Capital of the Alps

Photo: Panoramic view of colorful houses by the river Inn.

This was the city I chose for my Erasmus program whilst I was studying at the university. And I can't be happier with that decision! Innsbruck has everything: a nice old town, parks, cinemas, parks, pubs, restaurants, historical buildings, museums... And all reachable by foot. A valley city, surrounded by three Alpine mountain chains, crossed by a river and full of history. During winter the slopes are only a stone's throw away from the city, meanwhile dozen of walking and hiking trails can be found everywhere in summertime.

The most famous street is maybe Maria-Theresien-Strasse in the heart of the old town. It is a peatonal avenue full of cozy spots but also two big shopping malls - the Rathaus Gallerien, located in the same building as the city hall, and Kaufhaus Tyrol. I was quite impressed by having two malls facing each other. 

I lived in Innsbruck for half a year so I had a bunch of free time to explore new spots - specially on my way home after school. I always took different ways to go to my place and that's how I discovered the following. One of my favorite places is located nearby both malls, the Irish pub "Limerick Bill's". Not to mention Segabar, an small but cheap place to have lots of fun! Another nice place nearby is Theresienbräu, a restaurant-brewery with amazing typical food. But our place-to-eat on great occasions always was Stiftskeller with its large terrace and its Tyrolean meals. For cheese lovers, my favorite one is Käsespätzle - a sort of pasta mixed with grated cheese and ham. Lecker!

Top of Tyrol

Photo: Summit cross at Hafelekarspitze.

If nature and outdoor activities is what you like, I highly recommend you to climb up to this point: the incredible views over all the surrounding mountains and the city of Innsbruck will be a great gift. I'm talking about Nordkette, a mountain chain included into Karwendel Nature Park that will take you literally to the limit: it is the geographical border between Austria and Germany. From its highest reachable peak, called Hafelekarspitze, you will see both countries at the same time: Austrian Tyrol on your left side and German Bavaria on your right.

It is quite easy for everyone to get up there since the stations are connected: first station is Hungerburg and can be reached taking the funicular in Innsbruck's downtown. By the way, this line has four stations in total and all were designed by Zaha Hadid in her typical modern style. Another cable car will take you from Hungerburg to next station Seegrube (1.905m), a station in the middle of an ski area with a good-looking restaurant and amazing views. During winter, the area is full of skiers on the steepest slopes in Europe, while in summer many hikers try their hardest trails. The last station is Hafelekar (2.269m), which has to be reached with the last cable car. Don't miss taking a 10min-walk to Hafelekarspitze (2.334m) and you will enjoy views such as in the picture above!

PS. Have you ever been inside an igloo? Check "Cloud 9" out at Seegrube station and don't miss laying on the hammocks at daylight or enjoying the party at night. It is only open from December to April though!

Von Trapp's home

Photo: Lake Leopoldskroner Weiher and the palace at the back.  

Do you see the palace at the background of the picture above? That's Schloss Leopoldskron on the homonymous lake shore. It is a rococo style palace built back in 1731 by the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Its fame came after the filming of "The Sound of Music" - being the main scenario as Von Trapp family villa. Even though, the interior scenes were never filmed in this palace but in an adjacent property called Bertelsmann. 

Since 1947 the palace hosts annually the Salzburg Global Seminar to debate and solve issues concerning all kind of topics and, since 2014, it plays also the role of a luxurious hotel.

There are several other scenes filmed in Salzburg city centre, all of them with an historical interest deserved to see. For example, Alte Residenz was home to city's archbishops during centuries and since 1923 it holds the Residenzgalerie (art museum). On the other hand, Schloss Mirabell was an originally Baroque building built in 1606 as love gift, but a big fire destroyed it so it was rebuilt in a Neoclassical style. Famous architect Erlach von Fischer designed those magical gardens in the late 17th century, including lots of mythological statues, a palm house, million roses and even a hedge theater. I personally loved those gardens since there are several nice viewpoints, specially the Pegasusbrunnen (fountain) with Mirabell gardens and Hohensalzburg fortress as background. Also, Stift Nonnberg at the fortress' foothill represents one of the oldest Benedictine nunneries in the world, dating back from 714. Most of those places are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List together with Salzburg's old town. 

Photo: View over Schloss Mirabell (left), its gardens and the Hohensalzburg fortress at the back. 

Mozart's birthplace

Welcome to Salzburg, one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been too and a lot of people must think so when its old town was declared UNESCO's World Heritage Site in 1997. And I must say it, worldwide-known thanks to its favorite son: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

If I may share an advice, take your time to explore the city's surroundings. Salzburg is encircled by two hills - one of them is where the fortress Hohensalzburg rises up and the other is Kapuzinerberg with its cloister on the hillside, where I took the picture below. 

Photo: Another view over Salzburg and, as background, the region of Bavaria in Germany. 

Small narrow alleys, cozy boutiques, hidden cemeteries... Salzburg's old town has some not-so-known spots worth to discover. I actually had the priviledge to explore the city with a local who showed me all those cute places that I probably wouldn't have discovered by myself.

First of all we stopped at Alter Markt, a square with some curiosities: the oldest farmacy in Salzburg still standing (since 1591), the café where the original Mozartkugeln were invented in 1884 and the smallest house in Austria with only 1.42m wide. Judengasse starts at the northern point of the square to the right, a small and narrow street full of charming places. I remember one in particular - a shop named "Christmas in Salzburg" in which they sell thousands of hand-painted eggs. I also remember that feeling of getting into the shop like: "such an amazing artwork, don't dare to break one single egg please!". And last but not least, located at the other side of the river, Sebastianskirche's graveyard is one of those hidden places I was talking about. It is quite difficult to see since the graveyard is surrounded by other buildings and there's only a tiny alley to go through. Some of Mozart's family members are buried here, like for example his widow Constantia von Nissen. 

Photo: Hand-painted eggs @ Christmas in Salzburg.

Look out: fragile!

This museum is seriously an artwork for those who love weird structures made out of a material you barely thought it would be used for that. Optical illusions, reflection games, interactive surfaces... and all that dangerously fragile! I'm talking about Swarovski Kristallwelten and their world-famous tiny crystals. 

Photo: The Giant and its two underground entrances to the Chambers of Wonder.

I would say the complex is divided in three parts. The picture above is what the visitor sees at a first moment. It is the entrance to the underground part of the museum, called "Chambers of Wonder" and includes the most of the artworks of the complex - some of them are from the very same Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. Right behind the hill, there is a playground for people at all ages and a hand-shaped labyrinth. The last piece of the puzzle is the Crystal Cloud & Mirror Pond, a majestic structure made with 800.000 hand-mounted Swarovski crystals.

Before arriving to Austria, I didn't even know that Swarovski was an Austrian based company. I first saw their store in Innsbruck's downtown - quite an amazing store by the way, much bigger than any other I've ever seen, made in such a modern or even futuristic design, decorated with several crystal artworks, in one of the most luxurious and beautiful streets of the centre. The store offers not only jewelry but also optical products out of their intern brand "Swarovski Optik" and it even has a bar inside!

Photo: Crystal artwork.

Beer paradise

Photo: Hacker-Pschorr's tent from the middle, right next to the band.

Being one of the best-known festivals all over Europe, Oktoberfest takes over the city of München annually for almost an entire month. Can you guess which month is it about? It depends on every year, but it is mainly September :) Even though, the name comes after its first celebration in October 1810 - to honor the marriage of the future Bavarian Kings. King Ludwig I ordered Münchner breweries to produce special beer for the occasion, and still so it is nowadays! Six local breweries serve their Oktoberfest beer at the festival: Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Hofbräu München and Agustiner Bräu. But festival's history has also a sad side: it has been cancelled 24 times due to several wars, economic problems and diseases - such as both World Wars, the Great Depression and cholera. 

Oktoberfest is held in Theresienwiese, a park located nearby Munich's central station. The mentioned breweries make way for 14 big beer tents every year accompanied by 20 smaller structures in charge of providing typical Bavarian food and drinks to the visitors. Besides that, the whole complex is amused by music and even a big parade takes place on the first Sunday to kickstart the festival. 

I took the picture above at one of the most traditional tents at the festival, The tent is called "Himmel der Bayern" (Bavarian Heaven) and belongs to Hacker-Pschorr brewery, a result of two 600-year-old family-breweries that merged in 1972. It is one of the biggest with a capacity for almost 10.000 people. 

Arm yourself with patience if you want to sit inside a tent, reservations are usually sold out months before the event. Or do what I did: avoid weekends and go early on a weekday. The door opening is at 10am, so if you get there around 9am the line is not very long. I quickly got inside and found a table for 8 people right next to the band!

Officially an "expensive street"

Zürich, a world-known Swiss city for chocolate and its luxury shops. But this city is much more than just that. The most expensive stores are located in the main shopping street, called "Bahnhofstraβe" because it goes from the central station to the lake Zürich, in the southern extreme of the old town. 

Photo: Tiffany & Co's display window @ Bahnhofstraβe.

This 1,5km-long street is being included year by year in the top 10 of most expensive streets around the world by several studies. The most famous study is made by Forbes, which puts Zürich's Bahnhofstraβe in a 7th place. But if you keep your eyes open, there is something curious about it: the luxury goes increasing meanwhile you move forward direction to the lake. That means that you can find stores such as H&M at the beginning of the street at central station, but keep going straight and you will start seeing design stores, like for example Dior or Tiffany & Co.

More than chocolate and banks

Photo: View of St. Peterskirche tower and two of its four clocks from Münsterbrücke. 

The old town goes along both banks of Limmat river, which divides the city in two parts and flows into Lake Zürich. The "Altstadt" is full of charm, little alleys, narrow and with no vehicles driving around. 

There are several churches in Zürich whose spires can be seen from high points, but the most important are four: Grossmünster, Fraumünster, St. Peterskirche and Prediger. All of them look quite alike except Grossmünster on the river's right side, which has two towers instead of only one spire. By the way, the legend says it was founded by Charlemagne at the beginning of the 12th century. Crossing the Limmat we find Fraumünster, a parish church built on a former abbey for woman - so its name. A little bit further along the Limmat, we find Sankt Peterskirche with the widest tower clock in Europe - with more than 8m of diameter! And last but not least, the Gothic-styled Predigerkirche rises up also on the right riverbank and it holds the main library in Zürich in its cloister.

Photo: Grossmünster's 12th century cloister from the inside. 

A funicular from 1889

Photo: Views over Zürich from University's terrace. 

One of the spots I liked the most of the city was the area around the ETH (German acronym for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the technical university in Zurich), which is up on a little hill on the right side of the Limmat river.

There's such a special way to get to that mentioned area: there still exists the Polybahn, the original red funicular which is running since 1889! Its name is taken from the former school's name - Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum. It is only 176-meters-ride, which goes from Central Polybahn (nearby central station, other side of the bridge) to Polyterrasse ETH and vice versa. You will appear at the back side of the school, in a huge terrasse which offers such fantastic views over the old town. 

From a train station to a world-known museum

This museum was definitely a big discovering for me. I honestly did not know about its existence before visiting it, and it was actually my travel buddy who mentioned it and made me feel curious about it. She said it was a former train station (Gare d'Orsay) and I love them, so with no more discussion we got in. The building has a lot of history since it was initially built for the Universal Exposition in 1900, and trains ran until 1939 when it became unsuitable for longer trains. During the II World War, this space was turned into a mailing centre and finally, after many years about to be demolished, it was listed as Historical Monument and converted into the current museum in 1986. Its strategic position creats a magical three-in-a-row together with the Louvre Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art (located at the Centre Georges Pompidou). The museum holds a large collection of artworks from well-known artists such as Monet, Gauguin or Van Gogh, besides obviously the architecture of the building itself, which is stunning.

Luckily for low-budgets, the most of French museums are free of charge for under-18 and European citizens, but also on the first Sunday of the month! You must watch out it is not Monday, it is most of museum's off day.

Photo: Giant clock-shaped window at the top floor of the museum.

Views over Paris

Photo: Views over La Défense and Avenue de la Grande Armée.

As many of you may know, there are many triumphal arches conmemmoring war victories around the world, but maybe the best-known is located in Paris. This neoclassical monument was finished in 1836 under Napoleon's command to remember all those French soldiers who died during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars (their names are engraved on the building).

If you have time, I recommend you to climb up to the rooftop, which offers magnificient views over the city – from La Défense to Montmartre, including the towers Eiffel and Montparnasse. The entrance costs 12€ but children and European citizens can get up there for free!

By the way, do you see the 12 avenues starting from the square nowadays called “Charles de Gaulle”? Those are the twelve reasons why that square was called “Place de l’Étoile” until 1970! The most famous of those avenues is Champs-Élysées, shopping street for excellence and known for many annual events (Tour de France, Bastille Day militar parade…)