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Blue skies and snowy mountains - dreamy!
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Mel - I've never been to ski areas in the U.S. That's interesting. Now I understand why so many Americans come to the Alps for skiing ;-)
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Nov 30 -
Gloomy and 23 F, we walked to the Fulpmes bahnhof, situated a bit above town, in a different direction from the bus stops, some 10 minutes from our apartment. Bahnhof is a bit of a misnomer, as only one vehicle leaves from this station, the hourly tram to Innsbruck. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a1349a7d77.jpg I’d read that the Stubai Valley tram (tram line STB) provides a scenic alternative to the bus, as it meanders through small towns, meadows and high mountains. I was mistakenly under the impression that it only ran seasonally and on weekends and school holidays, but Bill discovered on the VVT app that it runs hourly, year round. So, we decided to check it out, and booked online – €11 for both, one way. We weren’t sure if/how the guest card would work on this journey, as the tram doesn’t go through Schönberg im Stubaital (which is as far as the guest card is valid), so we just paid full fare. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d0763bf02b.jpg Onboard the tram to Innsbruck The hour long journey to the Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof gave us a different perspective of the area and we saw parts of Innsbruck that we’d not seen from the bus. We spent the gloomy day exploring more of Innsbruck, first poking through a couple of grocery stores, wandering the Christmas markets, then walking across the Inn River to an Indian restaurant we’d sussed out online - New India. Here we had a nice lunch; chili chicken for Bill, chili paneer for me, rice and garlic naan, all good, although the garlic naan was a bit disappointing, €38 with a glass of wine and a beer. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8cc0e81cdf.jpg I loved these orange juicers https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...10bf7acc44.jpg Innsbruck https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7a914bfe76.jpg Innsbruck manhole cover https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...fe5fbd1404.jpg Golden Roof, Innsbruck https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...910110cf3c.jpg Inn River, Innsbruck Then it was back across the river to wander some more, visiting Swarovski, which has gotten even more expensive than the last time I was here. I was looking for Christmas ornaments, but at €75 and up, I took a pass. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...73efcce2ef.jpg We popped into a church, then went to our favorite wine bar, Vinum.in - but this time we decided to check out their second location in the pedestrian area near the Christmas markets. Unbeknownst to us, this is the original location and has been there about 18 years. We were the only customers, so we had a nice long chat with the Austrian proprietor, who regaled us with stories about life in Austria. He asked where we were headed next and when we told him Mayrhofen - he referred to the area as full of “hillbillies”. He also told us that Sud Tyrol (also on our itinerary) isn’t the least bit Italian, but South Austria instead of Northern Italy. He was a hoot, and we understood what he meant later in the trip. Another Austrian couple joined us and we talked to them for a quite a while too. It was a nice way to while away a gloomy afternoon. Later, we sought out Katzung for hot chocolate (which got the Mel seal of approval €11.20 for both, with Bailey’s). We poked around some more, bought a few Christmas ornaments, and eventually worked our way back to the Hauptbhnhof and returned to Fulpmes via bus (€3.30 each as far as Schonberg, balance free with guest card). We’d managed to spend nine hours in Innsbruck, doing not-very-much. The streets around the Christmas Markets became busier as night fell; it was very atmospheric. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ec6fefd6a5.jpg Innsbruck https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4ccf91a9c3.jpg Innsbruck https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6544b8ed67.jpg Good hot chocolate! https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...17b3397f53.jpg Innsbruck Back in Fulpmes it was snowing big fat flakes. We were really enjoying Austria. To be continued... |
Dec 1 -
We woke to 34F, white skies, fresh wet snow, and warnings of a potential disruption due to snow and ice with up to 40 cm of snow expected (15.7 inches…and this in a town that’s only 3,074 feet in elevation!). Bill had found a walking trail, so we took the bus to the Neustift I St. Falbeson stop, located the trail at Doadler Alm, and walked back to the Neustift I St Krossbach bus stop. It was a nice enough walk, just under two hours. We had to put our traction cleats on about halfway through as it got slippery. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3f2af24d68.jpg Walking from Doadler Alm to Neustift I St Krossbach https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2630b51610.jpg Walking from Doadler Alm to Neustift I St Krossbach We’d hoped to have lunch in Krossbach, and I needed a loo, but what little was there wasn’t open. A bus was due in three minutes, so we got on and took it back to Neustift Kindergarten bus stop, then walked to Dorf Café which we knew was open. Neustift was pretty sleepy; the season would officially begin the following day. We had a good lunch - mozzarella baguette for me, flammkuchen for Bill, shared topfenstrudel, beer and wine, €25.50. After picking up a few things at Billa, we took a bus back to Fulpmes. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...53a14d8e09.jpg Topfenstrudel, half an order! Once there, we walked to the church and saw a sign advertising an Advent concert tonight at 7 pm. We then walked to the tourist office to enquire about a free voucher back to Innsbruck, which we’d read is included in the Stubai Guest Card; she printed it out for us, saving €11. Later we set out in the thick falling snow for the church and the advertised Christmas concert, soon discovering that we’d misread the sign; we had the right day, the right time, but the wrong church and the wrong town! Oh well. It was snowing like crazy. Our departure tomorrow could be interesting. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b66425e703.jpg Fulpmes https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...43263c1ea0.jpg Fulpmes https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c56b3a1c82.jpg Fulpmes cemetery https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...eb137a4c90.jpg Fulpmes cemetery https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...38c9aa0fc9.jpg Fulpmes To be continued… |
Oh….that walk looks so cold, Mel! (I was just reading your post - it’s 16C here and I’m waiting for the morning to warm up before I take dog for a walk)
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Adelaidean - 16C in January? That's positively cool for SA! I can get on board with those temps.
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Dec 2 -
The weather forecast was spot on; we woke to Snowmageddon...some 16 inches of the white stuff fell overnight and continued throughout the day. Outside our door, we were met with a tractor that was removing the mounds of snow. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...161ad2bf70.jpg Outside our apartment door, Fulpmes https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...be06770e8e.jpg Outside our apartment door, Fulpmes https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ad7f9db8ce.jpg Outside our apartment door, Fulpmes It was a slow trudge down to the nearest bus stop, we’d allowed extra time to drag our luggage through the deep snow. Unsurprisingly, the buses were running late. There was a long line of skiers at our bus stop; we worried we’d not get a seat on the bus, but they were all headed to another ski area near Fulpmes that opened today; the ski season was officially underway and the powder hounds were out in force. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ccb84246d7.jpg Walking to bus stop, Fulpmes https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1c20fafc06.jpg Fulpmes En route to Innsbruck, our bus got stuck in a snow bank when the driver tried to turn the beast around, blocking traffic and bringing out every person with a shovel within a mile radius. A snowplow came along, but turned around as the bus was blocking the road. Between the teamwork of bus passengers, passersby and an assortment of shovels (a female passenger had her own mini version), the bus was freed from the snowbank and we were on our way. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...dcd0c41d7b.jpg Shot from the bus as it was stuck in the snow bank https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...75e4262898.jpg Help arrives https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2d84aa554e.jpg We eventually arrived in Innsbruck – the bahnhof busy with waiting passengers, announcements being made about various trains running 30-40 minutes late due to various weather-related disruptions. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...065a6b6270.jpg Innsbruck Bahnhof We’d not bought our train tickets to Mayrhofen yet; we had no idea if our route was affected by the bad weather. We considered taking our time and going somewhere for lunch, but the eating establishments in the station were all packed with waiting passengers; we had luggage and didn’t want to wander too far. Bill checked the status of trains to Mayrhofen via the VVT app (which seems to work for trains and buses within Tyrol); no delay was noted, so I picked up a kebab for him and a sandwich for me while he sorted out the online tickets; booking the S5 local train and purposely avoiding the EC trains which 1) seemed most affected by the disruptions, and 2) were very full, seats without a reservation could not be guaranteed (€11.20 for Bill, €17.40 for me). We caught the 12:05 train to Jenbach, surprised at how empty it was. We missed our three minute connection to Mayrhofen, so we took our time locating the platform for the Zillertalbahn and then sat on the next train for about 20 minutes. This train was also near empty, so we were surprised when a conductor scolded us for putting our luggage in an area reserved for bikes – do people ride bikes in 16 inches of snow? https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8a422d1e0e.jpg Train to Jenbach https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...de210c4f1f.jpg Train to Mayrhofen We finally arrived in Mayrhofen, which had also gotten slammed with an incredible amount of the white stuff. While we knew that there was a bus stop very near our accommodation, we’d been unable to find a bus that actually went to that stop from the train station. More on that later. There were two taxis waiting at the Mayrhofen train station, so we took one; a four minute drive that saved us a 20 minute trudge through a mountain of snow (€12). Our accommodation was beautiful; spacious, comfortable, spotless and quiet. It was finely crafted with gorgeous wood walls, beams and ceilings, and nicely furnished. We were in heaven. The chalet has two large TVs with 3-4 English channels, a huge rain shower, and some fun touches like Tirolean music that comes on when you turn on the bathroom light. I loved it. It was also very good value - at least pre-ski season - but then of course it’s a bit inconveniently located, necessitating a car or a rather long walk to get to town and the train station. It was too warm, which is a recurring theme for us when we travel to Europe in the winter; we asked the owner to lower the heat, which helped for a while, but then it got warm again. (€532) I’d asked our hostess where we could find the closest grocery store; there were two, both located some distance away. She offered to pick up some groceries for us, but we decided to walk into town and explore ourselves. This was to be the first of many long walks in the slush and snow, the sidewalks buried under huge mounds of white that had been pushed there by plows. We had to walk on the road - a single lane - as only a small section had been cleared. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...53b6c8b2c9.jpg Mayrhofen https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...38935ebb6a.jpg Mayrhofen We were surprised to find nothing open in town on this Saturday other than a grocery store, a few clothing stores and a single pub. Even the hotels were closed, uh-oh. I asked a man standing outside the Piccadilly Pub if they sold food, he said “yes - pizza and football”. So, we picked up groceries at Billa and then went back to the pub, which was full of men watching soccer/football. We shared a decent salami pizza and wine - €28. Later we walked back to the chalet, the village lovely under the freshly fallen snow, but having to dodge heavy equipment and snow filled front end loaders. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5bbe9cbfd9.jpg Mayrhofen after dark https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...18ebc02c2b.jpg Mayrhofen after dark https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0290091bb1.jpg Mayrhofen after dark https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0f9961330a.jpg Mayrhofen after dark To be continued... |
I love, love, love the snow pictures. So beautiful.
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Thanks Ingo. No shortage of snow this trip:)
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Dec 3 – First Sunday of Advent
It was 16F, a clear sunny day expected; I was excited to see blue skies. We were intrigued by a chapel up on a hill near the apartment, so we put on our traction cleats (and good thing as all that slush had turned to solid ice) and walked up to investigate, finding the Burgschrofen Kapelle and some gorgeous views. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ee8de85bb2.jpg Views from Burgschrofen Kapelle https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...82851e8931.jpg Views from Burgschrofen Kapelle https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2987125d55.jpg Views from Burgschrofen Kapelle We then walked to Burgstalt Muhlbach in Schuendau, some 25 minutes from the apartment to locate the Horbergbahn and to get our bearings. The beautiful sunny day convinced us to take the cable car up, so we bought tickets – €28 each, plus €2 each deposit for the card, which was returned via machine (the guest card, which we didn’t have yet, only gave a €1.50 each discount). https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6157d5df47.jpg Walking to Burgstalt Muhlbach in Schuendau We took the Horbergbahn up; not sure where to go from there to reach the top. We asked at a ski shop if we could go higher with the pedestrian ticket, we were told yes, but not all the lifts were open; we were directed to a chairlift that went to the top of the Horberg (Schneekar). https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...330de2dd33.jpg Onboard the Horbergbahn https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...bef72daed3.jpg Map of the area https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6d3d1ba0de.jpg We were told to double check with the chairlift operator, but we couldn’t get his attention. We were a bit intimidated by the moving walkway where skiers stand to be pulled up to the chairlift. Even Bill the skier hadn’t seen this before; we weren’t sure if/how pedestrians could use the moving walkway. We watched for a while trying to determine how it worked, then dodged the skiers and walked down to the Kressbrunnalm to look for lunch. There was plenty of outside seating, but we weren’t inclined due to the -11 c temp, so we poked our heads into the small hut to look for a place to sit. Nein. It was heaving. While we were deciding what to do next, a few people left, so we dashed in to take their table, and were soon joined by others. Bill had the pulled pork with fries, I had a really good, but tepid, garlic soup, both washed down with Lillet wild berry €32. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...aa391e24b7.jpg Kressbrunnalm After lunch, we walked back up to the Schneekar chairlift, got the attention of the lift operator who said we could go up and that the next chair was ours. He told us where to stand to avoid the skier conveyor belt thingie (which Google tells me is a ‘magic carpet’) and we were whisked to the top of the Horberg (2278 m), where we hurriedly got off in an attempt to steer clear of the chairlift and skiers. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d8f753ab5d.jpg Top of the Horberg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...668db32366.jpg Top of the Horberg The views were fabulous on this clear cold day. It was a bit chaotic as there were a lot of skiers waiting for a race that hadn’t started yet and we weren’t sure where pedestrians were meant to go. We saw a restaurant below us (Schneekarhütte) and considered walking down to it, but the views were better where we were and it looked to be a steep hike there/back via the ski piste, so we took a pass. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...629e25de83.jpg Schneekarhütte We eventually went back down, the lift operator telling us where to enter and where to stand; the lift empty as most people were skiing down. Once below, we popped into the large, relatively quiet, Bergrestaurant Horberg, where we soaked up the views and watched the world go by over a few drops. The ski season had not officially begun, but there were plenty of skiers. We wondered if this amount of snow was normal this early in the season. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6a5459dd04.jpg Views near Bergrestaurant Horberg Then it was back down the Horbergbahn, where we retraced our steps to the apartment. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...31313e89c3.jpg Base of Horbergbahn Later that night we walked the 30 minutes to the Mayrhofen Forest Festival Site, to check out the Advent Market, which is held Fri, Sat and Sunday from 5-9 during Advent. What a beautiful setting, especially with the huge amount of snow covering all the trees. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7593c711f2.jpg Advent Market, Mayrhofen Forest Festival Site https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d3d37ae56c.jpg Advent Market, Mayrhofen Forest Festival Site https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...de0411e840.jpg Advent Market, Mayrhofen Forest Festival Site https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6e43fa6515.jpg Advent Market, Mayrhofen Forest Festival Site We wandered a bit, had our first gluhwein of the trip and then moved on to find a warm restaurant for dinner. Not much was open, but we were able to find a table at El Tora Steaks and Tapas. We weren’t very hungry, and the menu was a bit odd. We each ordered a bowl of beer cheese soup, and shared Nachos El Toro and bread with three dips. A poor choice; underwhelming and not particularly Spanish. The best part of dinner - the fabulous wine glasses (€49.90). Not a place I’d go back to, unless just for a glass of wine. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4714d2b57b.jpg Loved these wine glasses! Afterwards we walked back to the chalet in the cold dark (4 F), picking over the ice and snow, very glad we had our traction cleats. Mayrhofen was looking slightly less bleak, a few hotel restaurants had finally opened. To be continued... |
Love those photos!
Sorry to have misled you, it’s 41C here today 🫤 |
These are wonderful photos and an engaging trip report - thank you.
As Adelaidean mentions: 41C here today so snow pictures are quite a treat. |
Snowmageddon--love it! That first photo plus the sunniest chalet image were striking, Mel.
I am done. the season |
You really were lucky with the weather, Mel! No, that much snow is absolutely NOT typical for this early in the season ... rather the opposite.
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Thank you all for reading.
41C sounds more like the AUS January weather I remember Adelaidean and love_travel_Aus - can't say I miss it. I'll bet you both could go for some snow right about now. |
Dec 4 –
It was -5c, which felt even colder with gloomy skies and 91% humidity. We finally got our guest cards from our chalet owner, soon understanding why she wasn’t in a hurry to give them to us; they were pretty useless. They entitled us to a small discount on certain buses, most of which didn’t appear to be operating. Note: Because we travel by public transport in Europe, we always make a point of booking accommodation with easy access to train stations/bus stops. But we missed the mark in Mayrhofen. While we knew our accommodation was a 15-20 minute walk from the train station, we also knew there was a bus stop steps away. However, we didn’t realize that buses serving that particular stop have a very limited schedule and only travel in one direction - and that there is a four hour gap - with no bus service - between 10 am and 2 pm. Hmmmm. The only way we could have gotten to the bus stop near our apartment upon arrival, was to take the train to Ramsau and then catch a bus to that particular stop, all while avoiding the 10 am - 2 pm gap. Hence the need for us to walk 15-20 minutes to/from the train/bus station and then another 15-20 minutes to/from the village for food/groceries, more often than we’d have liked. The walk was not pedestrian friendly; the amount of snow and ice made it a PITA. Our poor timing was another issue; there were very few restaurants open in the village, even for lunch (we found two). So, as much as we loved our accommodation, and as much as we enjoy walking, we found Mayrhofen a bit of a challenge. But we certainly got our steps in. We’d been dodging heavy equipment on the streets since we arrived. Tractors and large dump trucks filled with snow were constantly on the move, removing snow and then dumping it into the river. It made for some treacherous walking. With no winter hiking prospects, we decided to walk to the train station and take the train to Zell am Ziller, a journey of 10 minutes, €4.40 for both.Google had indicated that the Zillertaler Brewery was open, so today seemed as good a time as any to check it out. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9fefcada78.jpg I don’t know why, but I thought Zell am Ziller would be livelier than Mayrhofen. Nein. We explored a bit, popping into the church, and then stopping at the tourist office to enquire about the brewery - closed until Dec 18. Google strikes again. So we asked about places that might be open for lunch. We were given a nine page print out of restaurants, of which only two were open. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ccff19e5b7.jpg Zell am Ziller https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c19910fa9a.jpg Zell am Ziller We sought out one of them, the Café im Park, near the leisure center, but nothing on their menu appealed. So, we walked back to town looking for the second open restaurant, which was…closed. Argh. We wandered some more and stumbled upon the coffee shop Café Strasser which wasn’t on the nine page list we’d been given, but was open! We pursed the limited menu, made our selections and were then told the only two options available on the entire menu were sausage or a ham and cheese sandwich. Okay, we’ll have one of each. I then walked into the attached bakery hoping for a nice dessert, and the same woman who’d made our lunch told us it was closed until 2 pm. Okay. She later came back to the table and said I could pick out something from the bakery after all. No idea what that was about. Bill’s sausage looked a bit forlorn, my ham and cheese toastie on white bread reminiscent of our early days at tearooms in NZ, but it did the trick. The cake, not as good as it looked. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4136e3e9e6.jpg The meal matched the weather and our moods, €30 with drinks. But as Bill said later, ‘the best ability is availability’. The information boards in Zell am Ziller showed a myriad of walking and winter activities, all out of our reach due to time of year and bus issues. We were just too early. The various ski areas were set to open over the next few weeks and the area will no doubt come alive then. I have no doubt that the Zillertal offers fantastic summer hiking; we may just have to return at a different time of year. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5b09229d51.jpg Zell am Ziller https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...83f85f737c.jpg Zell am Ziller https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a0545c56cd.jpg Zell am Ziller Then it was back to the train station where we were entertained by group of kids eating their lunch as we waited for our train. We wondered where they got their food. Grocery store? https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...792077a1ef.jpg Back in Mayrhofen we sought out a part of town we hadn’t seen yet; discovering that the village is not particularly compact, but rather long and skinny and spread out along and slightly above the valley floor, necessitating quite a bit of walking to get from end to end. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...03feada43e.jpg Mayrhofen We picked up sushi and noodles from the grocery store for dinner, then lugged it back 30 minutes to the chalet. To be continued... |
Dec 5 -
After doing some research on the guest card, we tried to register it, thinking this is what was needed for activation, but the app didn’t work. We weren’t impressed, Mayrhofen could learn a few things from Fulpmes. Bill had sussed out a walk from our apartment towards Finkenberg via a trail he found online. And so began a meandering walk that led us along a narrow ungroomed trail high above the river, downed trees blocking the path here and there. Then suddenly, the path became wide and groomed, and we met the groomer, a guy pushing a snowblower. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7d759b3a07.jpg Trail towards Finkenberg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ac61878dec.jpg Trail towards Finkenberg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f31c698de4.jpg Trail towards Finkenberg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...59d3c8378a.jpg Trail towards Finkenberg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0fe47f6d76.jpg Trail towards Finkenberg The trail eventually turned into a road that passed through Gstan, and then joined a path that climbed steeply near the Landhaus Suzanna, which we walked for a bit, then turned around. We tried to find an alternate path along the river to return to Mayrhofen but the snow was deep, and there was no obvious trail. After some faffing about, we followed the road, crossed the bridge and worked our way back to Mayrhofen on the opposite side of the river, forming a loop, via a mix of trail, road and footpaths. Some three hours later we were back in Mayrhofen, not sure exactly where we’d been, but enjoying it for the most part; especially the bit high above the river. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...30d9ce29e3.jpg Walking back towards Mayrhofen https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...39b5b2912e.jpg Walking back towards Mayrhofen https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3d653a09ef.jpg Walking back towards Mayrhofen https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...63f0e198f0.jpg Walking back towards Mayrhofen https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...37ebaa8a62.jpg Walking back towards Mayrhofen We stumbled upon an open restaurant (!) Ellie’s Diner - so we jumped at the opportunity, the waiter asking us “English okay”? He then explained he was from Brazil and his German wasn’t very good. English works for us! We don’t usually opt for burgers when we travel (and I seldom eat them at all) but that’s what Ellie’s offered. Bill had the double smashed burger washed down with a Guinness, I had the smashed chicken burger and a glass of Riesling; we shared an order of churros, not a bit of it Austrian, but world’s better than yesterday’s offerings - €37.20. We were seeing a trend in Mayrhofen, plentiful pubs and sports bars (few open) offering Guinness and huge televisions - it all felt rather British. We next sought out the tourist office, having not done it sooner due to logistics. We asked the woman on duty if she spoke English, she said ‘I am English”. She was quite helpful, told us hotels and restaurants would start opening up in the next few weeks, and that buses would be more frequent as of this weekend (after we leave). She referred to it as a tricky time of year. True that. She said it wasn’t unusual to get snow and to get it this early, but not this much at one time; that it’d been many years since it snowed this much. She said workers were having a hard time keeping up, and had been prioritizing streets, walkways to schools etc. We asked about hikes in Hintertux, she wasn’t sure what might be cleared or what restaurants might be open at the valley level, but thought maybe we could walk a small section of footpath along the river. We’d walked over 3.5 hours. The snow was beginning to turn to slush. That evening we heard kids outside; they got louder and louder; then we heard music, but had no idea where it was coming from. I looked outside and saw three demon-like figures walking by pounding drums; the kids had disappeared. Ah, the Krampus Run. I’d read about the Krampus Run (Krampuslauf) but had never seen it. From Wikipedia: The Krampus is a horned anthropomorphic figure who, in the Central and Eastern Alpine folkloric tradition is said to accompany Saint Nicholas on visits to children during the night of 5 December (Krampusnacht; “Krampus Night”), immediately before the Feast of St. Nicholas on 6 December. In this tradition, Saint Nicholas rewards well-behaved children with small gifts, while Krampus punishes badly-behaved ones with birch rods. It seems a bit scary for a kid. We’d sent a note to the chalet owner asking if we could do a load of laundry; she also offered to arrange a taxi to pick us up Thurs at 9:30 am for departure. Sweet. To be continued... |
Frankly, I am not too fond of Zillertal in general and Mayrhofen in particular. You experienced how it is in off season and I experienced it totally overrun during season. But the pictures are beautiful ...
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Love your photos and enjoying your holiday (wish it was my holiday).
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Thanks for reading along marg.
Ingo - when you say overrun during the season, do you mean winter or summer? |
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