Hiking the Stubnerkogel mountain in the early morning in Bad Gastein made us pretty thirsty for some coffee. It was the time of day when the body goes "It's time for our favorite daily warm beverage."
Luckily for us we spotted a nice chalet style restaurant during on our walk back down to the city.
The restaurant was built like a cabin in the woods, with a large outdoor terrace with red umbrellas that stood out against the green and blue backdrop of the mountains and forest.
The bright contrasting colors were like a beacon for us as soon as it came into view. They were calling us in.
As you can see by the open and empty patio, it wasn't busy at all that day. The inside was the same, empty without a single patron.
I was actually quite surprised that it was open at all given the how many places were shut down in the city for the summer. Eventually a few people did end up trickling in here and there.
They must have been doing the same hike that we were, and I suppose it wasn't even noon by the time we arrived, so I guess it made sense that it was so dead. It probably gets a lot busier at lunch time.
The restaurant was called Bergstadl. I tried to translate that to English and could only gather that Berg means mountain. Being surrounded by mountains I think that it makes sense to include the word in its name.
I couldn't figure out exactly what stadl means but I'm guessing that it translates to something like house or restaurant.
Again, a name like "Mountain House" or "Mountain Restaurant" would make a lot of sense for such a place given the setting.
We ordered our drinks and sat on the patio in the sun for some time enjoying the coffees and the view.
I popped inside to check things out after we were finished. We all ordered the same simple coffee and didn't order any food or anything so there weren't many food and beverage photos to take. Sorry.
The inside of the restaurant had a rustic decor and carried on with the woodsy cabin and winter chalet style theme.
Axes and pick axes decorated the wood paneled walls.
There was also saw a little nook with homemade preservatives and drinks for sale. These things added to the overall homey rustic vibe.
Once we were done everything and the check was paid we continued our way on down the mountain. We were about half way up at that point and the mid-way cable car station was just around the bend so we jumped on that to complete the journey. It was still quite early in the day so we needed to find something else to do in Bad Gastein before dinner time. But I guess that is a story for another day.