Foodie Tour Part 1: Gmunden, Austria

Our stomachs led us to choose our first Euro-trip destination: Camping on the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia. Here's how we reasoned the location for our midterm break journey:

1) It's currently truffle season there. When are we ever going to afford to eat truffles again?

       But it's kind of far, especially for a few days...

2) And it's famous for wine. Wine is good.

       We'll have to rent a car; there are no direct trains/buses/flights.
 
3) The drive will be beautiful; it's on the Adriatic Sea. And just think: Fish! Squid!

       We DO miss seafood...   

4) Istria was once a part of Italy, so it has excellent Italian/Croatian cuisine.

       Sold!

To get to the peninsula, we had to pass through Austria and Slovenia. So we planned a route that allowed us to visit Cousin Liv in Gmunden, Austria, where she's working as an English teacher. Here are a few shots of the idyllic little community she lives in, on Lake Traunsee:

Posed in a cobblestone intersection 

Even the doors are cute

St. Nepomuk keeps an eye on the lake

A pretty city... and lots of coots

We ate a traditional Austrian dinner at a fancyish place on the lake that, of course, let Jayda sit with us. I didn't get pictures of the food, but BW had a porkbelly hash, Liv ate spinach knodel, and I had a meat version. The owner has published a line of cookbooks; here's a picture of the knodel from her site:

It was good