It is a 5 hour scenic train journey
from Vienna to Innsbruk. We spent just about half a day in Vienna before embarking upon this train journey. Coming from Barcelona, there was not much desire to spend too much time in a big city. It had made perfect sense to stay near
Westbahnoff (Western train station) at Vienna, which is the main station.
The Mariahilfer strasse (The main shopping street)starts from Westbahnoff and goes upto
Stephenplatz (This is where the St Stephens Cathedral and the opera house are located) Mariahilfer strasse is the main shopping street of Vienna and just like other European cities it has nice cafes and pubs as well. Whatever there is to be found in a shopping district can be found here. From the big stores to small boutiques; from the specialized cafes to small sit outs - Mariahilfer strasse has it all.
It also made perfect sense not to take an expensive hotel in Vienna considering the very short time we were spending there. The hotel chosen was
Ibis Mariahilfer which was just a 5 minute walk to the Westbahnoff and Mariahilfer strasse. Ibis was comfortable and very well located. It had a decent bar and restaurant and the rooms were clean. It served our purpose and we decided to book it for the night on our return as well.
The evening in Vienna was spent walking on Mariahilfer strasse going upto Stephensplatz. On the way we came across Ringstrasse (having Parliament , University and all prominent buildings) which can be described as the pulse of Vienna. We walked up to the river and had a few drinks at a nice riverside pub. The terrace of the pub was full of good looking and what appeared to be fashion conscious Austrians. Wine, beer and cocktails looked good and tasted good as the sun went down. The dinner was a simple shwarma kebab roll at a roadside eatery followed by ice cream at a restaurant called ‘
Zanoni and Zanoni.’ The ice creams were fantastic, tempting and amazing looking. While 6 of us shared 2 ice creams, it was fascinating to see so many of slim and trim sexy women having one all by themselves. How they manage to maintain this figure after such big helpings of ice-creams, would remain a big mystery.
The train to Innsbruck was comfortable and the Austrian rail pass makes traveling very flexible. We had taken a 3 day rail pass which meant that we could travel as much on Austrian rail service on any 3 days in one month.
Another thing we did was take a flexi pass which is for 2 people or more traveling together, it makes the pass a bit cheaper. The rule is that one has to get the pass endorsed at the station on the first day of travel after showing your passport. My cousin Kunal didn’t realise that forgot to get it endorsed but was not penalized but was asked to get it done at destination by the TT. Similar system prevails in other countries as well so one needs to study the Eurail system carefully before embarking on the journey as the tourist passes are available in the home country (India for us) only. In some countries ( Switzerland) the kids below 16 travel free if you have a family pass; sometimes if you are traveling to 2-3 neighboring countries ( example: Switzerland, Austria and France) you can buy a 3 country pass. It is important to carry a copy of time-table with you as it not only gives you the train timings but tells you if you require reservations for a particular train in advance. These reservation charges sometimes are pretty hefty and for busy routes you need reservations in advance.
The scenery outside was beautiful. There were a lot of greenery in the countryside and we crossed many lakes. The mountains looked lush green. The farms and the villages look very different from the farms in India as you could smell prosperity there. The lake water looked good enough to dive in and this is what we saw many people do on our way. There seemed to be flood-lit sports complexes in small towns also and lack of light in the winter must be the reason for lights being there on the games fields in most schools.
The five hour journey was not boring at all and the views had a lot to do with it.
The first Impression about Innsbruk was favourable. It was raining when we reached so it was cold and everything had a nice washed look. The impression improved further as we went towards our hotel as it became clear that this was a small nice town. The hotel itself turned out to be beautifully located with our rooms facing the river and the mountains. You just had to cross the river to be in the main touristy area, which is their old town. The hotel was called Best western Mondeschien and it was quite nice with good rooms and good location. Kids were happy to see an Indian restaurant and Chinese restaurant next doors as they were getting pretty fed up of the food that they had been eating day after day.
Innsbruck is actually a valley and it has hosted the winter Olympics twice. The winter sports make it into a busy tourist destination all year round. It has marvelous ski slopes and a very good infrastructure for winter sports. Kids were disappointed to hear that they would not be able to see snow at this time of the year. The mountain tops were green without a speck of snow. We had reached on Saturday so expected some good nightlife with music and crowds. The weather kept getting worse and it became pretty cold and wet by the time evening set. The outdoor cafes shut shop and even our
Sher e Punjab guy shut his restaurant by the time we reached him(we did have our dinner the next day there and realised what a character the owner was). It looked like a ghost town and we were lucky to get the food at the Chinese restaurant next door. The owner happened to be hindi speaking Chinese lady who had migrated from China to Kolkata before coming to Innsbruck more than 20 years ago. She looked after us well and chatted with us in hindi.. Kids were happy with the food so that made things easy. The hotel guys informed us that the next day would be nice and sunny. Seemed unbelievable at that time.
In the morning the air was nice and crisp. Throughout the night the sound of river gave us a good feel and a good sleep. As the eyes went to the top of mountain range- the stunning view of mountain tops covered with fresh snow took our breath away. It had snowed at night ! A series of cable cars took us up to around 7000 feet. It has started to turn cloudy as we were going up and as we stepped out of the cable car, we were welcomed by gentle snow flakes. Snow !!!! You should have looked at the kids’ faces.
The City Card System
Much like many other towns in Europe, the towns of Innsbruk and Salzburg has what is called the Card system for tourists. The Innsbruk card for 24 hours allowed us to go up to the mountain and back on cable car ; allowed access to museums; allowed us to roam around on public transportation; and we could also board the hop on hop off bus. We even went to their zoo but found it so boring that we stepped out soon enough. A 24 hour card was for around 25 Euros and it gave full value for money.
Things to do in Innsbruck
The Golden Roof : This late gothic alcove, 16 metres high, was built around 1500 and is covered with 3.450 gilt copper shingles. Diagonally opposite, The Helblinghaus, an originally late gothic house which had been lavishly adorned with rococo stuccowork around 1730. The musicians play music from Helblinghaus while tourists keep clicking the photographs.
Altstadt - The Old Town : Worth seeing is the entire complex of the Old Town with its narrow streets, old burghers' houses and arcades. The narrow streets have the shopping and cafes. Unfortunately, the shops shut by 6 PM so its difficult to pass time after that.
Ambras Castle, surrounded by a romantic park with ponds and waterfall. The former medieval castle was reconstructed by Archduke Ferdinand II. 1564-1583 into a renaissance castle. The archduke established the Ambraser Sammlung, a famous collection of art, curiosities and arms. We reached here by hop on hop off bus after a visit to the
Olympic Ski Jump, built for the 9th Olympic Games 1964 and rebuilt in 2002 by Zaha Hadid. In 1976 a second fire-bowl was erected for the second Olympic Winter-Games, which were also held in Innsbruck.
Innsbruck has a famous column, a famous church, a famous arch , but I don’t think we were too interested in all this. The kids were content after playing in snow and we liked just sitting by the riverside with a nice band playing and having our drinks waiting for the sun to set. The sun normally obliged us by 10 PM.
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