Salzburg / Altenmarkt (Radstadt) Photos

In May, my brother Craig and I taught a week-long English camp for Austrian junior high students in Altenmarkt im Pongau, a small town in Salzburger Land (Salzburg State).

Altenmarkt, formerly known as Radstadt and Altenradstadt, is nestled in a valley ringed by mountains. I'm sorry to report that my landscape photography skills didn't do justice to the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. I took a few pictures of the mountains, but I'm not really happy with them.

Craig and I took a hike up toward Zauchensee one day while we were in Altenmarkt. Many of the photos in this post were taken during that walk. We trekked a good 2 hours up the mountain, thinking we'd be able to catch a bus back down. Toward the end of our hike, late in the afternoon, we were walking through snow - without cold weather clothing. When we realized that the bus wasn't running, we jogged / ran back down the mountain, hoping to get back to our hotel before it got too cold. Fortunately, we outran nightfall.

Altenmarkt is the oldest settlement in the Salzburger Ennstal (Salzburg's River Enns Valley).

The city also serves as the Mutterpfarr (Mother Parish) for the Catholic church in this area.

This is the Dekanatspfarrkirche Altenmarkt, built in 1390.

I need to work on my church interior photography. Lighting is tough in these older churches.

In prehistoric times, this region was home to the Taurisker, a Celtic tribe.

The Romans traded peacefully for some time with the Taurisker in the Ennstal before conquering them and annexing the area to the Roman Empire, as a part of the state called Noricum.

The Romans took over the Celtic roads and mountain passes, adding them to the already extensive network of Roman roads.

Roman maps of the area include a small town or road station called Ani. Apparently, the river Enns got its name from this town.

Ornamental wood door to the Dekanatspfarrcirche Altenmarkt. If you look closely, you'll see written on the top of the door in chalk "20 C+M+B 05". I was curious about these markings, because they're pretty common in the area. the "20 05" stands for the current year, 2005, and "CMB" are the initials of the three wise men/kings who visited Jesus in the nativity story. Their names are Caspar, Melchior und Balthazar. Ancient custom has it that writing their initials and the current year on one's door will help protect one's family from disease and misfortune during the year.

Grabkerzen = Grave Candles

The Dekanatspfarrkirche from behind.

I took this picture at the start of our hike up the mountain.

The hiking paths were very well kept.

We must have seen 20 waterfalls like this along the way.

A poor picture of an old Vespa and a traditional house.

Not a great landscape shot, but one of the better ones from this trip.

This is the Atomic Ski factory, one of the area's big employers.

Welcome to Altenmarkt im Pongau. Pongau is Pon Gau. A gau is an administrative region, sort of like a county in Texas, or a parish in Louisiana. I thought Pongau was Pong Au. An Au is a low wetland.