Out and about in Alberner Hafen
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Today I had a day off, and went Geocaching to explore a remote corner of Vienna that I don’t know – Albern/Alberner Hafen. There are a fair few caches out and about in that corner of Vienna. I started off with a traditional cache that was on part of the old Pressburger Bahn. The Pressburger Bahn once connected Vienna and Bratislava (Pressburg). Next up was a mystery cache of classic Pappay design. The telephone box housing the mystery cache had been unceremoniously removed during the spring. Where it once stood was now a repair to the tarmac on the pavement. The owner let me cache it and then archived the cache, which was kind.
Fortunately the next cache I found in a wood at the back of the industrial estate, was a real treat. Once I had found my way into the wood I quickly found the cache. Das sinnlose Rohr has over 325 favourite points at the time of writing.
Woodland trails and Treppelweg
I then went to explore an area at the back of the Alberner Hafen. There was the 08/15 Treppelweg route, as well as a trail through the wood. I went for the latter. To call it a trail was interesting – in places, fallen trees blocked narrow paths – and it was quite an effort. One that was well worth it, because I came within 10 feet of a young red deer. The cache had a good view towards the Alberner Hafen, close to where the controversial Lobau tunnel would have run. After a second mystery cache, again by Pappay, I grabbed the 76a bus back into a more urban area.
Back into town
The 76a serves the Simmeringer Haide. I resisted the temptation to grab some more caches. The bus runs infrequently (15 minute frequencies). It mainly serves people knocking off from the Mistplatz, the sewage plant, the power station and the industrial estates. There are a few residential areas en route.
I headed up the U3 for a quick Adventure Lab by Kardinal-Nagl-Platz. Further up the U3 I grabbed a virtual cache at Stephansdom before heading home. 6 caches (3 tradi, 2 mysti, 1 virtual) and a 5 station adventure lab was my tally for the day.
Postscript
A few Vienna-based and Viennese friends and colleagues looked at me in amazement and bewilderment over the last few days when I said I’d been off to Alberner Hafen. One particularly pithy retort was “I thought people only went there when their car was towed, their pet died or by mistake after buying something on Willhaben”.