Anka's World - blogging at higher a(l)titude: adventure, journey, sport, inspiration, motivation : My birthday 608

As I started back in October 2017, every month on 10th I celebrate my birthday. I forgott about it for the last three months, but today, having another extraordinary day, I suddenly remembered that the date of 10th means something to me ....

I cycled from Zell am See via Maishofen to Ritzensee und Castle in Saalfelden for 17 km over the fields and through some forest segments taking Martin out for a walk around the sea. He is living there since February in a small apartment of a holiday house havig access to a small wonderful piece of garten.

Two days before I discovered the route as I rode back from a long ride, here some more details and pictures.

I am now exactly four years in this country and I still do not get enough of it .... every corner is like a paradise or I simple changed so much, that I see only paradise corners all around me :-) We have the choice about what we want to see, right? Yeah-yeah, so simple to say it ....

Wonderful weather and just few people around, which keep the area more pleasant to be admired. Only about ten minutes from the centre of the town of Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer there is this amazing area of the Ritzen Lake and Castle on the edge of forests and cow pastures. We went around the lake along that hill in background from where I had a fascinating panorama over the town, lake and the mountains range.

Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer is a town in the district of Zell am See in the Austrian state of Salzburg. With approximately 16,000 inhabitants, Saalfelden is the district's largest town and the third of the federal state after Salzburg and Hallein. (The Source: Wikipedia)

Although the Saalfelden area has always been the most populous of the historic Pinzgau region, the seat of the district administration is situated in the neighbouring town of Zell am See.

Saalfelden Basin

Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer lies at 744 m (2,441 ft) above sea level and its municipal area covers 118 km² (46 sq mi).

The largest proportion of the municipality is formed by the Saalfelden Basin (Saalfeldner Becken) situated between the Northern Limestone Alps ranges of:

the Steinernes Meer high plateau to the north, forming the border with Germany
the Leogang Mountains and the Biberg to the west
the Hochkönig massif and the Salzburg Slate Alps to the east.

To the south the basin is generally open, running into the Zell Basin (Zeller Becken) with Lake Zell and the Salzach river – hence the term Zell-Saalfelden Basin Zeller-Saalfeldener Becken is also used for the whole valley – and enables a view of the High Tauern, especially the prominent Kitzsteinhorn and Wiesbachhorn peaks. The two basins are separated by a barely discernible valley floor divide. This trough is one of the largest inner-Alpine basins.

The main river in the basin is the Saalach. It rises in the upper Glemm Valley, empties into the basin south of Saalfelden and passes through it from south to north. A right tributary of the Saalach flowing through the borough of Saalfelden from east to west is the Urslau creek. A left tributary, the Leoganger Ache, empties into the Saalach from the west. In addition there are several smaller tributary streams. In the centre of the basin is the Kühbühel ("cow-hill") which is a good 100 m (330 ft).

The only lake in the expansive basin is the man-made Ritzensee, excavated for leisure purposes. Other artificial ponds have been laid out primarily for angling and tourism.

Just leaving the street where Martin is living, on the corner there is an old small house which invites to admiration and a sort of wishing to buy it :-) It for sure needs a lot of investition on being renovated and probably modernized. But it looks charming:

And turning around we have the Ritzen Castle in front of us.

Starting from an early medieval castle complex, the building structure changed constantly over the centuries.

It was continuously cultivated and demolished and in 1892 a fire destroyed much of the property.

Only when the castle Ritzen got into public hands, a further decay could be prevented.

The castle and its remaining old buildings have been restored and renovated. Also some access and connection buildings were built.The oldest tradition that refers to this manor, dates back to 1339. At that time the property was still called "Grub" and the owner was the dynasty of Grafenberg.

Mentioned is that a certain Konrad Grafenberger his son Alex "the good Grub in the Saalfeldner Pfarr" left. Other well-known owners were then the family Wispeck, a Reichenhaller citizen Schönberger and the dynasty of the Ramseider, which died out in 1579.

Their heirs sold to the Gastein trades Hans and Christoph Weitmoser. When Christoph Weitmoser died in 1603, his heirs, the Lords of Ritz, acquired this castle in 1604 and gave their name.

The sons of the Lord of Ritz then came to great wealth, but also lost again because of the very elaborate lifestyle. Until 1787 Castle Ritzen remained in the possession of the dynasty, and then came in "peasant" hands, most recently a family Rohrmoser until 1937.

1964 acquired the then market town (now municipality) Saalfelden the remains of this old manor, which the rescue of the remaining components was possible.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Ritzen#/media/File:Schloss_Ritzen_1930.jpg

Since 1968, the main building now houses the Saalfeldner Heimatmuseum with a very valuable and well-known crib exhibition. Many of these Christian-religious nativity scenes come from the well-known Saalfeld nativity scene maker Xandi Schläffer. He died on 18 November 1984.

His cribs were given and have a homeland reference and in the context of the exhibition one finds out: "he built farms with stone roofs and housings with dissected boardings. He always built with great love the open stable of Bethlehem, but also whole nativity villages from Pinzgau, all true to nature and to the stable, which always remained the center; and in the background he painted the panorama of the Stone Sea. "

Around the lake there are plenty of possibilities to walk, run or even bike. The entire area is carefully and in harmony with the nature arranged, what is a fascinating component of this society. Love for details is one of the main elements and the combination with educational tools through subtile marketing methodes always fascinated me.

These housings are specially made for insects, all kind of insect. The idea is: "They need their place. We, humans, take a lot from the nature and destroy almost everything. We should not forgett about the importance to conservate the natural habitate of others living beings.!

The local municipality take care of these kind of things all over the year around.

The round walk by the lake offers a lot of other cute things to see :-) and one of them could be Lichtenberg Castle:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Lichtenberg_(%C3%96sterreich)

The rest of the story .... is just about amazing sceneries ....

So much history, well preserved history all over the country .... this makes this country more fascinating for me.

Austria has all is needed for a happy nation, but ..... a great deal of compassion and heart got lost or it was never a strength .... hot & ice cold in the same time, what a pitty!

running, running ..... free running !!!!!!!

We reached Saalfelden Town and Martin brought me to the center for a cake, coffee, ice or what ever.

The town is very crowded with very old, old and new buildings.

this is for sure a very old former farmer house - heavy big buildings are the old farmer households

Early archaeological findings in the Saalfelden Basin date back to the Neolithic Era. A continuous settlement is documented since the late Iron Age, when Celtic tribes moved into the region. From the 7th century AD onwards, Bavarians settled the area from the north. About 100 years later the estates of Salvet on the Saalach river were first mentioned in a register by the Bishops of Salzburg. While they became part of the Carolingian Empire, the lands were incorporated into the Frankish Pinzgau county.

The Saalfelden estates were acquired by Archbishop Hartwig of Salzburg about 1000; and by the early 13th century, the whole Pinzgau region was part of the prince-bishops' lands.

Saalfelden was first mentioned as a market town in the mid 14th century. It remained part of the Salzburg prince-archbishopric until its secularisation in 1803.

With the Salzburg lands, Saalfelden finally fell to the Austrian Empire in 1816. It achieved town status in 2000.

I enjoyed a lot the ice coffee and the cake in the heart of the old town

I started then my back home cycling route at about 4 a.m. and I thought in about 50 minutes I am home .... ha-ha-haaa ..... I prolongued my route with 15 kilometers and I discovered other corners of this paradise! And I got wet three times because of rain falls .... but it was excruciated beautifuuuuul!!!!