23rd September 2025

Hallein

Hallein is a commuter town near Salzburg with around 20,000 people. Which makes it a major town by Austrian standards. Historically it’s known for two things: salt mining (see Salt World) and being the home of the Celts (see Hallein Celtic Museum). The Christmas carol Silent Night was also written there.

The “hal” element in the name is believed to come from a Celtic word meaning salt. Rock salt itself is still known as halite. The river that flows through the town is the Salzach, and its waters are a strange opaque pastel turquoise from all the minerals. There’s also a famous junction at Haiming in Bavaria where the pastel Salzach water meets the fairly normal coloured water of the river Inn and forms a dramatic line, much like the one in Passau. I was in town to teach some local business studies students, who had all done work experience at the nearby Frosch (Frog) washing up liquid company and had funny stories about it, and somehow the pastel river water is forever associated in my head with the washing up liquid. I doubt it turns your sink water fantasy turquoise though.

Here is the view from my hotel room. Unusually for scenic Austrian hotels, there was a petrol station with a convenience store in that was open in the evenings. Which is an unheard of level of luxury and modern living. It was quite a walk from town and the college where I was teaching however, so we had to get a taxi in the mornings.

There were also local takeaways that delivered, which seemed like a luxury until I ate their food. Worst chana masala I’ve ever had. I mentioned the food to the students, and they were confused because that restaurant used to sell Greek food, but had clearly pivoted to offering Indian too without ever having eaten any.

The weather that April alternated between brilliant sunshine and hail and slushy snow. The Hallein number plates laughed at my predicament when I got caught in a hailstorm. There are lots of covered parking spots in this part of Austria for obvious practical reasons.

If you ever need to know where an Austrian car comes from in a hurry, here’s your guide. I mostly took a photo because I wanted to tick off which regions I’d been to. It’s most of them now. Holdouts: Lienz (Osttirol), Reutte (although I taught online at a school there over lockdown) and Hermagor (deepest darkest Carinthia).

My walk home every day when it wasn’t sleeting.

If it’s spring in Austria, they’re serving up wild garlic. The cream of wild garlic soup actually makes a great dip for the chips.

Hallein Old Town is full of interesting old buildings, and much more down at heel than is the usual for Austria, where one of the national sports is doing up buildings within an inch of their lives. I kind of liked the rackety kind of loucheness of the back streets.

Town Library. You have to fees to use libraries in Austria- some charge per year, other per item. I looked up the prices in Hallein and children’s books are free, but adult books are 40¢ a month per book. The Austrians are not big readers, and bookshops are often pretty disappointing, something I talked about in length in my Mitteleuropa book.

I feel like this guy will happily take a few bribes, sell you a few dodgy papal indulgences. Got a few “nephews” who need jobs.

There is a booze version of every popular chocolate bar in Austria.

I don’t know how good pine cone schnapps tastes. I imagine it’s either really refreshing, or really disgusting, no in-between. The Pine Master’s potion will probably aid your quest however.

Vandalism isn’t really a thing in Austria, so stuff like this is left out overnight. Kids are kept busy with stuff like Fire Brigade Scouts where they set stuff on fire, and learn how to put it out again.

Supermarket divider reminding you that paying with cash is anonymous. Your purchases are shameful.

Austrians are in a constant rivalry about altitude. It’s important to know your altitude in the Alps, so you can effectively look down on rival villages with fewer metres than you.

He’ll cut off your thumbs if you don’t cry about the haircut he gives you. Take one letter away and he’s Joachim Knife rather than Joachim Sacristan too.