Our stop in Austria was never planned as we made the majority of destination decisions prior to the trip and hadn't really considered the area between Switzerland and Slovenia which resulted in either Austria or Germany for a possible brief stay. Ultimately we chose Innsbruck and as we hadn't booked in advance it took a little while to find accommodation though of course we did, in the form of Hotel Delevo. Despite it's reasonably poor reviews and imperfect interior, we were greeted by quite a cheerful old man who, if I remember correctly, discounted the room prices and from then on was referred to as Papa Austria! During our walks around the city, in the shadow of the Alps, we came across the Wiltener Basilica and the Bergisel ski jump (built in 2001) and from there photographed Innsbruck with the sun slowly disappearing behind the peaks. On the north side of the city, immersed in the rugged terrain we visited Alpenzoo which is the only zoo to focus just on alpine fauna and is at the highest elevation of any zoo in Europe and an enjoyable change to see animals solely from a local biome with creatures such as bears, wolves, otters and vultures. Having enjoyed the first couple of days in Innsbruck so much, we decided to extend our stay as the Alps were calling and we had to take a cable car up the mountains! Though I only vaguely remember the journey up there, once we had arrived at the top the views were absolutely unforgettable! The weather had been very pleasant at city level and even at the elevation of the Nordkette it wasn't particularly cold to begin with, however after much time playing around in sometimes knee deep snow we did feel rather icy! Curiously, I recall seeing a spider scrambling around in the snow just after a short trek up the closest peak where we sat and soaked up the spectacular landscape. Another memorable day trip was to the Swarovski Crystal World and trip is right, the interior was rather hypnotic and an overall hallucinogenic experience. Unfortunately when we visited, the crystal giant was under repairs but other intricately detailed attractions included the colour changing and bewilderingly dazzling crystal dome, the crystal theatre (some of the bizarre creations can be seen in a previous blog post of mine), the crystal wall and much more! Our stay in Innsbruck was rounded off with a visit to a panoramic painting depicting the Tyrolean freedom fighters of 1809, after that we boarded our train to Slovenia!
Photos by K.L.V.
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