Kitzbühel to Mariastein

Tuesday 29 January 2002. We have been up to the ski slopes above Kitzbühel but now we are back at ground level and walking from the cable car to the town.

We have to wait at the crossing for a goods train to cross before heading back down the hill into Kitzbühel itself. Kitzbühel is roughly equidistant from both Innsbruck and Salzburg, and there are direct trains to and from both. The main route between the two, though, tends to take a route well to the north. Kitzbühel is a popular ski destination and is mentioned in the James Bond book, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It also features briefly in the film of the same name.

The buildings along Kitzbühel's main street are painted in pastel colours. Very pretty in sunshine especially, but they are in shadow for us today.

There's a horse-drawn sleigh waiting for custom, but we have no time so must trot ourselves!

We make our way back to the coach. "Hey, aigg lady, I hope you've no' brought any more aiggs on ma coach?" comes a voice from the driving seat.

A last view as we pass over a bridge and look down on this view of a road within the town centre. To the right of the roadway a stream flows in a stone-lined channel with little footbridges allowing pedestrian access to cross the road.

The castle at Mariastein, seen from the coach window as we pass by the outcrop of rock upon which it sits. It looked splendid each time we passed it and this was the only time in daylight.

Diane had gone into it on the day the rest of us went to the silver mine. There was a church at the top reached by a spiral staircase. You would definitely be testing your legs and knees on such a climb!

The hotel. In the bar that night a local was drinking a very cloudy beer. "Ask him what it is," said Fran. It was called Whitebier or something like that. The next minute there was a tap on my shoulder and he handed me a half litre glass of this beer. Now, I'm not a beer drinker and I'd already had a bottle of wine inside me but... "Danke!" I said, "Prost!" after which we banged the bottoms - not the top - of the glasses together. Strong stuff that... I was ill that night...

Return to Austria Winter Holiday 2002 Index

Sleigh Rides and Silver Mines

Monday 28 January 2002. We woke early at the Mariasteinerhof, it was still fairly dark outside and a bit foggy. "What's it look like?" asked Miss Franny from the warmth of bed and duvet. "Cold..."

Two glowing eyes loomed out of the gloom, revealing themselves as the headlights of a snowplough coming down the hill towards the hotel.

Even once it got light, it was still so misty the castle couldn't be seen from the hotel. Never-the-less, it's onto the coach and we set off for the day's excursion.

Our first stop was Westendorf for a pony and trap ride through the forest. The trap had both sleigh runners and wheels and whilst it was described as a sleigh ride, most of the journey was reliant on the wheels. There had been less snow this year than ever before - a warning that Global Warming was real...

The traps were quite large but even so it took three traps each with three long bench seats seating three abreast, plus one seated next to the driver to take us through the forest. We were in the second sleigh middle row of seats with Sheila. The guys at the back had the following horses' noses right up close! "I think this horse is in love with me!" one said. "No, he's frothing at the mouth, you're making him ill..." came a swift response!

Steve, sitting next to the driver, had a different worry as a tail just in front kept lifting... "Never mind," I said, "Take some home for the roses..." The road or track may have had so little snow that the wheels were kept turning, but under the trees there was a bit more.

Once we had returned to Westendorf we passed a queue of people with skis at the bus stop. Once on the coach it became obvious why!

After the carriage ride we went on to Schwaz, where this hole in the wall leads to a silver mine. With half of us singing "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's off to work we go!" and the other half singing "Bob the Builder" we were kitted out with thermal coats and hard hats.

We would be taken into the mine on a narrow guage train we were told. We get to a platform next to a set of rails and look a bit aghast at the tiny size of the opening in the wall of solid rock before us. In the end we were right... there were no carriages, we sit in single file astride a bench seat, the bench going from front to back. "Stay behind the person in front!" we were warned. Of course, someone had to lean out to see past the helmet of the person in front. There was a sharp clonk of plastic on rock and an anguished "Ow!"...

I won't spoil it for any future visitors, but at one point there's a taped commentary that is obviously tailored for whatever language is native to a coachload. The English one was hilarious, whether intentional or not. Worth a visit just for that!

Returning to Austria in Winter 2002 Index

Rain, Snow and Eggs in Salzburg

Sunday 27 January 2002. It's our first day of awakening in Austria and our first glimpse in full - or as full as it gets at this time of year - daylight of the village or town where we are staying.

This is Mariastein. Whether town or village it is the smallest municipality or self-governing area in the district of Kufstein, in the Tyrol, in Austria, Europe, Northern Hemisphere, Earth (otherwise known as Terra, third rock from the sun), Sol, Milky Way. The 14th century castle is the focal point of the [whatever], standing 42 metres on top of a rocky outcrop and containing 250 stairs that lead up to a chapel. In the following century Mariastein became a place of pilgrimage (I haven't found a reason for this yet) but after a local statue of the Virgin Mary was moved to somewhere in Bavaria in the late 17th century, Mariastein's reputation as a pilgrimage destination was enhanced all the more by the statue deciding to return all on its own. If you decide to self-drive whilst in Austria, just keep an eye out, okay?

Fran, Jock and George are in front of the hotel or Gasthof (literally guest house) as we set off for a day in Salzburg.

Oh dear... by the time we get there, it's raining in Salzburg. We give the guided walking tour a miss after having done it previously. Also the first thing the guide does as the coach gets into the bus station is to walk into and nearly fall over a bollard which doesn't fill us with confidence! Admittedly I did the same once, but that was in Amsterdam's red light district so I feel somewhat justified as there were other distracting elements in that instance...

This is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Born in 1756, he composed over 800 musical pieces covering just about every type or genre of music that was going at the time. (i.e. no rock and roll or drum and bass...) He was proficient on both keyboards (piano, harpsichord and clavier rather than Yamaha or Korg) and violin by the age of five at which age he composed his first pieces and performed before European Royalty. He is justly described as a genius (as opposed to nowadays when you only need to release a few expletive-ridden tracks and be arrested), yet he died aged only 35 in 1791.

Fran wants to buy some of the blown and painted eggs that we saw on our last visit. In fact she's been kicking herself for 18 months that she didn't buy any then!

Admittedly, this shop is somewhat amazing. The shop is well laid out with thousands of painted eggs and it just makes you want to shell out...

Fran bought some eggs. They came in a specially made presentation box...

We found a small cafe for lunch. We were somewhat wet and the place had very high tables with bar stools but did an excellent sandwich and coffee. We had a look inside the cathedral and then came though an archway into this courtyard. At the far end are two streets, one through another arch. We'll look at that below. The one left leads up a steep climb to the castle.

We didn't make it all the way up to the castle, but came far enough for a rooftop photograph before making our way back down to the courtyard and through the other archway.

The other street leads to a familiar scene from The Sound of Music. I'm not entirely sure whether it is the same or just a look-a-like cemetery where Ralf did the dirty on the Von Trapps. This did not happen in real life! In real life the Germans merely paid attention to the background music which told them whether they were close or not...

We had time for another wander round the streets and to get even more wet. Then a quick look at the river before heading back for the coach. By which time we were just a little thankful that we could get back in the dry and warmth. The drivers were curious about the bag Fran was carrying so carefully. "Aigs???" said Jock incredulously. "Wotcha gowan tae do wi' them?" demanded George as we got back on the coach. "Aye - they'll be scrambled!" chortled Jock, "Did ye no' buy any bacon?"

With rain pouring down the windows we drove past another location from The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews and the children fall out of their boat into the moat of this house. To be honest, we were as wet as they were...

Return to Austria in Winter, 2002 Index

The High Alpine Road

After the entry on the Grossglockner Glacier someone said they wanted to see the road and its hairpin bends so here are a couple of shots showing just a taste of the spectacular scenery there is on the High Alpine Pass to Grossglockner.

We were on coach trips each time we've been to Austria and at times the coach was filled with the sound of "Ooooh!" sometimes in awe and sometimes in terror!

The glacier ends when the ice breaks up and melts, resulting in a river of glacial water that feeds a high dammed reservoir of cool turquoise water. The colour of glacial water has to be seen to be believed, it is the most beautiful of colours.

Water from the reservoir and other meltwaters cascade down the mountainside in streams, cascades and sometimes giant falls of water, visible from far away.

The memories stirred by writing about that holiday made me want to go again as it's a few years since we were there and I'd enjoy a holiday in the Tirol again. We've stayed in Mariastein and Niederau, but my favourite was the first trip we took to Austria when we stayed in Schuttdorf, just 15 minutes walk from the lovely Zell-am-See.

Large Versions of the Photos: hairpin bends (a wider view), mountain scenery