Up In The Alps
- Thomas Salas
- Aug 13, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 22, 2024
08/12 - 08/13
Leaving Vienna for the first time since our trip to the monastery in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, Monday (08/12) saw the class wake up early for our much-anticipated trip to the Austrian Alps. Still groggy from waking up at 7:00 and lacking any caffeine in my system, I tried to no avail to sleep on the tour bus as we made our way out of Vienna. Arriving in Burgenland’s capital of Eisenstadt, I learned that this entire Austrian state was part of Hungary a little over a century ago. It was only after WWI that Austria absorbed Burgenland in 1921.
The first place we visited was a quick stop at the Schloss Esterházy. Long before the state’s incorporation into Austria, the Esterházy were a prominent Hungarian noble family in Burgenland that allied themselves with the imperial Habsburg family. The Esterházy combined elements of the late baroque period and early neo-classical period into the palace’s architecture, which was a widespread style during the Enlightenment Era.
The front of the Schloss Esterházy.
Speaking of the Esterházy family, we were fortunate enough to have a guided tour of the Bergkirche (also known as the Haydnkirche), a Catholic Church built by the Esterházy nobility. Founded in the 18th century by Paul Esterházy, the church has a Virgin Mary statue that has acted as a pilgrimage shrine for centuries. Interestingly, according to Prof. Stuart, the presence of a statue of Virgin Mary in a church distinguishes Catholics from Protestants. Following the Protestant Reformation, Protestants removed these sacred icons from their churches, but Catholics believe these statues produced miracles so they kept them in their churches.
The Virgin Mary statue in the Bergkirche.
During the tour of the Bergkirche, the tour guide talked about a variety of different topics relating to the church, most interestingly the fascinating legend of the canonization of St. Martin. Born in the early fourth century, Martin enlisted as a soldier at a young age. He did not want to become a bishop, thus he tried to hide from this in a goose coop. Seemingly speaking for God, the geese revealed Martin’s location and he would thereafter become a bishop. Devoting the remainder of his life to missionary work, St. Martin would much later be named the patron saint of the state of Burgenland in 1924.
Eisenstadt is considered by many to be a historic Jewish ghetto, but I would soon learn from our stop at the Austrian Jewish Museum that a more accurate description of the Burgenland capital would be a Jewish quarter. This is because a ghetto only applies to Jewish residences where it was obligatory for them to live there, which wasn’t necessarily the case for Eisenstadt. According to Shlomo Spitzer's Eisenstadt article, for many centuries Eisenstadt acted as a refuge for Jewish people fleeing pogroms from the rest of Austria and Europe. The city had a thriving Jewish cultural life from the time that the Esterházy family became the authority over Eisenstadt in the early seventeenth century until the eventual expulsion of the city's Jewish population during the 1938 Anschluss. Nowadays, very few Jews live in Eisenstadt according to the museum tour guide. Luckily, the eighteenth-century synagogue in the museum wasn’t plundered or destroyed during the Nazi period as it was barricaded and well-hidden.
After a quick visit to two Jewish cemeteries, we got back on the bus and soon thereafter arrived at the Raxalpe Reichenau. Providing us with beautiful views of the Austrian Alps, a gondola brought us up the mountains to the Raxalm-Beggasthof rustic lodge the class would be spending the night at. Following a traditional Austrian dinner and dessert, a handful of students provided the class with live entertainment—a talent show with singing and stand-up comedy. In order to be well-rested for tomorrow’s hike, I would soon thereafter go to sleep.
The back of the Raxalm-Beggasthof lodge.
Monday's sunset from the front of the Raxalm-Beggasthof lodge.
After having a quick breakfast on Tuesday (08/13)—along with a much-needed espresso—I prepared myself for the hike. Setting the goal of reaching the Habsburg House lodge, we began our hike on the Austrian Alps at 10:15 in the morning. Even after a few minutes on the hike, it quickly became apparent to me why the Alps were such a widely visited place. On both sides of the trail, I was left speechless of the beautiful landscapes of these mountains.
Reaching the Ottohaus—the first rest house on the trail—after little over half an hour, we stopped to buy a drink and listen to Prof. Stuart give a spiel about Sigmund Freud. In the late nineteenth century, the Viennese bourgeoisie would often come to the Alps to escape the heat, including Sigmund Freud. He frequently came to the Ottohaus to relax. In summer 1893, he met Aurelia Kronich, the daughter of the man leasing the house. She asked for help to deal with her fear and conditions. Thus, the Ottohaus was one of the first locations Freud performed a psychoanalysis.
A view of the Ottohaus.
While the number of students continuing the hike dwindled over time, I stuck with a group of students as we advanced along the trail. On our way to the next rest house, we passed by the Jacobskogel and Preiner Wand crosses, both of which afforded fantastic views of the surrounding scenery. Upon getting to the Jacobskogel cross, we were told by a passerby that reaching the Habsburg House was unrealistic due to an impending thunderstorm. We eventually arrived at the Neue Seehütte, where I had the time to refill my water bottle and enjoy a delicious apple strudel. With a few rain clouds overhead, the group decided to split up. While a few students started their return back to the lodge, myself and two others continued on to the Habsburg house.
A view from the Jacobskogel cross.
A view near the Neue Seehütte.
As we ascended the trail in order to reach the Habsburg House on the other side of the mountain, darker rain clouds began forming in the sky. By the time we reached the peak and could see the Habsburg House off in the distance, we could hear thunder nearby. Arriving at the destination that we were so determined to reach, we only stayed at the Habsburg House for ten minutes before leaving at 2:15. As we left, a doomsayer passerby stopped us to warn that we wouldn’t make it back in time before the worst of the thunderstorm begins at 5:00. Opting not to spend the night at the Habsburg House, we continued on, passing by an ominous shelter for lost hikers as it started to rain. As the thunder and rain continued, we could make out lightning in the distance. Quickly making our way along the trail, we didn’t stop the Neue Seehütte and only briefly rested at the Ottohaus. We would make it back to the Raxalm-Beggasthof lodge at 4:45, just in time for dinner and the talent show later that night.
A view of the Habsburg House.
A view near the shelter for lost hikers.
German Words of the Day: Blätter (Leaves) & Fühlen (To Feel)
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