointment by taking a photo with these hedgehogs. (Sadly not the real thing)

Back in Zell Am See, we went to a nearby restaurant called Kraftwerk. It had been on my list of places to go, and luckily we were staying just down the road from it. Initially it caught my attention because of its name, but after reading a bit about it I definitely wanted to check it out. We are generally not ones for fine dining, but we made an exception, and we were not disappointed. All the food they serve in the restaurant comes from the owners farm. They also have a crazy large wine list of which we didn’t partake in because a) it was very expensive b) we didn’t really feel like drinking wine. Although Steve did have a Stiermarkt Sparkling Schlicher. I just had an apple juice.

Cute little breads and dips

The photos don’t really do the meals justice. Just trust me, it was delicious. All fresh, seasonal produce, beautifully presented. If you ever happen to find yourself in Zell Am See, make sure you make time for dinner at Kraftwerk.

Dessert was divine.

And when we left they gave us a jar of their house made jam. A very nice gesture, I thought. We even managed to bring the jam all the way home, so that was a bonus.

Kraftwerk was definitely a highlight of Zell Am See. The next day, we headed off, bound for Innsbruck.