We spent week 18 immersed in beautiful Austria.
The week started as it finished, with stunning scenery. The drive through the Karwendel mountain range from Bavaria to Innsbruck in Austria was beautiful, the autumn colour added drama to the steep mountainsides. A poor policeman was trying to move a herd of cows from the road as traffic backed up in both directions. The cows didn’t seem worried, the policeman did. Campervan after campervan passed us going in the opposite direction. Did they know something we didn’t? We asked our host when we arrived at our campsite and he said they’re like birds, all flying home for winter.
The Austrian elections are taking place on October 15th and election hoardings line the roads. If polls are right Austria could have the world’s youngest leader, with 31-year old Sebastian Kurz’s party looking the likely victors. He leads the centre-right party and has not ruled out a coalition with the leading nationalist party, a party with anti-EU views. It’s hard not to think that maybe the open Europe we travel so easily through won’t be around forever. Most of the “open” borders we cross have police presence and all the former border control buildings remain intact, blinds down, dormant but not extinct.
We arrived at our campsite in Innsbruck around 3.30, a cute little place about 2/3 the size of a rugby field with a friendly host who came out to meet us and gave us all the information we needed. We set up camp and then biked the 6.5kms to the centre of Innsbruck along the River Inn.
Our first impressions of Innsbruck were of a young and vibrant town. The University is right in the centre and there were a lot of young people around. In one of the underpasses we cycled through street artists were at work spray-painting the interior, it looked great. The city’s natural beauty can’t be overlooked. It sits on the River Inn surrounded by huge mountains.
We wandered around for a couple of hours and got our bearings. It’s always interesting arriving in a new place, you blindly fumble around for the first hour and then, after identifying some landmarks, start to put the pieces together, and after a day you know it like the back of your partners hand.
The rain started to fall and we headed back to camp.
The rain continued through the night and all the next morning. We spent the morning holed up in the campervan, reading and resting. Finally, around midday the rain stopped and the sun came out so it was on our bikes and back into town.
Innsbruck is bidding for the 2026 Winter Olympics and there are information stations around the city raising awareness. The city has already hosted the games twice, in 1964 and 1976, and was the venue for the Youth Winter Olympics in 2012.
We had seen the Olympic Bergisel Ski Jump from a distance the day before and decided to go to the top. It’s been a ski jump venue since the 20’s, and the new ski jump tower built in 2002 is used for one of the big annual ski jumping competitions and as a training ground for athletes. It stands at 50m tall, 250m above Innsbruck. Standing at the top of the jump looking out over Innsbruck and down to the 28,000 empty seats in the stadium below you can only imagine the adrenaline these jumpers must feel before they push forward and begin their 90 km/h run down the ramp, launching off the bottom and out into nothing. No doubt this futuristic tower will feature prominently in their Olympic pitch.
We walked back into town, through the Triumphal Arch, past St Anne’s Column and into the Old Town quarter amongst the throngs of tourists taking photos of the City Tower, Helbling House and the famous Golden Roof.
The next morning, we left for Salzburg. We arrived around 1pm, set up camp and then biked into town – now our usual routine. Salzburg is the home of Mozart and The Sound of Music. The old city in nestled beneath slate grey cliffs with the Hohensalzburg Fortress sitting above, protectively overlooking the activity below. Salzburg got its name and its wealth from salt, white gold in times gone by. The city almost looks like it is made from salt, the buildings are all coloured a light stone-grey and other subtle hues, there are no brights to be seen, apart from the one yellow townhouse at 9 Getreidegasse where Mozart was born.
Salzburg is very compact and easy to walk around. We walked down bustling Getreidegasse at the heart of the Altstadt (Old Town) with the fascinating ornate guild signs jutting out from the building facades above all the high street shops and eateries. There was the most stylish set of Golden Arches we’d ever seen.
We walked through to Salzburg Cathedral where Mozart was baptized and saw the baptismal font that was used. The interior of the cathedral is beautiful in an ornate baroque style. Not far from here is Mozart Platz with the famous statue of Mozart. The statue was obscured as the square was being used for an interactive expo on Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). Set up in the square were the actual tents used in the field as clinics and surgeries. Having only ever read about the good work this organisation does operating in the most war torn and poverty-stricken parts of the world, it was great to stumble upon the expo.
We finished the day with a walk through the beautiful Mirabell Gardens and I had my fun channelling Julie Andrews by the Pegasus Fountain, where Maria and the Von Trapp children sing Do-Re-Mi in the Sound of Music movie.
After an afternoon in the city we had plenty of ideas of how we wanted to spend the next day. Back at the campsite the evening was warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the view across the mountains with the flame red sunset. No wonder this campsite is called Camping Panorama!
The next day we bought a 24-hour Salzburg tourist card for 27 euro each. This gives you access to all the major tourist attractions and after a quick calculation we worked out we’d make a 14-euro saving by just visiting the three we’d already decided on, so by adding another couple we would well and truly get our money’s worth.
After buying a fresh brioche at Salzburg’s oldest bakery, where the flour is still ground by water wheel, we took the funicular up the cliff to Hohensalzburg Fortress. This sprawling fortification is the biggest fully preserved castle in Central Europe and has been a Salzburg landmark perched on the cliff top above the city since 1077. Over time it has changed size and shape under different archbishops, as they each made their mark on it.
When we’d fully explored the fortress, and admired the view across the city and mountains, we descended the cliff and headed to the catacombs, a warren of stairways and chambers hewn into the side of the cliffs. It was the first time we’d walked up to catacombs and not down under ground. The church yard they were set in was quite lovely, instead of gravestones, the memorials were of intricate wrought iron with gilded embellishments.
A tour of the Domquartier was next on the agenda. The Domquartier is made up of the buildings around and including the cathedral and contain the residence of the prince-archbishops who ruled Salzburg, along with museums and art collections from the baroque period. We spent close to two hours marvelling at the ornate staterooms, regal private chambers, and the exquisite collections of baroque art and be-jewelled religious artefacts.
Mozart’s birthplace was another on the not-to-be-missed list. We’d walked past the famous “Hagenauer House” on the previous afternoon and now it was time to step inside. The museum is inside the actual apartment where the Mozart family lived for 26 years, so understandably it is a bit poky and it doesn’t take many people to be there for it to feel crowded and stuffy. However, the information was well displayed and the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his talented sister “Nannerl” was well told. The room where Mozart was born is a place of pilgrimage for fans. While we were there parents were eagerly taking photos of their children beside the piano Mozart played on as a child, perhaps hoping some of the child prodigy’s talent is absorbed.
We finished off the day with a river cruise. It was included in the Salzburg tourist card so was technically free. The Salzach river is extremely swift and shallow and the only passenger boat that operates on it, is a large jet boat. The tour took 45 minutes and was really just a boat ride up a river. There was nothing much to see as the river banks are high, but it was relaxing to be sitting in the sun listening to Mozart. At the end of the cruise the captain put the boat in a spin, turning it in time to a Mozart waltz, a bit of fun to finish the day.
The next day we headed to Hellbrunn Palace to see the famous trick fountains. Hellbrunn Palace was built 400 years ago by the prince-archbishop at the time, Markus Sittikus, as a pleasure place for summer entertainment. The palace is now a magnificent tribute to the eccentric Sittikus who seemed to spend his entire life seeking pleasure and play, and not much else.
The tour of the trick fountains was fantastic fun. They are a series of mechanical water features that spring to life just as an unsuspecting guest is standing on or around them. The centre piece is the large stone table where Markus Sittikus would entertain guests. As the night progressed and the guests got more and more merry he would flick the switch and fountains would erupt from the guests’ seats and as they jumped up in surprise more water would spray from the ground around the table. All the while Markus Sittikus would remain seated at the head of the table, bone dry.
Our tour guide was delightful and suitably mischievous. We were warned to watch our cameras as he couldn’t guarantee we stayed dry, and we didn’t. We were in fits of giggles watching the reactions of others in the group as they were continually caught out by the trick fountains hiding in grottos and under steps, and no doubt they were laughing at us too.
The trick fountains were an apt finale to the few days we spent in Salzburg. There’s a playfulness to this city. From Mozart and the Sound of Music, to the indulgence of the baroque prince-archbishops, Salzburg seems to relish in the pleasures of life.
To finish our week in Austria we decided to head to the mountains and chose the small town of Spittal au der Drau as our base for a couple of nights.
Spittal au der Drau is near the border with Slovenia and Italy and to get there from Salzburg meant driving through more mountains. We had bought a vignette sticker for Austria for 8.70 euro, which covers tolls on most motorways, but had to pay an additional 11.50 for an impressive tunnel through the mountains. These incredible feats of engineering never fail to amaze us.
Above Spittal au der Drau is the Mount Goldeck recreational area, with a network of walking tracks high in the mountains. The day we planned to spend up there dawned clear and chilly. With a high of 11 expected in the village it was just 4 degrees when we arrived at the top of the gondola, a height of 2050 metres. We climbed the short distance to the summit of Mount Goldeck and soaked up the 360-degree views of mountain range after mountain range. We hiked along the ridge for a couple of hours, stopping regularly to enjoy more views from the peaks and to sit in the sun. We met some very friendly locals who pointed out Austria’s highest mountain Grossglockner in the distance. Another couple pointed out Italy and shared their experiences of visiting New Zealand. Everyone was relaxed and happy. On one of the slopes a group of women were picking berries from low lying scrub-like bushes. We asked what they were doing and they showed us the alpine cranberries that they were picking to make jam and a traditional sauce for schnitzel. They were bitter, unlike the cranberries we know.
As dusk fell we descended into the valley and reflected on a perfect way to spend our last full day in Austria.
Tomorrow we start our 19th week on the road and head through to Slovenia.
