Stelvio and Innsbruck

We were up and out of Hinterhein pretty early the next morning, agter watching the local livestock being herded through the main street (the only street) of the town! Goats and sheep this morning, each with a little bell on their necks, making the most noise possible as well we the most mess!

It was going to be a long day of driving, and we were going to be going through three countrie! Switzerland, Italy and Austria. We began in Switzerland and the day started with an amazing drive through an alpine pass. It was another cloudy day and we found ourselves driving through the clouds at the top of the mountain! We passed through some gorgeous little towns and villages, the more affluent ones we realized were ski towns during winter.

Eventually we made it to Stelvio, the base for the Stelvio Pass. Famous amoung fanatic drivers, and as we found out, cyclists! It was one of Dad’s dreams to drive this pass and it was really cool for him to be able to live out this dream. Although, personally, we didn’t think the driving or the view were quite as good as some of the other passes we had been through in the previous days, it was still amazing and very surreal. We stopped right at the top for pictures, then we had to turn around and come back down the same side due to a sporting event!

We continued on from Stelvio through to Innsbruck, then out of Innsbruck to our accommodation. We weren’t too impressed at first, being no where near the actual city (We were actually in a town named Igles) but it turned out to be wonderful! We had a delicious dinner, maybe even the best so far, at a local restaurant and our hotel was beautiful, with big comfortable beds and a nice big bathroom.

The next day we decided to head into Innsbruck and see some of the city. The Old Town is the main area for tourists except it was delightfully quiet! I think Innsbruck might fly under the tourist radar, but it was one of our favourite places. It was beautiful and clean, with lots of interesting things to look at as well as lots of little coffee shops to sit and watch the world go by. The city is like a children’s picture book, you can almost imagine the centuries past, when they let their livestock wander the streets for one hour each day! Granted, it smells much nicer and is much cleaner these days.

We just spent the morning in Innsbruck but we could have easily spent a few days there. It was amazing to be in a city when the alps were so close by that you could smell the grassy air. In winter the city becomes like a little winter wonderland, with the tiny multi-coloured terrace houses glowing in the snow. Maybe I’ll have to put that on my wish list for another holiday!