Nauders Sunday 22 September 2013

Today would normally be a day off but as Nauders isn’t very big and only has a few shops (part of the attraction), they will all be closed today so we shall go for a spectacular drive to the Kaunertal Glacier.

I pick everybody up at the hotel entrance and depart at 10:00. We have been blessed with a sunny day and clear day, exactly what we want for today. The views should be fantastic because it rained all week last week and when it is rain ing in the village it normally means it has snowed on the mountains. You only have to look out of your bedroom window to see that.

This is the time of year when the cows are brought down off the mountain for the winter and each village has its own celebration called the Almabtrieb.

We drive back towards Landeck and then take the Kaunertal road that will eventually finish at the glacier. As we pass through a small village there is a little Almabtrib in the making. We can see the flowered garlands ready to be put around the cows neck and the villagers are out in their Sunday best leiderhosen. We receive a wave from the adults and also from a cute little lad with a face full of excitement.

This is a toll road and as we begin to climb there is a toll booth where we pay according to how many passengers we have. We also receive a pamphlet in English with lots of information and a map of the route with numbers at certain points and information on each number. Along the roadside  these numbers are on big boards to correspond with the info the passengers have so they know what, and where, to look.

We stop after a couple of the 29 hairpin bends at the large dam and reservoir  where they have now built a nice cafe and toilets. It is always a good photo stop here and the water is quite high at the moment which makes the reservoir look a lot happier than when nearly empty!

From here it is up, up and up through the final 25 hairpins to the top at a height of 9,075’ above sea level! The air is definitely thinner here as we all troop off towards either the restaurant or the new gondola cable car that replaced the chairlift a couple of years ago. The glacier looks magnificent covered in fresh snow with a sprinkling of skiers winding their way down the hill.

Hollie and I decide to go up in the gondola as do a lot of the passengers. It is only a short 5 minute ride to the top but once there you can see all the way back down the valley to the Reschen See, the lake close to Nauders across the border in Italy. The views are magnificent from here and there is a line painted that is the border between Austria and Italy. You can stand with one foot in each country which is what a lot of people do. It is very cold up here with a strong wind, which is not surprising as we are 10,275’ above sea level!

Ollie and I receive a free ticket to ride the gondola but I find out that it has cost the passengers €17 each to come up. As beautiful as it is that is extortionate.

After our lunch in the restaurant it is time to drive back down the 29 bends and return to Nauders which is about an hour and forty minutes away.

As we near the bottom of the valley we become held up in a traffic jam. This is not your ordinary jam but an Austrian traffic jam. Cows!! We are caught behind a herd of cows who meander along the road without a care in the world. It is funny and makes for lots of camera clicking. After a few minutes they all turn around and start walking towards us, around us and it feels like through us as they walk back past the bus brushing up to it with a kind of defiance, as if saying “what are you doing on my road!!”

After our traffic jam we slow down to follow a tractor with a trailer on the back. All of a sudden a cows head pops up from the trailer! He is strapped in and is the only occupant of the trailer! Made me laugh out loud!

We are back at the hotel by 15:45 after a great day out. I have driven the Kaunertal many times but each time it seems more impressive than the last.