One could say the Hintersteiner See is just a lake in the mountains used to generate electric power, but that would really underestimate this natural beauty located at height of 882 meters above the Adriatic Sea (that’s the way how they measure elevation in Austria). Once created by a glacier this lake near Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser offers a nice bathing area and a round course leading you through the mountains with nice views on the lake.
Continue reading “Hintersteiner See”Festung Kufstein
High above the city of Kufstein, Austria and the river Inn, you can see the Festung Kufstein – a fortress on a 90 meters high rock. It was first mentioned in the year 1205 CE and you can today easily visit it because of an inclined lift – the Panoramabahn. Within the fortress, you will find a restaurant, a museum and a former prison. Most of the castle grounds can be explored and the location gives you good views on the surrounding area. If you like you can also walk back down to the city through roofed passages.
Continue reading “Festung Kufstein”Kufsteinlied
“Kennst du die Perle, die Perle Tirols,
– Karl Ganzer
das Städchen Kufstein, das kennst du wohl.
Umrahmt von Bergen, so friedlich und still:
Ja das ist Kufstein, an dem grünen Inn.”
Seearena
Next to the lake Hechtsee in the borderland between Kufstein, Austria and Kiefersfelden, Germany you can find a building which includes all facilities to allow people to use the lake as a giant outdoor pool. This Badeanstalt (swimming baths) carries the name ‘Seearena‘ and also includes a restaurant that is open also for people just walking around the lake and also in winter times.
Continue reading “Seearena”Hechtsee
The Hechtsee is a small lake with a surface of 0,28 squarekilometers between Kufstein, Austria and Kiefersfelden, Germany. It was created by tectonic movements and a glacier during the last glacial period. It is surrounded by mountains with the Thierberg being the highest one of them – a beautiful scenerio and it also gives many options for hiking.
Continue reading “Hechtsee”Thierberg
Fortunately the Thierberg mountain between Kufstein, Austria and Kiefersfelden, Germany isn’t the highest mountain of the region. It is quite a task to get up there but it is doable and you should do it because of the ruin and the chapel on top. The castle was built in 1280 and the last restauration works were done in 2001 – you can now climb up on top of the tower and have fantastic views on Kufstein and the Kaiser Mountains. The chapel also includes a nativity scene in realistic Arab style.
Continue reading “Thierberg”Achensee
The Achensee is a long-stretched lake in Austria between Kufstein and Innsbruck, not far away from the border to Germany. It is the largest lake of Tyrol and up to 133 meters deep. The area was formerly mostly used for hunting and fishing, the lake has a high variety of fish species. Today tourism plays an important role and you can go do a roundtrip by boat which takes about two hours. This is beautiful because of the high mountains surrounding the lake with snow on top, some long waterfalls and everchanging vegetation.
Continue reading “Achensee”Steam engines
When visiting the railway station of Jenbach, Austria there’s a high probability of dense smoke. That’s because here two special railways are starting that often operate with steam engines: the Achenseebahn and the Zillertalbahn. The Achenseebahn is rather short and takes you 6.7 kilometers to nearby Achensee lake (which is really beautiful, by the way). It is narrow-gauge cog railway opened in 1889. At the final stop you can board a ship doing a roundtrip on the lake in between high mountains.
Continue reading “Steam engines”Museumsfriedhof
People dislike to think about the end of their lifes. That is one reason why there aren’t many museums about death, even if it is inevitable for everyone. The special burial traditions of the region of the Alps is shown on the Museumsfriedhof Tirol in Kramsach, Austria. If you’re going via Brennero through the Alps it is a good stop. Don’t expect a scientific approach – it is rather an obscure collection of graveyard signs that make you wonder and laugh.
Continue reading “Museumsfriedhof”IT meets kitsch
I came to Klagenfurt, Austria to visit the scientific conference INFORMATIK 2016, held at the Alpen-Adria-Universität. A good conference also for a practitioner looking forward to future developement of IT. Besides this I also had the opportunity to take a look on this region forming a triangular with Ljubljana in Slovenia and Udine in Italy. Continue reading “IT meets kitsch”