Satellite
  • Day 13

    The Alps

    September 5, 2016 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    I had my first contintental breakfast today. There was such a huge variety of cold meats, cheese, salad, breads, fruits, cereals, yoghurts and probably more I have missed. Bacon and scrambled eggs were out and you could order other eggs.

    I ventured up the mountain using the Nordekettebahn. This used a furnicular for the first stage then two cable cars. I went straight to the top as thunderstorms were forecast (not that they arrived). It was breathtaking. It is 2256m and I had a great view. There are trails to go hiking and rock climbing. It is above the tree line and must be even better in the winter.

    I then went down to Seegraube which is the next level down. From there you can clearly see trails down to Hungerburg, the next level.
    From Hungerburg I took the furnicular one stop to the Alpine Zoo. It was still quite a walk to get there.

    The zoo only has Alpine animals. It is on the side of the mountain and so had many levels. I gave up trying to read the map as I was trying to read it as if everything was on one level and it just didn't make sense.

    The book that came to mind today was Clan of the Cave Bear (set in Europe at the time of the Neanderthals if you don't know it). So many of the animals mentioned in the book were in the zoo - lynx, roe dear, bear, bison, ibex.

    The last animal I saw was the bear. It had a huge enclosure complete with stream.

    From the zoo I caught the bus back to the city and wandered through the Old Town. It is indeed old, mostly seeming to date back to the 1600s.
    I saw the Golden Roof and as I didn't have high expectations I was pleasantly surprised at how golden it was.

    Photos:
    View of Innsbruck from Hafelekar (mountain)
    Looking up to Hafelekar from Seegraube.
    Looking down to Innsbruck from Seegraube. You can see the walking paths.
    Lynx
    Bear
    Golden roof
    Read more