Rachel’s Interrail Adventures

I’ve had a fabulous time in Innsbruck and totally recommend it as a place to visit. Every which way you look, your view is backed by mountains which I loved.

It’s a very walkable city, well geared up for visitors. Public transport is great and I could fill up my water bottle at fountains and sometimes I just asked in restaurants/cafes.

Apart from the mountains and concerts I have already posted about, here’s what I did.

Lanser See

Swimming at Lanser See was very cool (ha – see what I did there?). After my exploits wild swimming in the Lake District in my underwear last year (with Susan), I was well up for a bit of lake swimming: I even remembered my kit!

Glassmayr Bell Foundry

This was a great visit for a musician and I could see how the bells are cast. I liked standing on the large bowl to feel the vibrations and playing the other bells to compare sounds.

Meals

I realised yesterday that I have hardly eaten at a restaurant in Innsbruck. I have lived off Der Backer Ruetz (bakery with excellent sandwiches) and Spar/Billa – supermarkets where I bought salads, fruit and all sorts! My favourite is when I go to the supermarket at dinner time and buy the reduced items – it’s not ‘yellow sticker’ here but ‘red-sticker’!

I’m gonna try to improve my consumption of protein and fresh veggies in the next two weeks!

Tourist Bus, STB Tram and Tram 6

I found out about the scenic trams from a comment on my post in ‘Interrailing for the Older Crowd’ – a truly brilliant FB group. Beautiful scenic train rides that I took just for the actual journeys themselves. On a rainy day I did a full circuit of the Tourist Sightseeing bus too. These were all included on the Innsbruck Card.

Hofburg

I spent some time looking round the Imperial Palace (‘Hofburg’) but they don’t allow pictures inside. The promenade concerts are also in a courtyard here.

Schloss Ambras

This was my last sightseeing outing before leaving Innsbruck. It is a medieval castle on the outskirts of Innsbruck a little up in the hills. I walked there (about an hour across town) and firstly sat in the gardens eating my sandwich. I loved the smell of Christmas trees (pines) and just sat there soaking it up for ages.

The inside is interesting, especially the Spanish Hall and the curiosities.

So with that, it’s farewell to Innsbruck – auf wiedersen – and onwards to Ljubljana!