If you had to go to the hospital, then you would like to have a nurse like Sabine Eisner: clever, hands-on, friendly, in a good mood despite some adversities and with a sure eye for the wishes of the other person. However, Sabine Eisner is no longer a nurse, but a landlady (she also manages a fitness club and a franchise for medical products). “Nine years ago I started helping out here,” she says, “and at some point I was asked if I wanted to take over the inn completely.”
The inn is Die Stube in the Maximilianhof of Altmünster am Traunsee, a more than 150 year old inn. Or better: the remains of this inn, which was run for many years by a nephew of the first Austrian Chancellor, Leopold Figl, as people in Altmünster still proudly say. The nephew, however, remained childless, and the property was sold eleven years ago. The guest rooms were made into rental apartments, and the large inn hall into offices. The room was preserved. “The floor is still original,” says Eisner, “if it could talk, it would have something to tell.”
Sabine Eisner, landlady at the Maximilianstube inn in Altmünster am Traunsee.
(Photo: Art Editorial Team)
The parlor has now been nicely spruced up and has an excellent, traditional inn kitchen. For which the gourmet guide Gault&Millau even awarded chef Florian Eckmair one of its coveted toques. His cuisine is very up to date; “We use the whole animal,” says the landlady. For example, as an amuse gueule there is a baked Blunzn (blood sausage) with potato seed oil salad, followed by truffled Krautfleckerl and boiled beef with bread horseradish and potato pancakes, a classic of the famous Viennese beef cuisine.
The Traunsee is so beautiful, as if the attribute “picturesque” had been invented just for it
Die Stube is a prime example, albeit an upscale one, of an inn that is becoming rarer and rarer. Poets and writers from the Alpine region, from Ödön von Horváth to Gerhard Polt, have repeatedly paid homage to the inn as a spiritual way of life, sometimes even scorning it. But as an important center of events, it is simply indispensable. And the Traunsee tourist region is now devoting a whole series of events to him for the third time: the “Felix Tavern Festival”. Felix because the Romans baptized the lake “lacus felix”, the happy lake.
The name is appropriate; The Traunsee lies at the foot of the 1691 meter high Traunstein so outrageously beautiful, as if the attribute “picturesque” had been invented just for it. Unfortunately, the German tourists coming from Salzburg often leave it on the right (or south) on the way to Linz or Vienna, they are probably already exhausted by Mondsee and Attersee, which are further west on the route. Which can definitely be considered a mistake.
Above the lake and in the lake: the summit of the Traunstein forms the backdrop for an upscale inn culture.
(Photo: Rudolf Gigler/imago images)
The restaurateurs and hoteliers around the Traunsee would like to fix that, and that’s why they thought about how to get a little more attention a few years ago. “Gourmet festivals are a dime a dozen,” says Wolfgang Gröller, one of them, “that’s why we said to ourselves: We’re doing an inn festival that fits in perfectly with our region.” It also has a bit to do with understatement. Gröller is the largest hotelier on the lake, a lively entrepreneurial personality who likes to get things done and certainly not only makes friends, but also envious people. His family took over the Hotel zur Post in Traunkirchen a long time ago – the Poststube 1327 located there is also a beautiful inn with a modernized and yet traditional inn kitchen, the fried chicken is a hit on the menu.
But the Gröllers weren’t satisfied with that, the four-star resort “Das Traunsee” was added right on the shore, with a spa and the four-toque restaurant Bootshaus, where the head chef Lukas Nagl is known above all for his fish dishes . It’s definitely not a “tavern” anymore. And Nagl has for a few years changed the Japanese art of fermentation to Austrian with its own brand Luvi and now also produces high-quality regional soy sauces and miso.
In the Bootshaus restaurant, head chef Lukas Nagl cooks at four-toque level.
(Photo: Christof Wagner)
At the tavern festival, Traunkirchen is consequently more responsible for the gourmet section; At the end of March, for example, the vegetarian star chef Paul Ivic vom Wiener Tian was a guest in the magnificent baroque ballroom of the local Jesuit monastery, which now belongs to the community. And on April 16th, the Israeli restaurateur Haya Molcho, who made Levantine cuisine popular in German-speaking countries with her Neni restaurants, will cook up a big meal here and invite you to an Easter brunch in the Poststube the following day.
During the festival until May 1st, you can experience how diverse the tavern culture at the lake can be. The dumpling boat trip on April 22nd and the “Knödlroas” with the omnibus a week later may seem monothematic at first glance, but that is deceptive. There are also plenty of fish huts around the lake – almost an insider tip: Trawöger am See near Altmünster. For ten euros there is perfectly grilled farmed char with garlic oil and lemon. Hikers like to aim for the Wurzenhütte near Gschwandt, the innkeeper has his own breeding of Galloway cattle and attaches great importance to the classics of the inn’s cuisine. And the Berggasthof Urzn, nine kilometers behind Gmunden, offers a fantastic view of the lake. In addition to the view, there are quickly prepared standards of excursion gastronomy here, we recommend hash dumplings (potato dumplings with meat filling) with sauerkraut and, of course, the Kaiserschmarrn.
Those who like original Upper Austrian cuisine are in the right place on the north side of the lake, in the Landhotel Grünberg am See. According to legend, owner Franz Pernkopf invented the tavern festival with Gröller, and his hotel restaurant with the best view of the lake holds local cuisine very high. No wonder, Pernkopf’s wife Ingrid, who died in 2016, was the best-known Austrian cookbook author and an excellent cook. Your cooking school in the hotel will be continued in your spirit. During the festival, but also afterwards, you can take courses here, from strudel to young lamb to all kinds of dumplings.
In Gmunden some things look like a magnificent film set: Greetings from Peter Alexander
The Landhotel Grünberg belongs to Gmunden, the main town on the lake with a great past. During the Imperial and Royal period, Gmunden was a popular health resort, as can be seen on the lakeside promenade. It gives the small town with its 13,000 inhabitants a touch of Cannes or Nice. Even if instead of Grace Kelly and Gary Grant only Peter Alexander came to film. After all, the German-Austrian television series “Schlosshotel Orth” was also filmed here between 1996 and 2004 (at least with Klaus Wildbolz and Jenny Jürgens). The Seeschloss Orth on the western shore is still a pilgrimage destination for fans, but not a hotel, and the large, oval, green signs pointing to the original locations of the family series can be found on all sorts of corners on the Traunsee: With 144 episodes, something comes together.
Some things here look like a magnificent film set, for example the art deco lido on the south-western edge of town. Or the wonderful confectionery Grellinger on Franz-Josef-Platz, which is also a small coffee house museum because it has existed since 1878. Senior manager Wolfgang Brenner is happy to explain the slightly faded black and white photos on the walls to guests. “That’s what our apprentices are,” he says and then laughs: “Naa! Not the Emperor!” Of course, Emperor Franz Joseph was also a guest, as a historical photograph proves.
Pastries like out of a picture book: the Grellinger pastry shop in Gmunden.
(Photo: Viktoria Brenner)
Yes, coffee and pastries of all kinds are of course an important part of the culinary culture at the lake. Coffee has been made in the Nussbaumer coffee roastery for more than 80 years. Today, Austria’s youngest coffee roaster, Marlene Drack, does it. The 23-year-old continues to run the family business with great commitment and relies on fair trade, including with women’s cooperatives from Guatemala. On Tuesdays and Saturdays you can take part in a guided tour of the roastery with a subsequent tasting during the tavern festival, and the Nussbaumer coffee can be found quite often in the better restaurants around the lake.
But there are other discoveries to be made. In the rather touristy Kandur am See coffee house, there are still rarities such as banana and eggnog slices on the menu. The Rathauscafé Brandl, once frequented by the poet and playwright Thomas Bernhard, who lived only eight kilometers away in Obernathal, has become more of a bar. After all: “Noise, singing, shouting is forbidden in the guest garden,” announces a sign at the entrance. The passionate pub stool Bernhard would have liked that very much.
travel information
Getting there: From Salzburg Airport by car via the A1 in 50 minutes (81 kilometers) to Gmunden, from Munich in two hours and 20 minutes (215 kilometers). By train from Munich via Salzburg and Attnang to Gmunden in about three hours. Buses are the main service at the lake itself.
Stay: sea hotel The TraunseeKlosterplatz 4 in Traunkirchen, Tel. 0043-7617-2216, 16 suites, 12 double rooms, 16 suites, double rooms from 82 euros per person, low season, 157 euros in the high season. Landhotel Grünberg am See, Traunsteinstraße 109, Gmunden, Tel. 0043-7612-777 00, double room from 95 euros. Seehotel Schwan, Rathausplatz 8, Gmunden, double room from 70-90 euros.
Tavern Festival Felix: Until May 1st, numerous events, on the weekend before Easter e.g. B. Easter market at Rathausplatz Gmunden from 8.-10. April. The entire program can be found online at wirtshausfestival.at
The research trip for this article was partly supported by tour operators, hotels, airlines and/or tourism agencies.