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![[Ehrenburg]](j/ehrenbg.jpg)
If you're seeing the sights of southern Bavaria you might well travel through
a bit of Austria, since the shortest way from Füssen and Neuschwanstein
(see my castles page) to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen
area (Zugspitze and Alpspitze mountains and Oberammergau) (see my
German alps page) is through Reutte, Austria.
As you drive east out of Reutte there's a couple of old ruined castles you
can visit. Before you get there there's a parking area along the road where
you can see the lower castle. But don't hike from here, drive up until
you're directly beside the castle. There's a parking area below the road
right at the base of the hill the first castle is on (you can't actually see
the castles from here). It's a fairly short hike up to the first castle.
This picture is the lower of the two Ehrenburg ruins. If
you continue up the higher mountain you'll find remains of a bigger castle
in even more ruined condition. Most walls aren't very high, though there
are a couple of bigger ones and a couple of intact tunnels. When I hiked
up here it was threatening to rain, and within a few seconds of
getting back to the car it started to pour, so hard that the traffic
on the road slowed to a crawl. I was fortunate not to get soaked.
You might want to head south from this area to see more of Austria, or Italy or Switzerland. You have two choices, the Fern pass or the Lech valley. I've taken both, both are interesting.
The Lech valley heads south from Reutte. Just as you leave Reutte there's a small airport on your left. I stopped to look it over, and found that it's a big sailplane center. I was surprised to find that they launch the sailplanes with a long cable attached to a winch (on the ground) at the far end of the runway. They attach the plane, start the winch which pulls the plane into the air. The pilot then releases the cable which falls back to the ground by parachute. I'd never heard of this method of launching sailplanes before, but it seemed to work pretty well, the plane started out in a very steep climb and got a lot of altitude in the short time it was attached. Driving south, the valley has a lot of trees and has lots of nice buildings painted with very fancy decorations (more decorative painting than I've seen anywhere else). You will cross over a mountain on the southern part of this route too, but not as high as the Fern pass. This brings you out in the Inn river valley headed towards Switzerland.
The Fern pass heads south from Lermoos (east of Reutte, near the
Zugspitze). This is a high mountain pass, kind of slow going,
but you'll get some spectacular mountain
views. When you come down out of the mountains you'll be near Innsbruck.
![[Innsbruck]](j/innsbruc.jpg)
This is Innsbruck, the largest city in western Austria. You're looking
at Innsbruck's most famous attraction. Can you find it? It's the roof. No,
not the one on top of the building. The one over the balcony on the front of
the building. Sorry, the lighting's not the best, and the roof is partially
obsctructed by the town Christmas tree.
Yes, this is the Goldenes Dachl, or the Little Golden
Roof. It was supposedly built by Friedrich the Penniless, the Duke
of Tyrol (1406-1439), covered in golden coins to refute his name
Penniless. However, this legend is not true and it was actually built
during the reign of Maximillian symbolizing the Austrian Hapsburg dynasty (which
has its roots in eastern Austria, the biggest Hapsburg palaces are in Vienna).
Other highlights are the olympics site (not very interesting when no olympics are happening), a zoo and museum (which I didn't visit).
My guide book said the nearby town of Hall in Tirol was more interesting than Innsbruck. Maybe in the summer, but not when I visited in November. My intended hotel in Hall was closed for vacation, and after wandering the streets and not finding any others (carrying my luggage because the train station here didn't have lockers - if you're going by train Pack Light! Pack Light! Pack Light!) I headed back to Innsbruck to find a room. After having traveled all over Europe in the busy summer season with no reservations and never having a problem finding a room I assumed it would be even easier off-season. Wrong! I never would have guessed most of the small town hotels would be closed for the season! Hall in Tirol seemed only moderately interesting (perhaps there's more going on in the summer, or maybe it would have been more interesting if I wasn't weighed down by my luggage). But this is the first town I've chosen as a destination where I never took a single picture.
As you can see in the background of my Innsbruck picture, Innsbruck and Hall
in Tirol are in a valley surrounded by very scenic mountains. I drove through
the Fern Pass in 1994 which was very nice, but my stay in Innsbruck was part of
a trip by train in 1996. Without a car to get out of Innsbruck and Hall and
actually visit the mountains, I didn't find these two cities very interesting.
With a car to explore the mountains the area has more to offer. But if you
really want to see mountains you're better off finding a place to stay in the
mountains, not in a city near the mountains. And if you want to visit cities
Salzburg and Vienna are much more interesting. Train travel is very good if you
want to visit cities, and even works well for seeing mountains in Switzerland,
but doesn't work as well for getting you up into the mountains in this area
(though the views while riding the train down the Inn valley are very good).
(I rode through on the main east-west line that goes down the valley, there
are a couple of lines branching off that go north and south - these may get you
more up into the mountains, but since I didn't take them I don't know).
Riding through by train is nice, but unless you have a car to explore or want
to try one of these other lines I think
it's better to stay on the train and enjoy the views from the train until you
arrive at a city with more things to do.
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