SkyscraperCity Forum banner

Austria / Germany - Alps / Cities

17K views 32 replies 24 participants last post by  Saxonia 
#1 · (Edited)


Time for another tread, this time with photos from a trip last summer in Germany and Austria. There won't be too many photos from each place, atleast not here in the beginning. The planned distination was really Austria and the alps, so all the German cities (except Munich) was visited on the way to/from Austria.

First a map showing the cities I visited: Magdeburg > Dresden > Salzburg > Munich > Innsbruck > Nuremberg > Hannover:



Lets get started:

First up was Magdeburg as a short sleepover. Like so many other German cities, Magdeburg was badly destroyed during the war and many beautiful old buildings were lost. Several more were demolished during the years as part of East Germany.

1: First up an evening view of the waterfront from the area around the Cathedral. In this area many old buildings survived:


2: Closer view of the 104 m tall Cathedral. Big reconstruction was going on while I was there:


3: And again, here with ruins in front:


4: Just had to photograph this, very cool:


5: Here a old closed bridge just southeast of downtown. It was saturday night, and there were some kind of party going on:


6: Didn't expect to see this in Germany. If I'm not mistaken, the sign says it's dangerous to stay at the bridge :-D :


Early next morning I took off for the next one-night stop, Dresden. From other threads here, I knew a little about all the reconsstruction in Dresden, but I was stil very surprised to see it in real life. The historic center of Dresden is simply stuning!

To be honest I don't know too much about the individual buildings, so I'll let the photos speak for themself.

7:


8:


9:


10:


11:


12: And the same areas in the evening:


13:


14:


Much more about the reconstruction can be found in threads like the Reconstruction of Dresden's Neumarkt (New Market), should anyone be interested. :)

After one night in Dresden I drove towards Austria.

15: One moment I always love when in the area, is the first glimpse of the Alps. The trafic in the area is a little less loveable though:


In Austria I stayed a the little town of Kirchdorf in Tirol, which is close to the famous skiing towns of St. Johann and Kitzbühel.

16: My first trip went to the top of 1996 meter high Kitzbüheler Horn. At the summit there's a 102 metre high TV tower:


17: The view from the top was amazing, you can see some of Austrias tallest in the distance:


18: Here a view down the valley between the mountains:


19: Most people used Cable Cars to get up there, like on many other mountains.


20: Most people walk up the last ~300 to the summit, here you pass by these handsome creatures:


21: Back "on the ground" again, now futher east at the large "Zeller See" lake with the town of Zell Am See on the other side:


22: Here a view towards Zell Am See on the other side:


23: My next goal was the 3.798 meter high Grossglockner, which is the highest mountain in Austria. To get there, you need to drive the scenic Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße. I was a bit shocked at the price of 32 € to drive it, but it was all worth it with it's spectacular views. Here a smal part of the 48 km long road:


24: And Grossglockner itself with the Pasterze glacier in the middle:


Next day Salzburg was up, decided to take a little detour though, and see the little beautiful town of Hallstatt.

25: This town must have one of the most scenic locations in the world, hidden between mountains and lakes. In China, a replica of the town has even been built.


26: From the opposite side:


27: And a closer view of some houses:


28: Finally a panorama of the area, it's simply breathtaking:


I could easily have spent an entire day in Hallstatt, but my main goal was Salzburg.

29: Salzburg is surely also a beautiful city and the city offers some great viewpoints. Here a pano from the Kapuzinerkloster:


30: From the same place, here towards one of the many churches in the historic center:


31: And again, not really sure what we're looking at:


32: Here a view of the Staatsbrücke:


33: Many bridges are crossing the Salzach River in downtown Salzburg:


34: Again a view towards the many churchtowers:


35: And finally another panorama of the entire historic center, this time from Mönchsberg which offers some fantastic views:


Next a complete change of scenes, and even countires. The 3 largest city in Germany: Munich. It was my first visit, and it surely seems like a interesting a lively city - Will have to come back and stay longer time later.

36: Beeing very interested in stadiums and arenas, I of course had to visit a few of these in Munich. First up the rather new Allianz Arena:


37: And the inside. Accorign to Wiki, the capacity of Bundesliga matches is now 71.137:


38: After Allianz I drove to central Muncih. Unfortunately it started to rain A LOT, so didn't get the best shots. Visited to viewpoints, The New Town Hall and the nearby St. Peter's Church, both offering great views. St. Peter's Church is the one to the right here:


39: And here the beautiful The New Town Hall:


40: Here the huge Frauenkirche:


41: A view towards a random street in downtown Munich:


42: Next up the other famous Munich stadion: Olympiastadion:


43: I know it wasn't perfect for football with the athletic tracks, but what a fantastic stadium. It just has so much history and the roof is still amazing:


44: Olympics - World Cup Final - Euro Final - This stadium has seen it all:


It is of course getting quite dated, and it could really use a renovation. Not sure what the future plans are though.

45: Next to the stadium we find the Olympia Schwimmhalle. During the 1972 Olympics it had a capacity of 9000, but it was afterwards reduced to 1500:


46: Here a show from the Olympiaturm of big part of the The Olympiapark:


47: More views from up there, first the fantastic roof of the stadium:


48: And here the Olympic Village. This is also the place where to terrible "Munich massacre" happend during the 72 olympics, where 11 Israeli Olympic participants were taken hostage and later killed:


49: In this area we also find the Hochhaus Uptown München. With a height of 146 meters, it's the tallest building in Munich:


50: And in the opposite direction the huge BMW Headquarters, factory and the BMW Welt museum:


In the distance on teh photo above you can see the Allianz Arena, and that's where I went once again. I really wanted to get to nice views of the light up facade, and I found a great viewpoint just west of the stadium. Unfortunately it was hilly with long grass, and full of insects, and it got darker and darker and still no light on the arena.

51: Here one of the last shots I got from up there:


When it was completely dark I had to go back down, which wasn't too easy btw. :)

52: The same minute I reach the stadium, the light is turned on - DOH! I was now completely dark so this is all I got. It changes color every half hour, so waited for it to change once:


Another day, and now it was time for some more nature in Austria.

53: I decided to visit the Krimmler Wasserfälle. With a total height of 380 metres, it's the highest waterfall in Austria. It is devided into sevral smaller falls though, here the one at the bottom:


54: And here the Krimmler Ache, shortly after the waterfalls:


55: Close by the Krimmler Wasserfälle there's another closed "mountain road", the Gerlos Alpenstraße. Althoug not as scenic as the Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße, you can still find some amazing views here. Here the Speicher Durlaßboden:


Another day, another city. This time the double Olympic Winter games host, Innsbruck.

56: I've said it many times already, but here we have another city with an amazing setting:


57: A view towards Innsbruck Cathedral or Dom zu St. Jakob:


58: The other direction, with part of the Altstadt in front and a Ski Jump Hill in the background:


59: Another view of some houses facing the river Inn:


60: Zaha Hadid has designed the 4 stations for Innsbrucks new Cable Railway:


61: Here one of the trains:


62: And again:


63: After the short train ride you get these amazing views:


My time in Austria was ending and it was time to head back home. Had one night booked in Hannover, but dicided to make a short stop in Nuremberg, which I have never visited before.

The oldtown seems quite large and I'm sure that's a lot to see, but I didn't have much time and the weather was again quite bad. A few shots:

64: First a view from Nuremberg Castle towards the rest of the old town:


65: Here a closer view of the St. Lorenz Kirche - Quite stange with the huge "butt". The same can be said about the other big church in the old town, the Sankt Sebald Kirche:


66: Here the castle itslef:


67: And again:


68: Finally a well known scene from the old town. I'm not sure what it is, but i've seen it on several photos before:


After the short stop I moved on the the last destination: Hannover. I've visited Hannover several times before, more can be found in my signature.

69: First just a quiet evening shot from the Maschsee:


70: Some other forumser have recommended a visit to the Herrenhäuser Gärten, so that became my final visit of this trip. A nice quiet place to round of a hectic trip:


71: Herrenhäuser Gärten is home to the Great Fountain which can, with optimal weather conditions, reach a maximum height of 80 meters!


72: There's also several smaller fountains in the garden:


73: I belive this building is part of the actual Herrenhäuser Schloss:


74: Just behind the previous view some nice Golden Gates:


75: And finally a view form the Berggarten on the other side of the road. This is home to a huge number of plants from all around the world:


That's it for now. I might add a few rounds of leftovers later. :)
 
See less See more
77
#7 ·
#15 ·
^^ Looks like it's the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts or "German Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden" in German.

From the wiki article it seems some parts are just renovated and other reconstructed.

@ Everyone else: Thank for the comments. Hope I'll be able to post some leftovers during the coming days.
 
#16 ·
The so called "Lipsiusbau". It burned out and was damaged but main structure survived quite well compared to other buildings around it.
 
#19 ·
Superb thread. I really enjoyed the journey. :cheers::)
 
#25 ·
Thank you for this beautiful thread - besides enjoyment of top quality photos and your interesting comments it helped me also for getting some ideas for my own upcoming journey to this area. However I would like to ask you some practical questions:

1) Does Grossglockner Alpine road have enough stopping places at nice views - a sightseeing platforms where to park a car and enjoy a beautiful sceneries?

2) How much costs the entrance to Gerlos Alpenstraße?

3) How the payment is organized for these roads - is there some checking point at the start of them?

4) Isn't too extreme driving on these mountain roads, could also older (1999) car with not too powerful engine (1.6 l) handle them?

5) When you drive in the Austrian cities like Salzburg, Innsbruck (and maybe you know about Vienna too?) are there needed some special stickers to drive into them? I know there is compulsory vignette for Austria highways, but are there some additional vignettes for cities?

6) Any tips about the cheapest accomodation options? Are there options to build a tent somewhere roadside?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Thanks and sure, let me try to answer:

1) Yes there are lots of places where you can park your car along the road and also a pass with restaurants and such.

2) Just 8 EUR so not as bad as the other. It's not as scenic as the other tough, but probably also used just as much as a regular road over a mountain to avoid a very long detour.

3) Both roads has Toll Booths (atleast in one of the ends). I paid by cash but I would think you can use cars too, atleast at Grossglockner Alpine road.

4) I don't remember Gerlos Alpenstraße to be very steep. Some places at Grossglockner are of course steeper than others, but I didn't have any problem and I don't have a very powerfull car (a Mazda 2). Just be sure to have your breaks checked before going. Although you should use the engine break as much as possible when driving down, you still need to be sure you breaks are in good condition - otherwise you can end up in serious problems.

Personally I think people drive a bit hazardous in the mountains, and often too fast, but many of them are or course used to it, which I'm not. In such cases I just try to let them pass me, instead of pushing me to drive fasther than I feel comfortable doing.

5) I have driven into all 3 cities in the last two years and only know of the compulsory vignette for highways - I'm pretty sure that's enough. Be sure to have one of those yellow reflective vests in your car in case of emergency, they are mandatory in Austria (and you can get a huge fine if you don't have it).

6) During this trip I found a extremely cheap hotel in a small town near Kitzbuhel. I paid in the range of 160-170 EUR for seven nights (and the hotel was even pretty nice). There are tons of small skiing hotels all over Austria, you should be able to find some good deals during summer time. The beast deals are probably to be found in smaller cities, but with a car that should be a problem.


I'm also doing something similar again this year, in about two weeks actually. It'll be something like DK > Dresden > Neuschwanstein > Swiss Alps > Turin > Frankfurt('ish) > DK. It'll be with a friend though, so I probably won't take too many photos this time.

Have a great trip. :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top