While I enjoy visiting castles and learning about their history, they are husband's main interest, and visiting Hohenwerfen and Kufstein were the stops he suggested for our road trip.
As we already were in Tyrol, I - quite predictably - insisted on going on a hike, should the weather allow. Seefeld, which hosted the competitions for the Nordic disciplines during Olympic games twice, was conveniently close - and we decided to stop there for hike.
We took the cable car halfway up the mountain to tte Rosskopfhütte (app 1800 m), and then hiked up to the Seefelder Joch (2074 m) and from there to the Seefelder Spitze (2220 m).
The views into the Tyrolean mountains (Wetterstein, Karwendel) were truly breathtaking. The mountains are beautiful, but much fiercer than the ones I'm used to from home.
We hiked one of the easier trails, although once we'd reached the summit, we briefly considered to continue on a trail that would have led to the mountain station of a gondola - but I chickened out, as I've never hiked such a long rocky trail before. You can see the path not taken in the next picture.
So we chose an easier trail to reach the cable car, which brought us down to Seefeld just in time before a thunderstorm hit.
The next stop on our roadtrip was the city and fortress Kufstein in Tyrol, Austria.
Kufstein is a charming city, which even caused husband to remark on it's beauty - and husband is rarely impressed.
The city is crowned by the medieval fortress sitting on a rock overlooking the river Inn and guarding the old trading routes from Bavaria to Italy.
The fortress can be reached by cable car (the tracks are visible in the left part of the photo), or one can walk up the long bedecked flight of stairs zig-zagging up the hill.
Every day at noon, when the last bells of the main church in the city has stopped ringing, an organ concert takes place. The organist sits in the small building in the forefront, but the organ pipes are in the top right tower. The pipes of the so called 'hero organ' can be heard even 8 km away.
The fortress was first mentioned in 1205, and was the scene of many a military conflict throughout the centuries.
Kilometers long tunnels hewn into the rock to shield the soldiers from missiles, give tribute to the turbulent past.
The views from the various bastions along the river Inn are breathtaking.
We spent hours exploring the fortress with it's many exhibitions regarding the general history of the area and the most notorious owner of the fortress, emperor Maximilian, and we shivered in prison cells as we learned about the prisoners that have been kept there.
Whenever we were driving on the motorway towards Salzburg, husband and I looked longingly towards the fortress Hohenwerfen, sitting on a rock high above the river Salzach.
'One day', we always voved when we passed it, 'one day we're going to stop and visit it!'
Well, this time we had planned to actually head up to the fortress, and spend some time exploring it. One can reach it with a cable car, or by walking app. 15 minutes uphill on a shadowy footpath through the woods.
Guess which alternative we chose.
The oldest parts of the structure were buildt in 1077 by a bishop, who wanted to capture emperor Henry II on his way home from Canossa. Those were dark and troubling times, and the fortress changed hands several times throughout history, and it even was besieged during the peasant uprisings. In later times it was used as a prison, and fell into disrepair until it was converted into a royal residence in the 19th century.
Several exhibitions detail the history of the castle.
Maybe it looks familiar, although you've never been in the area? It was a filming location for the movie "When Eagles dare", starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
With a guided tour one can climb the bell tower and be rewarded with breathtaking views, that explain the strategic importance the fortress had.
Twice a day the flying skills of birds of prey are demonstrated on the green below the fortress, and on the way out an exhibition about falconry provides insights into this old and elegant form of hunting.
The last two and a half months have flown by without many outdoor activities to post about.
In May there were some choir activities, cultural events and festivities, and amidst all that I haven't found much time for excursions - except that daughter and I participated in a charity run in Graz. I still hadn't managed to purchase new trail runners, and had to wear hiking shoes, which caused a toenail to turn blue. 🤦♀️
June was the month for travelling and biking:
One of my uncles celebrated his 80th birthday, and so we took a couple of days off work, to visit him. He lives near Augsburg, and we decided to make a roadtrip with several stops to get there. It is possible to cover the distance in 7 hours, but we wanted to do some sightseeing and go on a hike.
The bikjng part?
I bought myself a new bike, and spent much time trying out several rides to find the one I liked best.🚲 The winner was a mountain bike with electric support, which I've been trying to get acquainted with since then. Biking is fun, but I usually don't take photos when I'm out on a bike ride.
I will follow up with some posts about the castles we visited, and the hike we did in June.
The weekend before last, I attended a choir workshop at a former benedictine nunnery turned seminar hotel. The main focus of course was singing, but I used the lunch breaks for extended walks along the shore of the nearby lake and the adjacent wetlands, and even did a night walk under a magical full moon.
This area of my homestate is quite charming. Rolling hills, much green and some mountains visible on the horizon; and of course churches - lots of churches.
Unfortunately I only brought my old trailrunning shoes to the workshop, and sadly a tear in the fabric caused me blisters. Blisters that haven't completely healed in the two weeks that passed, so I can't wear my hiking boots just yet.
Last week husband and I spent two days at a hot springs ressort. We decided to use the check-out day for a walk to an old fortress that had been turned into a museum.
After an extensive breakfast at the hotel we loaded our bags into the car and put on our hiking shoes. The trail lead us in app. 90 minutes through airy forrests and over meadows to the "peace fortress Schlaining".
We explored the current exhibitions regarding the history of the wider area and of the castle itself, which was first mentioned in 1273(!).
After having a late lunch at the restaurant in the courtyard, we hiked back to our car and started the journey home.
The weather in March had been rather windy and cool, and it appears I caught a cold, which reared its ugly head just in time for Easter with a persistent cough and general tiredness.
On Easter Monday - which is a holiday in Austria - I had to bring a cousin to the hospital in Klagenfurt for a scheduled surgery. Originally I had planned to go for a hike after dropping her off, but due to the cough I didn't feel up to it.
I did drive to the southern shore of the nearby Wörthersee though, and took a stroll in the woods, which has some "lost place" vibes with the ruins of a burnt down astronomy tower overgrown with vines and trees, or some iron gates standing solitary on the path.
After a short while the path lead me down to the lakeside road, where I got to enjoy some views over the Wörthersee.
The Wörthersee has for a long time been a famous holiday destination, as well as a desired place to live - therefore free access to the lakeside is scarce. Richer people have bought the properties, and turned them into summer homes, which look abandoned this early in the year.
Although it was just a short stroll, I felt tired when I returned to the car. My body was apparently still fighting the cold and needed its energy for that.
Every year on Tuesday before Easter, a short outing marks the start of the pilgrimage season after the long months of winter.
A group of 28 "pilgrims" started the day with a short prayer in the church of St. Paul's Abbey, a Benedictine monastery app. 20 kilometers to the South of my hometown...
...to then walk southward through forests and over hills following a pilgrim's trail, the "Benedict trail", and enjoying the views towards the still snow-capped mountains.
After 11 kilometers, we spotted this day's destination in the distance, huddled next to the river Drava down in the valley.
Here the river is the border to Slovenia; the fields on the right side of the Drava and the mountains in the distance are located in Slovenia.
After another short prayer in one of the village's churches, we ate some soup in a small in, before we reluctantly returned home.
Two of my mother's siblings live in the most western part of Austria, not far from Lake Constance. My godmother has never driven long distances herself, and her younger brother can't drive long distances anymore due to a severe illness; so I've visited them a couple of times in the past three years. Whenever husband accompanied me, we took the car (it's an eight hour drive), but whenever I'm going alone, I travel per train as it's cheaper - and far more relaxing!
Earlier this month I visited them. I took the night train, and was even able to sleep for a bit in the couchette coach.
At 7am I switched trains, because I had a breakfast date with a cousin from my father's side, who lives in the beautiful Montafon area:
Two years ago, I spent a couple of weeks in this area at a physical therapy facility, and have very fond memories of that time.
At midday, I took a train from the Montafon area to a city near Lake Constance, where another cousin - my godmother's daughter - picked me up, and took me on a short hike so I could stretch my limbs after travelling for so many hours.
Our destination was a pilgrimage church, which was buildt on top of a plateau with a spectacular view over the lake and across the Rhine-valley towards Switzerland.
Sadly, the very next day a bad weather front hit the area, which ended all plans for further excursions.
I spent the next couple of days huddled indoors with my godmother, interspersed with visits from my uncle. It was time well spent.
As my allergies are kicking in with all the time I spent doing yard work in surprisingly warm weather, today I decided to flee from the pollen, and go and enjoy some snow. With the weather as warm as it has been the last days, I won't have many more opportunities for it this season.
What in summer is a quick and easy hike, turned out to be quite strenuous with snow shoes on my feet.
Hiked distance: 10 km with app. 430 m difference in altitude.
Doing chores took me far too long to be able to drive to higher regions for a walk, so I opted to do one of my regular loops down in the valley instead.
The downside: no snow.
The upside: I found the first harbingers of spring!
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