Leaving Lindau, we had hoped to pick up the Deutsche Alpenstrasse, a road that would wind through a few low passes to Neuschwanstein, the Mad King Ludwig’s castle that Disney copied for his trademark. But – we got lost again, mistaking Nesslewangle for Nesslewang – they’re about 25km apart, in the wrong direction!
And we had a good ways to go before we made Naturns, Italy (the jumping off point for the ultimate Alpine Pass, Stelvio). Between here and there lay yet another pass, Timmelsjoch, of which we knew little. But like so many other things we more or less stumbled upon, Timmelsjoch was a wonderful surprise.
A pretty lower Bavaria village
The road up to Timmelsjoch
Getting closer
At 2509m, it is #9 on the list of ten highest Alpine passes (we ended bagging 3 of the ten) and a terrific viewing point for the high surrounding snow-capped peaks.
Proof of summit
Timmelsjoch is recognizable in advertising in the region by a weird glass enclosure at the summit that allows you to step onto a glass floor overlooking thousand meters of descent. We passed!
Wanna scare yourself?
It was also perhaps the clearest example of a phenomenon we found repeated frequently: the downside of a pass will often have a completely different character than the upside. This was especially pronounced at Timmelsjoch as it straddled the Austria/Italy border. Without adding to any undeserved generalizations about different cultures, it was nevertheless true that the pavement and construction of the roads on the Italian downside were much harsher than those in Austria.
Additionally, the Austrian upside was relatively short with tight switchbacks while the downside seemed to go forever through relatively open, sweeping curves that encouraged speed, though the precipitous drops off the side kept us in check.
The road just off the top
At one point we stopped for photos at a dramatic overlook and engaged a friendly group of Berliners who had shipped their bikes down by train just to ride the Alps (pikers!). We followed them for a while, which impressed me – that we could, if only for a while. Amazingly enough, we ran into them again when we stopped for lunch as a stadtplatz over 30 clicks down the road!
Road condition aside, the trip from the pass to Naturns, our overnight, went through about the consistently prettiest countryside and small towns imaginable. This region is known as the Sud Tirol, or Southern Tyrolean Alps, which while politically is in Italy, is very definitely Austrian in character (it is helpful to recall that it was less than a lifetime ago that WWI broke up the Austro-Hungarian empire; a short time in a region as ancient as this).
Classic Tyrolean- part Bavarian, part Italian
Our overnight stay was again a great delight, despite our late arrival. Our helpful desk clerk directed us to a late night restaurant in the town center where we ate among the noise and hysteria of the World Cup on a big screen, France vs Hungary, which we utterly ignored. In the morning we rose to discover what a quaint, naturalistic (hence the name?) setting we were in, nestled on the ridge of the range with lots of trails and ski slopes above us.
The hills above Naturns
No comments:
Post a Comment