In the Salzkammergut region, southern part of Upper Austria

 "The midwife of history is violence." -- Franz Joseph I of Austria

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(in the southern part of Upper Austria, the center of Austria's Salzkammergut region) The Salzkammergut is a dramatic region of alpine and subalpine lakes, deeply carved valleys, rolling hills and rugged, steep mountain ranges. Much of the region is remote wilderness, and even in the heavily visited parts, such as the Wolfgangsee and Mondsee, you’ll always find isolated areas where still, glassy waters provide limitless opportunities for boating, swimming, fishing, or just sitting on the shore and skimming stones. The popular Hallstätter See (lake), flanked by soaring mountains that offer great hiking, is arguably the most spectacular of the lakes. Salt was once the ‘white gold’ of the Salzkammergut, and the mines that made it famous now provide an interesting journey back in time to the settlers of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture, and to the Celts and Romans. Featured here is the town of Bad Ischl, found at the confluence of the Traun and Ischler Ache rivers, about 26 miles (~42 km) southeast of Salzburg. Now a spa town, it is known as a gateway to the Alpine lakes and mountains of the Salzkammergut region. First mentioned in records of 1262, Bad Ischl received municipal status in 1940. The center of the Salzkammergut resort region, the town has saline, iodine, and sulfur springs and has been a much-frequented spa since 1822. It became internationally known as the summer residence of Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary, from 1854 to 1914 and was frequented by the composers Franz Lehar, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, and Johann Strauss the Younger. The Imperial Villa is open to the public, and Lehar’s home is now a museum.