Innsbruck

Posted: September 23, 2018

On our first real full day in Austria, we decided to take a train down to Innsbruck. Innsbruck is a ski town, but since it is the middle of the summer, we didn't get a chance to do any skiing. Instead, we wandered the town and took a gondola up to the top of the ski hill and walked around a little bit.

It was a little difficult in the city because there was a massive bike race going on. We had to walk excessively around parts of the bike course and could only cross the roads in certain areas. It was incredibly obnoxious, but we eventually found our way to the funicular to get to the gondola to take us up the mountain.

Innsbruck was by far the most breathtaking place we visited. At the top of the ski mountain, you had amazing panorama views that I can only describe as something that you would see only after hiking 15 miles into the middle of the mountains. Although hiking was an option, we decided to save our energy and take the gondola. I'm not quite sure how anyone could hike up the mountain, but then again, people do crazy stuff like that in Colorado in the summertime.

Triumphpforte

We decided to pull up a self-guided walking tour on one of our phones to wander through the city. The first place on the list was the Triumphpforte, a large arch in the middle of an intersection.

1765 Wedding

Since we were following a self-guided walking tour, I had some information on all the attractions that we went to. We got to this arch, the Triumphpforte, and I started reading about the arch and why it was erected. In 1765, it was erected for the wedding of Emperor Leopold II and Maria Ludovica. Leopold's father, Francis Stephen, died shortly before the wedding, so on one side of the arch depicts the wedding, and on the other side is a memorial to Francis. It was rather funny reading about the arch and about the wedding when one sentence started talking about the groom's father dying. Maybe we have a morbid sense of humor, but that was a great start to our walking tour.

St Anne’s Column

This column, St. Anne's Column, is a commemorative statue of the liberation of Tyrol from the Bavarian troops.

Hospital Church

This building got it's name from a church that was built in 1701. A hospital was located at this site prior to the church, so the church took the name Spitalskirche, which means Hospital Church.

Foggy Day

There were a lot of clouds covering the mountains in the morning. It gave the mountains a different perspective, and made the photos all look different. You can barely see the mountains poking out in the background.

Katie's Hat

Katherine is wearing the Spitalskirche tower as a hat.

Spitalskirche

This is the entire church. With the narrow roads, I had to stitch a few photos together to get the entire church in one photo.

The Golden Roof

Located at the end of Herzog-Friedrich-StraÃŸe is the Golden Roof. The roof is made up of 2,657 copper tiles and belonged to Emperor Maximilian I.

Up the City Tower

We decided to go up the Stadtturm, the City Tower. This is Katherine in the entrance to the spiral stairs that took us up to the top.

Vordere Brandjochspitze

The peak in the center-right of the photo is Vordere Brandjochspitze. Standing at 2,559m (8,396 ft) tall is one of the highest peaks in the Karwendel mountain range. The smaller peak to the left is Hechenberg at 1,943m (6,374ft) tall.

Cathedral of St. James

The main church in this photo is the Cathedral of St. James, or Dom Zu St. Jakob as known to the natives.

City Panorama

The view from the top of the City Tower was spectacular.

Golden Roof

Here is another picture of the Golden Roof from the City Tower. Much better view from up here!

Behind the Fence

All of the towers that we went up in Europe had some kind of guarding that was not friendly to photographers, or jumpers (the likely reason for the netting).

Golden Ball

Cathedral of St. James

Rumer Spitze

This is the Rumer Spitze mountain standing at 2,454m (8,051ft) tall.

Hechenberg

Hechenberg mountain is 1,943m (6,374ft) tall.

Ewige Anbetung

While we were walking to the Funicular, we came across this church, the Ewige Anbetung.

Hungerburg Funicular

We finally made out way to the Funicular that would take us up to the cable car to get us all the way to the top of the mountain.

Across the Inn

The cable car immediately went over a bridge to get us over the Inn river, the main river that flows through Innsbruck. While we were waiting for the funicular, I snapped a few photos.

Steep

It doesn't really look that steep in the photo, but on the right-hand side of the photo you can see the stairs. I would not want to be walking up the stairs, that's for sure.

Hazy City

We got to the top of the mountain and I immediately started taking photos.

Steep Mountain

Can you believe this is a skiing hill?? I would die skiing down this!

Ski Jumps

You can see the grassy hills in the shape of ski jumps.

Lunch on the Mountain

We realized that it was pretty close to lunch time and we were both hungry and regretted the decision to go up before lunch. We turned a corner and found a place that sold soup, and only soup. We ordered and paid and got some good food and hydration before walking up the the peak behind Katherine.

White Mountains

Once you got up the the top, you could see mountains in all directions.

Shades of Green

There were many different shades of green on the mountains.

Peaks Everywhere

The mountains in Innsbruck were breathtaking. Absolutely unbelievable.

Hafelekar Peak

At the peak of the Hafelekarspitze mountain, the highest point in the Nordkette mountain range, there was a massive cross. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't great, but I managed to get this photo of Katherine while the sun was behind some clouds.

Along the Wall

You can see all of the hiking trains leading up the the cable car.

Green

I love the color in the photos. I'm used to getting photos of this at the top of 14'ers which is well above the tree line where nothing grows.

Shadows

The light was changing every few seconds. There were a lot of patchy clouds and there was a strong wind that moved the clouds, and the shadows, very quickly.

In the Nordkette Range

A photo of Katherine standing in the Austrian Alps in the Nordkette mountain range.

Dark Clouds

There was some rain expected in the mid-afternoon and it was pretty clear it was headed our way.

White, Blue, and Green

The mountains are white, the city in the distance is blue, and there's a lot of greenery.

Summit

A lot of people walked up to the summit. But that's because it was only about 100 vertical feet from the cable car.

Quiet Place

We found a quiet place to hang out for a little bit. It was off the trail just a smudge.

Valley

There was a massive valley behind the Hafelekar mountain.

Limestone

The mountains are white because of all of the limestone.

Spikes

The mountains were rather spiky.

Postcard Perfect

Every single direction you looked was like looking at a postcard.

Along the Wall

This area was a rock climbing area.

Bike Course

I think the sharp corners in the switchbacks are for the bikes. Everyone hiking it up were cutting straight across the switchbacks.

Avalance Preventers

There were a ton of welded structures on the side of the mountain, presumably to prevent avalanches.

Cable Car

Taken from the Nordkette Cable Car

View of the City

After we took the cable car down, we stopped before taking the funicular all the way back down to the city. This spot provided a much better view of the city without all the haze and a little closer to it.