Hohenwerfen Castle

The weather was predicted to be a rainy mess for the weekend.  We decided to attempt to go to Hohenwerfen Castle anyway and hope for the best. 

The castle is surrounded by the the Berchtesgaden Alps in the Salzach valley, just 25 miles south of Salzburg, and dates back to the 11th century.

After trekking for about 20 minutes up the hill, we finally reached the majestic castle.  We walked through the castle to see the falconry museum and its firearms and weapons exhibition.

View of Werfen as walking up the mountain.

Entrance to the castle.

The grounds of Hohenwefren Castle.

Thomas, Dominik and me.  In the rain.

The Austrian Alps.

The Salzach River from the castle's bell tower.

View from the castle's bell tower.

The bell in a rainy, windy mess.

The fortress is also the home of a spectacular falconry show.  Falconry is a very important tradition in the UAE, and there was a massive show there in December.  We discovered we were an hour early for the show, so we trekked back down the mountain and got a small lunch of cheese and sausage.  We ate it in a little enclosed hut about halfway up the hill.  Perfect since the rain hadn't let up.

The falcon soars past the crowd...

...and then high above the fortress.

 

The falcon buzzed right past my head several times.

They even had an American Bald Eagle.

This vulture was like a little dog.