Gästehaus Erzherzog Eugen Markt 38 5450 Werfen (Austria) Tel - 6468/5210 ~ Fax 6468/75523 Email - obauer-krieger@sbg.at 12 Rooms with bath/shower/toilet, phone, radio, TV (Recommended by Bill & Suzie)

We arrive in Werfen at about 1800 hours. Shops are closed. The little berg of Werfen is nice, quiet, and from all appearances, more a “pass by” than a “tourist stop.” We settled on the old town area, checked a few zimmers (looking at the rooms etc), and chose one. Little did we know, this was to become one of our top 10 favorite zimmers in all our travels to date. Gästehaus Erzherzog Eugen, with it’s pink front overlooking the quaint, old, cobble stoned street was no obvious attraction above others, but it did look neat, clean and smelled good as we walked in the door. Little did we know (later we learned from internet at home) it is a 4 star Gästehaus.

Evening dinner was at the only sidewalk café that had customers. It just happened to be across the street from our Gästehaus Zimmer. Even though locals of all ages were in and out, sitting and visiting, we appeared the only tourists in the town. Another reason we decided tourists were rare was the obvious conversations of the elders around us and the eyes that continually looked our way, more in curiosity than criticism.

As daylight dimmed, we finally returned to Gästehaus Erzherzog Eugen where we met an exciting older man who turned out to be the father of the owner and a former owner of the zimmer. He was charming and very excited to learn we were from the U.S. Out came his autographed pictures of past “American visitors”… including Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Clint Eastwood, who were guests during a location movie shoot (Remember the movie “Where Eagles Dare?”) and a host of other world renown recognizable personalities. The old man was also an artist of beautiful metal sculptures as well as a highly decorated chef. His restaurant is just down the street, but it was closed for the day.

The old man spoke not a word of English, and our German is limited at best, but his enthusiasm and sparkling, excited eyes were just too much to ignore. Our 30 minute visit produced unbelievable communication, fun, and friendship. And his tour of the gastehaus opened our eyes to a hidden beauty of his “world class” appreciation of art, craftsmanship, and collections. Also his trove of gifts from the above mentioned dignitaries of bygone years would fill hours of time, given the time.

Our rooms were wonderful, roomy, and very comfortable. They included an ante-area between the front door and the door to our room, a large bedroom, and a large bathroom, complete with so many of the finer touches. Small sitting area with television (with satellite) and PPD Bar (Pay Per Drink). Our back windows overlooked the beautiful garden behind the Gästehaus, and we even had our own little screened-in porch large enough for a small table-for-two.