Innsbruck Austria

Innsbruck is a beautiful city in Austria that is situated at the base of the Nordkette Mountain Range. It is the capitol city of the Tyrol State of Austria and has been a major political seat for hundreds of years. Maximillian I lived in Innsbruck in the 1490s and Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, received rulership over Tyrol in 1564. Many of the beautiful architectural structures date from these time periods.

Innsbruck is a major winter ski destination with many ski slopes in the surrounding mountains and having hosted the winter Olympics twice (in 1964 and 1976). It takes about a half hour to go from the city center to the top of Nordkette (7,657 feet elevation) by cable car. I was there in March and the snows where receding, but a few diehard skiers where still on the slopes. Once up in the mountains, you could look down on the city or back into the mountain range. The snow was light enough that I could hike up to the local peak in just my walking shoes. It was nice to get up in the mountains and spend some time in the snow.

The old city has some great architecture including the Golden Roof which Dr. Kurt Nicolossi (my host – see the next post on his lab) dated to AD 1496 during Maximillian I’s rule. Many of the buildings are brightly painted which creates a festive atmosphere. Many small shops where fun to explore including shops that highlighted flavored schnapps from Tyrol and smoked meats. The restaurants where fabulous and I found Innsbruck much more affordable having just come from Zurich and Bern.

 

I stayed in an Airbnb apartment with my hostess Margareth is was a German literature documentarian with the University of Innsbruck. Her house was just across the river behind the colorful apartments located right on the river. This was a great location from which to explore the city and to access the University.

I really enjoyed taking a morning to do some photography around the city and up on the mountain.  Sadly, I had downloaded most of these photos (and many from Switzerland) on my Asus Laptop which crashed and would not reboot. So I don’t have many of the pictures that I took during my stay in Innsbruck.