Day 53, Werfenweng, Austria

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Today, we got up early as per usual and we travelled to Werfen train station, where we were getting a connecting bus to go to the Eisreisenwelt Ice Caves, the largest ice caves in the world! Once we arrived at the station, it wasn't very clear where the bus was going to be coming from so we spent a short amount of time working it out, waiting by the closed stand dedicated to the ice caves, but eventually the bus arrived and we were on our way! The road up to the dropping off point was a ride and a half, it was very small, tight and we were so convinced that it couldn't fit two buses alongside one another, especially around corners, but somehow they managed it. If you have a weak stomach, I would strongly advise you don't have a window seat next to the edge at any point during the journey and DO NOT LOOK DOWN.

We arrived at the dropping off point and we began the walk to the entrance to the caves, it was a very warm spell in the day and it was a struggle to get up to the top, but the views along the way definitely helped. They were just breathtaking, and although you couldn't see for miles because of the many mountain tops, you could see so many stunning snow capped mountains, and it was mad to think we were actually climbing up one of them.

Once we eventually got up to the ticket office to purchase our tickets to the caves, we had a little break and took in our surroundings, and as we left the office through the other side, we realised we had much much more to climb yet, and that wasn't involving the climb inside the caves either... We were told we would be taking a further 700 steps into the cave, and 700 steps back down the cave...

When we were waiting at the top of the cave entrance, we took a minute to take some photos when another tour had finished and as the doors to the cave opened, a gust of wind flew out, it felt so strong.It was our turn next and we were so excited to go and explore the natural ice caves.

As we entered, we were told many facts about the cave which I will not inform you about just purely to make you go and see this place for yourself, because it is absolutely worth every penny. Anton Von Posselt Czorich, was the founder of the cave, and managed to travel into the cave 200m, chipping away at the cave to find his way through, however couldn't proceed any further. Alexander von Mörk, was the founder of the Salzburg Cave Explorers and further researchers such as Friedrich and Robert Oedl and Walter Czernig all took on a further journey into the cave. Each of these researches chipped away at the ice, placed wooden plaques so they could walk through and find their way out, and allowed us today to enter the caves. We stand on the very same route that they took all those many years ago... It's just incredible.

To say it was cold is obviously an understatement but wrap up very warm, don't have any skin showing if you can avoid it and take it slow, take in everything that the tour guide says. I have been on many tours, but this one was definitely the most interesting, and for once they didn't bore me! The only real shame is that you aren't allowed to take photos, however the tour guide leaves you briefly at certain points to show you elsewhere in the cave that we as tourists aren't supposed to stand on, so you can quickly take a snap here and there if you're sneaky enough.

The whole experience is just incredible and it is something you must not miss out on if you are ever lucky enough to come and visit Austria, it's easy to get to and the tour is worth it!

Now it's time for our walk, cable cart and coach back to the train station for us to make our way back to our hotel for the evening!