Something a Little Different

Today we decided to see something a little different and go where the Viennese spend their summer holidays.  Neusiedlersee (Neusiedl Lake) is about a hour directly south of Vienna and right on the Hungarian border.  Most of the drive is over gently rolling hills but as you near the lake you come up over one last hill and before you stretches not only the lake but a very wide, open and flat plain.  The land is flat, flat, flat and goes as far as the eye can see. 

Neusiedlersee is a huge steppe lake (240km square on the Austrian side and 75km square on the Hungarian side) and has no actual rivers flowing in or out of it.  At the most, it is about a meter deep and has been known to dry up completely for years at a time (the last time was in the late 1800's, though).  Because the lake is so shallow, when the wind blows consistently for a period of time it can push the water to one side changing the shape and shoreline of the lake.

The Viennese come here to play.  The lake is surrounded by small resort-like towns with plenty of opportunities for swimming, sailing and paddle boating.  Although it is still September, we were clearly visiting at the low season since there were hardly any people around and most of the facilities were closed up.  

This massive flock of birds fascinated me, there were thousands and thousands of them and they created moving clouds and rivers of birds.  The reeds along the lake were filled with the sound of their cries.

Our first stop was at the town of Rust and we had the good fortune to come across a fantastic playground (I talk about playgrounds so often in these posts that I'm thinking of starting a guide to European playgrounds!) which Noah and Catherine had all to themselves.

After the playground we took a walk through the pretty little town - it was very quiet now that the summer vacation was over.

Church in Rust

Main square in Rust

More amazing window boxes.

Aside from wine (the town is surrounded by vineyards) and summer fun in the water, Rust is known for its storks.  Almost every chimney or roof peak had a large stork nest on it and all the gift shops had storks in one form or another for sale.  Much to Catherine's delight, we actually got to see several of the storks up close as we left the town.

Stork nest on top of a chimney.

Entrance to another church in Rust.

A few or Rust's famous storks.

Catherine loved seeing the storks so close!

We were particularly fascinated by the edge of the lake.  Because it is so shallow, reeds line the shores of the lake.  At first we thought they were only a few meters of reeds between the shore and the open water, then we saw an ariel photo of the lake in a photo.  The reeds actually stretch for hundreds of meters to kilometres out into the lake with little channels of water cleared through them so boats can access the open lake.

A channel through the reeds to the open lake.

The boats need to be very shallow draft to sail on a 1 meter deep lake. 

These 'garages' for boats had access on the back side from a dock.

There were hundreds of windmills generating power on the opposite side of the lake.  With such a flat landscape the wind must be very strong and reliable - this picture shows just a fraction of them.

After leaving Rust, we drove a short way south to the town of Mörbisch am See, about a kilometre or two from the Hungarian border.  We didn't actually take a walk through Mörbisch am See but instead took a causeway-like road a kilometre or two out through the reeds to the open lake.  When we reached the lake we were astounded first by the size of the parking lot and second by the wide range of facilities and number of boats - this place must be overrun by people during the summer.

Here you can see how the vineyards stretch down to the lakeside then the wide expanse of reeds before the open water.  On the far side you can get a sense of just how flat the land is as it stretches into Hungary.

Boats lined up at Mörbisch am See.

A view of the vine-covered hillside that stretches down to the lake and the flat plain.

After our visit to Mörbisch am See we decided to take the slow road back to our apartment for an early end to the day and a lazy evening.