Advertisement
Monday 25th May. It was a holiday Monday today, as I discovered when I found out how crowded the trains were, especially this afternoon! I went for a day trip to Bludenz, which is near to the western end of Austria, close to Lichtenstein and Switzerland. The train takes the Arlberg Pass through the Alps, and goes through the 11km Arlberg Tunnel. On the trips there and back I had to change trains in Innsbruck.
The weather finally improved today, with patches of blue sky in the morning, and some sun late in the day. The scenery was fantastic all the way there and back, with snowy mountain peaks, green valleys, rushing rivers and picturesque villages. Even the railway architecture was interesting, with many stone-built station buildings, which would have been built in the 1880s.
In Bludenz there is a cable car up the Muttersberg. The cable car station is about 2km up the hill from the railway station. I had intended taking the bus, but either they were on strike (bonjour), or running to a bizarre holiday timetable, but after waiting about 30 mins for a bus I ended up walking up. The view of Bludenz, the valley
and the peaks from the cable car was spectacular, and there was a nice area at the top to eat a picnic lunch – and there was a restaurant too, of course. There were many hikes starting from the top cable car station, and plenty of people out walking or mountain biking.
On the return trip I stopped in Innsbruck for a few hours to do a bit of a walking tour and have dinner, before the half hour train ride back to Jenbach. Innsbruck is in an extraordinary location, surrounded by tall snow-capped mountains all around, and it features some impressive and beautiful buildings and streetscapes. The river curves around the town centre as well. All the businesses and most shops closed for the holiday, but many tourists in the old city centre.
Looking for dinner was a challenge as it has been nearly everywhere in Austria – very difficult to find gluten-free food. Many restaurants now have allergens marked on their menus, I suspect this is an EU regulation now, but there are restaurants where every single item listed on the whole food menu is marked as containing gluten. They may be required to state allergens
present, but obviously a lot of them don’t make any attempt to cater. I finally found an Italian restaurant with a few items. When the meal arrived, the plate was about three-quarters covered with chips, with just a morsel of salad and meat – pretty cheap.
One other general comment about annoying things in Austria. If you thought smoking was a problem in France – and it is – try coming to Austria! It is horrendous. The streets are practically paved with cigarette butts, every railway station, every town centre, practically every street corner, smells like an ashtray. Don’t think of dining outdoors, always go inside the restaurant, but even there they may allow it. Even inside buildings and trains stink of smoke because of all the smokers smelling bad. They must have some serious health issues here as a result.
Tuesday morning I head to Munich for my last day in Europe before flying out on Wednesday. Of course it now feels like the time has flown, and there is too much of the trip already being forgotten – luckily I have several thousand photos to remind me! Sorting those out will keep me busy for a
few months when I get back. Oh, and I am heading to Kiribati in July as facilitator for a Catholic Mission Immersion school group, so the travel is not yet over for this year.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.165s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0853s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb