09/03/2024

My first motorcycle trip in Europe (June 2009 - Part 2 Innsbruck)

(continued from part 1 )

Ferry arrives at Venice and my bike rolls its wheels over Italian soil for the first time. Actually we're both debutants so to say I'm excited is an understatement though little I knew what beyond exciting moments would follow during my travelling career later. I follow the handwritten notes on my tank bag to make it to Innsbruck (no gps) while my partner in crime would meet me at the train station of the city.

Hence her pictures:



Don't rush to praise her 2009 camera (not that you should anyway), these images were corrected (with great results) using the tools of today. To give you an idea the last original image is this:


And that's not even close to how painful some original files looked (wait for it).

I fall in love with Innsbruck instantly. The oddly cloudy weather for my late June Mediterranean standards with the look of the Alps surrounding the city makes it feel quite exotic to me:


Time to walk the city now that our luggage is resting in our hotel room. We stay at "Altpradl" hotel (which I am afraid no longer exists) which means we are at the Pradl district hence we're already in front of the local "Pfarrkirche" church:

The contrast between the city's buildings and the cloudy Alps in the background seems to be the main theme while walking the city:


Yours truly, rather happy to get some (rare) sunlight:

In case you didn't notice I wear my motorcycle boots. I laugh at this cause today some people call me a light packer and yes, I am, but imagine how light my packing was back in the day🙂.

I've read a description of Innsbruck in our hotel calling this city "Capital of Alps" and I'm already convinced about it:


I already like old buildings like this though they can't compare to the ones I'll find later in the historic center of the city (wait for it):

Doesn't really feel like the heart of summer though:



We didn't try the local pool but that's how it looks from the outside - me likey:


The Alps are constantly "smoking" in the background:

If Joe Strummer was a local he could be singing "Innsbruck is burning and I live by the river", Sill river that is:

A plane is about to land here in a not so summer sky:


Here we are one block away from the local museum, an impressive white building from 1842, with the Alps always overlooking in the background:

On our way to the old heart of the city we step into the narrow but charming Holfgasse street:

Useless info of the day, "Cafe Sacher" on the right is now closed for good, unsurprisingly judging by the reviews:

And here's my biggest wow so far in front of "Helbling Haus":

This Gothic/Baroque masterpiece was completed in 1732. Sebastian Helbling owned it from 1800 to 1827 hence its name.

This is where the old heart of Innsbruck beats and it's an absolute must walk if you are around:

Look at the "Stadtturm":

If you walk all its 133 stairs up you'll probably never forget the view. I say "probably" cause I didn't but hey, can't do it all at once.

I can't praise this neighborhood enough:



If I look amazed it's only because I am:

And rightly so with buildings like this (looks a zillion times more impressive in real):

Sun is down and that makes the city's cloudy Alpine background even more mystical:



The old city remains charming enough so that I don't care walking lots of kilometers with my far from comfy motorcycle boots:


This place is such a time machine, except a couple of signs this picture is probably identicaly same with one centuries ago:

Charming all the way:





In the next pictures you see "Goldenes Dachl":


This "Golden Roof" hosts the museum of History of Innbruck and it's named like that due to the fact that its roof has 2.657 copper tiles covered with gold.

Time to walk back to the hotel so we walk back Hofgasse street again:


Why? No gps, no map, too tired, street is charming enough...

This is "Hofburg":


Once a Habsburg Palace, now a museum.

Here's the local theater:

My first day over Austrian soil was such a beauty and I walk back to the hotel beyond excited about the next ones.

See you in part 3!

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