Summer time, travelling time. The holiday is spent in western Austria, which means you are close to several countries in Europe. We already had tickets for the opening of the Bregenzer Festspiele, so there is where we headed first.
We started with a short daily excursion to Ebenalp in Switzerland. Our son visited it some weeks ago, and the pictures were so nice, so we could not resist a visit. It is situated in a beautiful valley. You take the cable car up (unless you want to climb a steep mountain). From the top station there is a short walk to caves, where they have found traces from the Neanderthal period. Quite stunning. You walk through the caves and comes out on the side of the mountain. There is an Hermitage where monks used to live and also a small chapel, where the church room is situated in a cave. Further along the mountain wall, there is a small path. It is really like walking on the wall itself. You come around the corner and there is a guest house with restaurang stuck in the wall. Quite amazing!
 |
| Ebenalp in Switzerland where we had lunch at the guest house |
In the evening we visited the music festival. It is quite stunningly situated along the shores of Lake Konstanz. The theatre is a half moon, quite like the old antique amphi theatres, overlooking the water. The scene, or scenes because there are several, are situated on the water. Quite fantastic. The festival is famous for there mechanical works of stages and decor, and it was quite fascinating to see. They gave Rigolette by Guiseppe Verdi. It was all very good, with excellent singers. However, for me, all the mechanical works, and the actions taking place all around, took away the attention of the opera itself. It was the first time I saw Rigoletto, so have nothing to compare with.
 |
| Lake Konstanz in Bregenz by sunset |
Now we went for three days of camping. First camp was Morteratsch in the Swiss alp, close to St Moritz. Beautiful place. It is the largest glacier area in the Bernina Range. We took a hike to the Chamanna Boval Hütte. It was a tiresome walk for me, quite steep with a lot of stones to climb. The hütte is situated on around 2.500 metres. The view from there was quite stunning.
 |
| Chamanna Boval hütte and the road to get there! |
After two days we continued towards Italy and stayed one night at Prato allo Stelvio camping. Another lovely camping with a pool, where we could cool down. The next day we visited the castle ruin of Lichtenberg. The castle was built in the 13th century by the Tyrolean Counts as a defence against the Bishops of Coira.
 |
| Castle Lichtenberg and a sunken town in Reschensee |
We also visited the walled city of Glurns/Glorienza. It is the smallest town in South Tyrol. It was a medieval trading centre and walking around the town, is like walking in history. Imposing gates and fortified towers, narrow alleyways and beautiful squares. We had a wonderful lunch overlooking the main square.
Heading back to Innsbruck for relaxing days in the sun.
Comments
Post a Comment