Flying high in the Austrian Alps

From sunny Trieste on the Adriatic we drive up through the Dolomites and over the Brenner Pass into Austria. 
In Stubaital, very close to Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol, there are enticing views to the Stubai glacier.

Sadly a trip up to the glacier was a no-go as the lift was under repair. But the Kreuzjoch mountain peaks are accessible via a cable car that whisks you up well over 2000 metres - to some pretty fabulous close encounters with the Stubai Alps.

In summer this is fantastic walking territory with the dozens of trails that are mapped out across the alpine landscape full of hikers. But the Stubai Alps and the Kreuzjoch in particular is also flying paradise for hang-gliders and para-gliders. 
It's something to do with wind conditions and thermal lift - whatever, there were countless human birds floating well above the height of these dizzying peaks.

I watched as Birdman here made awkward progress towards the take-off platform, suited in a contraption not designed for walking on terra firma ...

and stood for a very long moment on the edge, perhaps considering the wisdom of the terrifying leap he was about to make (well, I would too) ...

before tipping himself forward over the precipitous edge 

and into flight.

 This one, in contrast, less encumbered by gear and on a different slanted platform like a ski jump, didn't stop to think, just ran madly headlong downwards and off ...

Walking along an alpine trail I was glad to have the earth under my feet but couldn't stop wondering how incredible it must feel to be floating at these heights, light as air

At the chalet style café there is local beer, sausage and strudel served by dirndl-ed waitresses

and the less adventurous enjoy the views from benches

Give me a ski resort in the summer months any time.

Kreuzjoch, Stubaital, Austrian Tyrol, July 2016

Salzburg by road

I may have mentioned once or twice my love of road travel (see here). No crowded airports, dependence on schedules or faff about luggage and weight restrictions. Just throw all you like in the back of the car and drive to your own tune.

In Schengen Europe sans frontières, country borders tend to whizz past quite frequently, and with nothing more to mark them than a discreet sign on the roadside; blink and you've missed it.
So the week before last, taking in eight countries in eight days was less frantic than it sounds, involving a leisurely, unhurried pace by car.

Remich, Luxembourg, in the wine-making Moselle valley

Leaving London at lunchtime on Saturday, I was in Luxembourg, via France and Belgium, by late afternoon, for a night stop-over in picture-pretty Remich, on the bank of the Moselle river and vineyards.

The next morning we were in Germany in under 5 minutes, driving south-east ... bypassing industrial Karlsrühe and Stuttgart ... taking the ring road around Munich (sadly, it's been on my bucket list for ages) ... to Salzburg - only about 10 kms across the border of Bavaria. We've crossed the Moselle, Saar, Rhine and Danube in one day.

First impressions: entering the city in a summer rain shower through this extraordinary archway cut into the rockface was my first indication that Salzburg would not disappoint.

The setting is rather fairytale: there's the Salzach river (the old transport route for the salt that was the source of the city's wealth) with the domes and spires of the Altstadt ...

View of Salzburg: Altstadt, river and fortress from the Mönchsberg

below a 900 year old fortress, the Hohensalzburg, and a circle of Alps as the backdrop.

 There are the expected tourist icons: Mozart everywhere (fair enough, it's his hometown), fiakers with pretty ponies, baroque palaces and fountains, dirndls in every shade and style in shop windows ...

but no tackiness, an authenticity preserved

The Getreidegasse, smart shopping street, with original shop fronts

leads to the DomQuartier, home of princes and archbishops, where Mozart played some of his first concerts as a child prodigy

and from where you get a birds eye view from the roof

to the Residenzplatz circled by palaces

the Altermarkt with outdoor cafés 

and a fleet of waiting fiakers.

At the cathedral around the corner is the font where baby Mozart was baptised. Later he served as organist here.

Hills and mountains are the backdrop everywhere you look

View to Hohensalzburg fortress from the Grosses Festspielhaus - both concert venues

Love locks on the pedestrian Makartsteg bridge

Fiaker on Residenzplatz

And parts of the city are built theatrically into rockface

as here at the Mönchsberg, where a lift whizzes you way up to the top, to the Museum der Moderne

with the most fantastic views of the city

Back down in the Alter Markt there's Café Tomaselli, supposedly a favoured haunt of Mozart back in the 1700s and von Karajan (also a native Salzburger) some two centuries later  

for coffee and sachertorte.

Following Mozart's haunts definitely gets you brownie points here, one feels. He is after all the city's most famous and favoured son

But don't mention the Sound of Music - 

Warning in a fragment of an installation in the DomQuartier, part of an exhibition exploring Austrian identity (Raum, Zeit, Identität). 


Salzburg, Austria, July 2016

Alpine passes and some goats

The Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road connects the Austrian and Italian Tyrol, starting not far from Innsbruck and leading down on the south side to Merano in Italy.

It's Austria's highest border, open only for a few months of the year between June and October, and breathtaking to experience.

At hairpin bend no. 5 (there are twelve, it turns out) you are already at a seemingly dizzying height

Even the bikers who love this route (and how I envied them experiencing it en plein air) stopped to gawk at the incredible views.

 At the summit of 2500 metres there was a posse of Porsches parked outside the café and viewing hut.

I discovered later that this is a well known Thing (see here) that Porsche drivers do. But when this lone cyclist emerged puffing and weary at the summit ... well, that was impressive.

I loved the strange colours and textures of the mountainsides high above the treeline

From the summit the views across peaks and glaciers are spectacular.

Winding down on the south side towards the Italian border I had to jump out to say hello to these friendly Alpine goats.

This curious chap was an absolute pro at posing for pictures. I just wish I could send it to him!

Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse, Austria, September 2015