I am a bit knackered after a long but lovely day. I don’t want to miss a post in November, so I’m going to make my adventure to Schloß Tirol a two-parter between tonight and tomorrow.
Another memorable travelling Wednesday for Markus and me. Today after dropping off the girl we headed out of Innsbruck to Italy. Our destination was the town of Tirol in Südtirol to see Schloß Tirol. (Not the world’s most original naming scheme, but whatever.)
The trip there was less than ideal. Markus, being the sweetie that he is, decided to take me up the mountain pass so I could see the amazing views. Unfortunately, I became desperately carsick from the switchbacks, and then once we reached the summit the fog was so thick we couldn’t see anything. Oh well. By the time we reached the town and parked to see the castle, my stomach had settled, thank goodness.
Although it was a warm and sunny day in Innsbruck, once we hit the border the weather changed, as is common. (The mountains really do a number on the area’s micro-climates.) But it was still wonderful autumn weather in its own way, with calm cool air, appropriately medieval-like fog, and of course the yellows and oranges of the leaves on the trees and vines.
The 15 minute walk from the car to the castle was amazing. The hike started in the lovely little town or Tirol with tourist-friendly but not too tacky shops. The church on the side of the road had a beautiful cemetery; I just had to shoot these incredibly well taken care of graves:
Once we passed the town we saw yet another castle which I still haven’t been able to identify. Here is the picture though:
The fog was too thick to capture an adequate shot of the Schloß Tirol’s exterior (all my exterior pictures are muted and orangy from the odd light), so here is one from the ever-handy wikipedia. (However, this picture was taken in the summer so you don’t get the awesome effect of the fall colours):
The first castle was built on the hill before 1100, with a second phase in 1139 and a third in the second half of the 13th century. Until 1420 the castle was the seat of Tirol’s royalty until Duke Frederick IV moved the seat to Innsbruck. (Südtirol was part of Austria until it was divided up after WWI, and German is still as common a language there as Italian.)
Here is the last picture on the path to the castle. More tomorrow about our visit.
