Continued...    At the "Castle of Eagles" When I had gathered my breath, I realized I was too late for the guided round trip. But I was lucky, there would be one last after the falcon-show! So I could start off with about 45 minutes of my own. I picked out my camera, and got to work. Having photo-graphed half the place, it was time for the falcon-show. Which turned out to be much more comprehensive than I'd expected. Starting off with a couple of smaller falcons, the falconeers (dressed in medieval hunting clothes) presented bigger and bigger birds of prey - and finishing off with eagles and even vultures, ranging up to one and a half meter between the wing-tips! It was really an experience - we had these birds flying just above our heads and landing on the fist of a falconeer in the middle of the crowd! And the falconeers made a lot of tricks with them too, like throwing up pieces of meat in the air, which the falcons could dive after. When the show was over I photographed the rest of the place, and went to join the guided tour. What can I say about the tour? Well, it was interesting above the expected. I got to see a few places I'd missed (not the golden hall in the movie, though!), and a girl dressed in medieval clothes told the story of the castle in German (see the Hohenwerfen history article!). After that I went to the souvenir-shop (it was closed, but they were kind and let me in anyway) and bought a nice T-shirt and a pin. This wasn't exactly what I'd wanted, but they didn't have much else that interested me. Then it was time for me to leave, and I decided to find the place where our heroes jump into the lake from the cable-car. But when I reached the estimated point, it was too dark to take photos - so I took a few photos of the castle at night (which became too dark) on my way back to the Gasthof instead. Then I had dinner, and went to sleep early - I was exhausted! Spooky morning In the morning I woke up to my alarm-clock ringing - I had to get up early so I could also see the city of Salzburg before going back to Vienna. I was quite astonished, facing the cows just outside my window when I rose from my bed! It was a very special feeling, being inside - and yet so close to such large animals! I also noted it was foggy outside, almost a bit spooky. Downstairs, I had breakfast. I asked if I could sit down by the next table, and got around to chat with three Austrians and a woman from New Zeeland. They had never guessed this was the castle in "Where Eagles Dare", so I told them [Enlarge] about it, and how the movie was recorded in these areas. After breakfast, I paid my bill, was wished a pleasant journey by the mistress and my breakfast company, and left. I took a few last pictures of the castle in the fog, and took the next train back to Salzburg and the 20th century. Article and photographs by Jakob Söderbaum All rights reserved WEB: The Fortress of Hohenwerfen [Top of page]