Gmunden
Travelogue
Gmunden on the Traunsee was a place where we had happy memories from 1967, feeding swans on a rainy day, visiting Schloß Ort, and buying souvenirs at the largest and oldest ceramic factory in Europe. This time, when we arrived, it was once again rainy. Undeterred, we walked from our very posh Seehotel Schwann in the central Platz, across from the famous Rathaus with its famous glockenspiel. The original mechanism was built in the eighteenth century with the current set of ceramic bells installed in 1961. So the bells we heard on our previous visit are still there today!
The Gasthof we stayed at was older than the glockenspiel (although not the Rathaus). The original entryway still stands in the lobby, with a date of 1585! The rooms have been updated and were quite comfortable. And the breakfast was the best I had, complete with a mimosa! I typically ate soft-boiled eggs (an Austrian favorite) each morning, but this time the poached eggs looked good. And as always, the breads and pastry!
The Schloß in 1967
The interior today
We didn't get a chance to feed any swans, but we did walk to the Schloß and toured it. That was old as well, with the current structures dating to about 1626, but building on a castle built in 1080 by Hartnidus of Ort, but probably on top of a Roman castle that was mentioned in records from around 909. Here's an old image of the Schloß during a winter festival that included ice skating and an old version of Curling!
We didn't go to the ceramics factory this time, but we did visit a museum that included about equal parts local history and ceramics through time. The Gmundner Keramik Manufaktur began in 1492, which makes it the oldest ceramic business still operating in Europe. It claims to be the largest also, with a daily production of about 5,000 pieces of tableware. Although most of its current production is white with colorful stripes, our favorite style (which we bought in 1967) was more like the green and tan on the upper shelf in the middle of this shot from the museum.
