Saturday 25 May 2019

Europe Trip

Alps on the Austrian side

Road trip in Europe

Here are some more high resolution photos of Europe

It was the Easter weekend and I was in Europe. Along with a couple of colleagues we decided to have a trip for 3 days in the Europe. Planning went till the last moment and finally decided we will travel south into Austria and if time permits to Italy as well.

The next morning we rented a car from Frankfurt airport and start quite late around 11:00 AM. On the way we decided we will quickly check-out the Neuschwanstein Castle in Fossen. It was a de-tour from the initial plan, but still decided to check out. Apparently, it turned out that this castle was the inspiration for the castle in Disney logo.

It was close to 6 PM in the evening when we got there, but still had enough light to see around.

View of the Neuschwanstein Castle from a bridge

Sun setting behind the Castle

After roaming around a bit around the castle, we decided to proceed on to Salzburg in Austria. It was around 11 in the night by the time we reached there. Thankfully we had booked a hotel, in advance, for the night stay. The next day we decided to roam around the Alstadt (old town) of Austria.

This place is the birthplace of Mozart. Definitely a place to visit for all music lovers! Since we had limited time we did not explore all the places. We took about half a day to roam around the places near the Salzbach river and the old town.

River walk with the old town on other side

The good thing which I observed in both Germany and Austria is that the development has never interfered or destroyed the old town and the culture, which is a good learning for every other developing country that are fast expanding their urban cities.

Salzbach river with the old and new towns on either side

After exploring the place till afternoon, we did a quick lunch and proceeded on to Italy from there. My idea was to return back to Germany in a different route and explore a couple of other places, but then decided the Alps between Austria and Italy was worth driving through.

We reached the little town of Bolzano Bozen in the Italian border, well past 10 in the night. The next day we decided to check out a few places and head back to Germany. Since it was the Easter Sunday, the place was completely deserted with very minimum to no one in the streets.

Monastery lit by the morning sun

Deserted town of Sankt Ulrich


This also happened to be one of the skiing sites in the Italian Alps. Since the summer had already begun, the ski resorts were pretty much closed. Nevertheless a quaint place to roam around for a few minutes.

Stream in the Ulrich town

Eater Eggs and the St. Ulrich town

Since there was not much in the town, we decided to head back to Germany through Austria again. Even most of the eat outs and restaurants were also closed, so we were quite famished and had to find some place to eat when we entered Austria. Luckily the maps showed some place available with a small de-tour and we decided to go there. When we turned the maps on again for checking the route to Germany, it took us through a different route from the one were earlier taking.

Most often during my travels in India or anywhere, such de-tours or off the road place have always been a visual delight. This route was no exception. With just 10 minutes away from the restaurant we stopped for brunch, we were treated with a splendid view of the Alps with the grasslands and meadows.

The Alps!
Every turn would present a view like this and will make you want to stop right there and take everything in before proceeding further.

Alpine Meadows

A wood cabin in the lap of the Alpine meadows

A small village in the Austria - Italy border

We returned back to Germany in the evening the same day after a good long drive. Since the next day too was a holiday in Germany, I decided to roam around Frankfurt in the evening.

For a big city, Frankfurt is not without it charm. As I said before, the development of the modern city has never been in the way of retaining the old charm that talks loads about the culture and heritage.

Church across the River Main

The cloudy weather accentuated the lively place.

Modern city on the other side of the River Main

Winds creating magical painting with the clouds as canvas and light as the paint!

The pedestrian bridge that bridges the old and new across River Main

This turned out to be one memorable trip to Europe. I do have certain gripes that I could not spend more time in certain place due to the time constraint, but nevertheless a memorable trip in many ways!

Castle Heidelberg and the River Neckar