Grossglockner road reviews. Scenic roads in austria

“Well, that's it, I’ve had enough mountains, ups and downs, sharp turns. I want to take a walk in peace ”- this was the motto of my Lenka on the seventh day. To some extent, I was in solidarity with her, the constant movement tired a little, I wanted calmness. In general, armed with this principle, we went for a walk in the center of Innsbruck.

It was a day off, a parking space was quickly found in the center, and the parking meter politely reminded us that parking is free on Sunday. The main pedestrian street, as it turned out, is only 5 minutes walk. Anyway, the city is small. All that was worth seeing, we walked around and looked in an hour. The impression of the city is almost even, without enthusiasm. In general, Innsbruck is much more attractive for skiers than for people like us.

But the climb to observation deck The city tower (height 56 ​​meters) and the view from there brought the proper variety to general impression from the city

That balcony under the gilded canopy is the "Golden Roof" - the symbol of Innsbruck and the main attraction of the city.

These photographs are dedicated to lovers of roofs and balconies of European buildings in the city center.

Cute mailbox

Narrow streets in the old part of the city

The color of the river is exactly the same as in Salzburg, if it has not changed since 2008, of course)

We bought some souvenirs and food, went to the car. To my question “where are we going?” Lenka said “let's go towards the alpine road, there are beautiful views near it, let's take a walk. And we won't climb the hill, no. " Let's go.

Landmark Großglockner Hochalpenstraße (Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, alpine road, translated from German). We read that she has a free part, along the hills and meadows, and a paid one, with mountains, glaciers and serpentines. We decided that we would get to the payment point, look around and turn around.

Every time I look at photos from our trip, I come across something like this, where the sky is white instead of blue, and I start to terribly regret not having bought a polarizing filter for the lens. In some places he was sorely lacking. Photos could be more contrasting with the sky of normal color.

We are approaching the point of payment for travel along the pass.

Quite a humane price, we thought. Why not drive a little further? We will reach the first large parking lot, take pictures and return. Resolved! We pay for travel at the gates with a bank card and drive through. The road starts to climb abruptly, but we are already used to it.

Kehre sign 1

This designates all sharp and tight (180 degrees or so) turns. Moreover, each turn, besides the number, also has a name. Judging by sources on the Internet, there are 36 such turns. But there were much more of them. First, because not all sharp turns are marked with this sign. Probably, they are not cool enough for that :) And secondly ... and it will be clear later. In any case, you will have to wave your hands while turning the steering wheel to the right and to the left.

Almost all along the way along the pass, there was a desire to stop every 100 meters in order to get out, look around and take pictures of the breathtaking views of the mountains and the road, read information boards with the name of the area and unique objects.

Photos from the "road to nowhere" series. I love it!

And this is the series "we wooooon there" :)

Another widening of the roadside for temporary parking. Everything for people!

Insanely beautiful view of the road

Well, what about without a photo session of your favorite Tour!

Like the passes of Switzerland, the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse has its own highest point... And that point is the Edelweißspitze. To climb to this height, you need to move off the main one, and start climbing steeply up the narrow and cobbled road. So narrow that two cars going to meet each other have to leave at a few extensions of the road.

We overcame this road with our especially steep Kehre (we have already overcome 36 of those same corners).

and ended up at the top of the Edelweiss peak.

Small parking, a tower with souvenirs, a circular observation deck on the roof and a restaurant. At the peak of the tourist season, cars here have to queue up, waiting for a parking space to become available.

The views from the observation deck are simply gorgeous and unlimited.

This, perhaps, was the culmination of our entire journey. Everywhere you look - everything caused me delight. While Lenka was examining the souvenirs, I ran from one edge of the observation deck to the other, admiring the views with special rapture.

This "sight" is directed towards the main culprit of all this splendor - the peak of Mount Grossglockner

Having seen enough of everything that surrounded the Edelweiss peak, we had lunch at a local restaurant. There was a curious photograph on the wall.

Then we got into the car and went down to the highway.

Seeing this sign here (namely, with the number of kilometers to Grossglockner)

The landscapes have become more severe and monotonous.

But this is not for long. Again greenery, again distant, and at the same time close mountains, and small waterfalls

After some descent, the road goes up again. And with everyone road sign, which said that there are less and less kilometers to Grossglockner, we understood that it makes sense to go to the victorious :)

Again "we wooooon there"

Another rise

And our gaze appears ... a dead end. Square with access to a covered three-storey parking lot. We drove in, parked on the second floor, dressed warmly (the sun was already setting, and in the mountains it was not hot without the sun), armed with a camera and went ...

The square in front of the parking lot was a large observation deck of the Grossglockner mountain, its neighbors and the Pasterets glacier, or rather its remains.

By the way, estimate the scale of the catastrophe called "global warming". Here is a photo report of other travelers who visited right there, but a couple of years ago (I could not find the date of publication of that report). In their photographs, in mid-September, there is snow on the tops of the mountains and in some places on the ground. We have no hint of snow, only dirty remnants of rare glaciers.

If the view from the edge of the observation deck is not enough for you, then you can go down on foot or by cable car, and even walk along the glacier. And if you stock up on climbing equipment, you can conquer the top of the mountain. Although it seems to me that such daredevils are watched and do not allow them to go far.

We reached the right edge of the observation deck and began to photograph the birds.

And then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a movement below. Somewhere there was a gray lump of living creatures scurrying about. Rat, I thought. But then Lenka noticed the living creatures, who recognized the groundhog - murmeltir. It's a pity we weren't able to make a shot where it would be clearly visible. In general, on sunny days, there are much more marmots below, and they do not hide, but, on the contrary, are waiting for pieces of bread that tourists throw at them.

The sun sets very quickly in the mountains, and we decided to go back.

However, Lenka was not warmed by the idea of ​​going the same way that we had traveled up to this moment, and we decided to leave the pass earlier and drive the extra 60 kilometers towards Zell am See, where we were to spend the night. The navigator drew us a more or less straight path, part of which promised to be on the Autobahn.

but Mountain landscape showed us her character again, and already in the middle of the way we regretted that we had chosen a long way. At first everything was expected. We went down from the pass towards the village of Heiligenblut.

We pass the sign on which the pass says goodbye to us. Now I know how to spell the very "aufiderzein" :)

Then a straight path lay past small settlements. But a little later, the road again began to wind around another mountain. We passed a couple of these "mini-passes" in the dark. The average speed of our movement was low due to the frequent settlements on the way with speed limits of 50 km / h. And we finally regretted our route when we had to go through a toll tunnel :) And after a half-hour drive on flat terrain, we finally drove into Zell am See.

We found the hotel, we were safely settled in a nice and cozy room with a balcony, where after taking a shower, we fell to sleep. And in my head, besides the ocean of impressions from the road, the thought was flying that my wife was definitely the hero of the day. Because once again to endure a difficult path for her and at the same time to manage to have fun - it is necessary to be able to :) She is generally clever and well done!

I dreamed of preparing today's post for a long time, since it will focus on the most beautiful place from our entire trip. I really like alpine mountain passes... Firstly, the roads are laid in very beautiful places, and secondly, the Europeans made sure that tourists were as comfortable as possible here. The Austrians do not lag behind Switzerland in this regard. Today I will tell you about one of the most picturesque mountain routes in Austria - the Grossglockner panoramic road. Welcome to Austria!

Immediately after Verona, we headed to the Austrian town of Lienz, which is located very close to the Grossglockner road. To be honest, it turned out a little crumpled due to the long distance (300 km) and the late departure from Verona. Part of the way had to be overcome already in the dark: Lienz and Dolomites we hardly saw. We spent the night in a small country hotel on the outskirts of Lienz.

How nice it is to wake up early in the morning, leave the hotel and breathe in a cold mountain air... This is an incredible feeling!

Europeans tend to get up very early, especially in rural areas.

The village where we spent the night is called Lavant. There is the parish church of St. Ulrich located on the mountain:

We didn't go up there, but here's a photo of the interior of the church from the Wiki, isn't it cool?

Michael Kranewitter via Wikimedia Commons

Someone left several crates of beer to cool in the fountain opposite the hotel entrance:

Starting from Lienz, the road rises smoothly into the mountains and passes through the most beautiful places with an abundance of viewing platforms.

The Grossglockner panoramic road itself starts from the town of Heiligenblut, 40 km from Lienz.

The road got its name in honor of the high mountain Austria - Grossglockner, whose height is 3798 m.Here it first appears in the field of view (snowy peak):

The Grossglockner Road is not a common utility road, but rather a tourist attraction. For faster travel, the A10 expressway is used.

The panoramic road is a serpentine of 36 turns, about 48 km long. At the very beginning of the road, it has a small branch that leads to the Pasterets glacier and the center of Kaiser Franz Joseph. There is the maximum point of approach to Grossglockner.

Image from the sitewww.grossglockner.at

Well, here we are finally on the road itself. A little historical facts: it was put into operation in 1935. However, when a group of Austrian experts presented a plan to build a road across the Khokhtor Pass in 1924, it was viewed with skepticism. At the time, Austria, Germany and Italy had only 154,000 private cars, 92,000 motorcycles, and 2,000 km of paved roads. Austria suffered catastrophic economic losses in the First World War, reduced its size by seven times, lost its international markets and suffered from devastating inflation.

Even a simple 3-meter wide gravel road project with sidings was too expensive. The impetus for the construction of a road that would open up a barren alpine valley to motorized tourism was given a downturn in the New York stock market in 1929. This disaster shook poor Austria hard. Within three years, production fell by a quarter. Then the government revived the Grossglockner project in order to give jobs to 3200 (out of 520 thousand!) Unemployed. In the new project, the road was expanded to 6 meters, counting on 120 thousand visitors a year. The state decided to offset construction costs by introducing road user fees.

On August 30, 1930, at 9:30 am, the first rock explosion was made. Four years later, the head of the Salzburg government drove on a new one for the first time. A year later, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road was commissioned. And the very next day, the international automobile and motorcycle races Grossglockner Races were held there.

Construction costs turned out to be less than planned, and attendance in the early years significantly exceeded the most optimistic estimates. Subsequently, a phased modernization of the road was carried out. Its width and the number of parking lots, located in the most picturesque places, increased.

From the first day of operation, travel on the road was paid. Now the average fare is 20-50 euros, depending on the validity of the ticket and the type of transport. Standard ticket for passenger car for 1 day costs 32 euros.

The road is open to tourists from May to October. In winter, the passage is closed, since the height of the snowfall often exceeds 10 meters.

Here is a short video taken on the way to the center of Kaiser Franz Joseph. By the way, it was filmed just a few days before we went there:

Around the next turn, a gorgeous view of the glacier and the Grossglockner peak opens. The Pastere Glacier is the largest in Austria, its length is about 9 km.

The glacier began to melt back in 1856 due to high summer temperatures and low winter precipitation.

Despite record summer temperatures in Europe, scientists at the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences attribute the melting of glaciers to long-term climate change.

Find two tourists in this photo:

A branch of the road eventually leads to the center of Kaiser Franz Joseph. In addition to the standard tourist infrastructure (restaurants, tourist center), you can find several exhibitions here, for example, the Glacier Museum and the Grossglockner Peak. There is even a museum of the history of automobiles, although I did not find information about it on the Internet. Apparently, this is a temporary exhibition. In general, the Grossglockner road attracts owners of vintage cars from all over Europe, but more on that later.

This place is visited by a huge number of tourists, so there are several spacious parking lots, including one multi-level one.

The overwhelming majority of tourists are pensioners. They sit on the veranda of the restaurant, bask in the sun and dine. Happy old age!

Grossglockner was first conquered in 1800. The first attempt to climb was made a year earlier, but failed due to deteriorating weather. A day after the first ascent, a wooden cross was erected at the summit. In 1879, it was renewed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the marriage of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elizabeth, who attended Grossglockner in 1865.

The Glocknerer name first appeared on maps in 1561. Grossglockner was first described in his book by Balthasar Acke: naturalist, geologist, geographer, physician, scientist, who is considered the pioneer of mountaineering. Interestingly, until 1918 the mountain was privately owned. Grossglockner is currently owned by the Austrian Alpine Community.

When zoomed in, the previous photo can be seen as in this moment a large group of climbers conquers the summit. I noticed this quite by accident when I was preparing the post. Today, about 5,000 ascents are made to Grossglockner every year.

Continued in the next post.

Materials used in preparing this post.

Grossglockner Alpine Road and Pasteurce Glacier

It was one of the days on the Austrian trip when, in the context of the changeable weather, all the members of the group felt especially keenly the organizational skills of Mina Kofman, our wonderful guide. Having carefully studied the weather forecasts, she made several successful rearrangements in terms of the trip, and thanks to this and a considerable amount of luck, wonderful weather accompanied us in all corners of Austria, although it is quite possible that in other places at the same time it was raining and / or extraordinary views were hidden. behind a veil of fog or clouds.

On the day of the trip to Glosklockner, the sun was shining with might and main in the morning. In the few hours that we were at the top, the cloudiness increased, but visibility for many kilometers remained one hundred percent. But during the descent, more precisely at the final stage, the sky was finally covered with clouds and it started to rain. But we again "escaped" from the rain, moving at a decent speed towards the pretty Austrian town of Zell am See. We even managed to walk on it for a couple of hours, and already then we were covered with a taco-oh-oh-th downpour, which didn't seem to anyone.

But this is a completely different story, and by the way, since the excursion plan for this day was remarkably fulfilled and overfulfilled, this downpour only amused us and even though we got a little wet, but this is nonsense, because the bus immediately took us into its cozy embrace, the driver turned on heating so that we dry up, and on the way to the hotel we watched film about the incomparable and dearly beloved by the Austrians Empress Sisi. The day was wonderful, in one word)

Orientation for photo-timeline observers:

1. So back to the beginning of the day. The Pasterets glacier was not the only sight that we had to "taste" that day. Panoramic road Großglockner High Alpine Road, along which we had to get to the glacier, is one of the most famous mountain roads in the world.

This is not only a road from point A to point B, it is very attractive to tourists for its history and magnificent views that can be observed while stopping at one of the many parking pockets of panoramic platforms. This road is visited, it is visited, and not only passed along it, by about a million people a year.

And we can definitely say that this is one of the most visited places in Austria. And one more thing: this road is included in the list of 1000 beautiful places the world!

2. Like many other attractions, the Großglockner High Alpine Road has a toll and access restrictions. There are certain hours of the day and times of the year when you can use the road. The road is closed from October to March and at night.

Read more in my journal:

3. We were lucky to have chosen the "right" time of year for our trip to Austria: August. The road of interest to us was open. Approximately in the middle of the ascent, we began to come across snow islands.

4. The driver made a stop and we, joyful, went to "walk on the snow". Let me remind you that it was in the middle of August. Emotions from this activity, as you can see, are purely positive)

Read more in my journal:

5. In the 60-70s of the twentieth century, somewhere nearby, modern highways were built, which took over the cargo and passenger flow, and the Großglockner High Alpine Road received its exclusive character of a sightseeing and sightseeing panoramic road.

6. There are many panoramic sites along the road. We stopped at the largest and most stunning view. Half-green, half-snow-covered slopes are unusually picturesque all year round! How not to be photographed against such a background))

Read more in my journal:

7. Alpine meadows stretch nearby and you can see wonderful flora close by.

8. Probably the most beautiful view of the Großglockner High Alpine Road, combining both the greatness of nature and the results of human activity that does not disfigure the first. Unfortunately, due to the fact that it is not very convenient to photograph what is happening on the road from the bus window, I was not able to capture the following: this road is just devilishly popular among all kinds of groups united by car or motorcycle brand, and of course among cyclists.

We came across groups of 5-15 Smart cars, then Lotus, then Mazda MX-5, then Jaguars, then Audi TT and of course motorcyclists in Harley Davidson, motorcyclists in Honda , just motorcyclists and many, many cyclists. It was very unusual.

Even if I had not been told that this is a special road, with the status of an important European landmark, I would have guessed by any means that "something is wrong" here. Immediately there was a feeling that this special place... A place like "automobile broadway", where people gather for a reason, but to "show themselves and see others", and of course enjoy the fabulous beauty of the atmosphere of these places.

Read more in my journal:

9. We drive up to the gate of Fusher Törl - a monument dedicated to the workers who died during the construction of the road.

10. Gate Fuscher Törl (2.428 m)


Source: www.primokilometro.it

Read more in my journal:

11. Height 2369 meters. Here is the Kaiser Franz Joseph Center. The Center itself is not visible in the photograph, because this photograph was taken from one of its terraces. The center is a 4-storey building located at an altitude of 2369 meters. There, in addition to a large gift shop, a restaurant and a large parking lot, there is also a multi-storey museum with an exhibition dedicated to the highest Austrian mountain Glosglockner, mountain climbing, ecology and the Pasteurse glacier.

It is the largest glacier in Austria. The length is about 9 km, it is located at an altitude of 3463 to 2100 m above sea level. From the observation deck to the Pasterets glacier, there is also a short cable car so that nothing stands in the way of a glacier adventure that can be undertaken under the guidance of an experienced guide.

12. Of course there are many observation platforms from which you can contemplate this icy giant.

Read more in my journal:

13. Since we were there in August, the glacier gradually melted, of course.

14. If you have enough time, you can go down the trail and get closer to the glacier. In some places it is covered with a thin layer of rocks.

Read more in my journal:

For a week, until the 2nd .. I left for Komarovo Velikie Passages Well, this must happen .. After intensive trips in various directions, I confess, I did not expect anything particularly attractive from the planned "summer cottage" in the process of my trip to "Ridna Nenka Ukraine". But it was not there. A pleasant surprise: I was simply fascinated by the leisurely dacha atmosphere, transparent silence, delicious clean air, beautiful nature in the summertime. I didn’t want to leave there categorically, it’s good now to look at these photos and at least mentally plunge into this dacha nirvana.

15. And in some places the ice massifs emit a blue-bluish light. Awesome!


Source: www.geolocation.ws

16. Another of the local attractions and a very respected inhabitant and the main mascot of this region is the alpine marmot.

Read more in my journal:

17. Their life has developed in the most favorable way: from above, from stairs and viewing platforms, "manna from heaven" periodically falls on them in the form of various delicacies. The gift shop even sells special food for marmots. But despite the generosity of a person, marmots show caution and show neither gratitude nor affection for those who throw "manna from heaven" at them.

If a person approaches them, marmots begin to emit a loud whistle and other sounds in order to warn their relatives about uninvited guests. From March to October, like bears, marmots hibernate. Which, however, is quite justified: the road leading to these places is closed for the winter and there is no one to throw "manna from heaven" at this time of year))


Source: www.grossglockner.at

18. Where melting glacial water has the opportunity to settle, you can see the same blue-blue color.


Source: www.geolocation.ws

Read more in my journal:

19. It's good that if there are traces of a person's presence there, then they are very pretty.

Once, when I just got behind the wheel, I was wildly afraid and did not feel at all confident in the driver's seat. However, I was incredibly lucky with an instructor who possessed truly angelic patience and "rolled" me. Yes, so rolled that in nine months of driving experience, I flooded on Lago-Naki in a car with a ground clearance of 13 cm (excluding protection). And it was in those days when this road was "suitable only for high-traffic vehicles." It is a pity that we learned this post facto. However, we successfully got up and down! I didn’t ditch the car, they themselves remained intact, and in 10 hours driving I got wet to my underwear and five hundred times called myself bad words for arrogance. But spent so "long" weekend was a success, we gained impressions, enthusiasm and rested absolutely magically! And incurably ill with a passion for mountains and mountain roads. Sanka, thank you! I love you as before and am immensely grateful! You gave me the chance to fulfill my most cherished dreams.

So, I must say that I was lucky not only with the instructor, but also with my spouse. Seeing how attached I am to the steering wheel and my cars, he not only has never even once in all these years even tried (!) To get behind the wheel in all our trips (I don’t know how he succeeds - I would not be able to for sure!) ... But he even tries every year to find and offer me some wonderful mountain road as a decoration of the route. "Everything is there as you like!" he says. And this means that the road will be with crazy hairpins, elevation changes and mind-blowing views. And what worse road, the more often it is mentioned in any ratings of the “most dangerous roads..., the most difficult roads ..., the most beautiful mountain roads ... etc. ”, the better. And the harder I will be in my striving for it. This is how the road to Lysefjord in Norway appeared on my personal list of conquered roads, and last year the Stelvio Pass appeared on our route -. And that is how the Grossglockner Alpine Mountain Road was added to our route this year. Thank you, gladchenko !! You are my knight and my hero!

Now let's go back to Austria.

After Hallstatt, in which we had enough of admiring the clouds, the lake, freezing before dawn, and then frying ourselves in the afternoon on the way to the parking lot, our path lay in Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße. This is the commune where our cherished Alpine road begins. It was decided to spend the night there in order to go early in the morning to admire the views - so we planned to catch my favorite clouds in the morning and carve out enough time for stops and oohs and oohs.

Our path lay in the middle of beautiful landscapes, surrounded by mountains and waterfalls.

As you can see, we drove up in the evening and in the dripping rain. These drops on the windshield made me nervous - I really didn't want to drive along the most beautiful Alpine road in Austria in the rain.

Our Chalet Charlotte turned out to be exactly as wonderful as we dreamed. The hostess greeted us as her beloved relatives, the communication was so informal, warm and lively that instantly the feeling of awkwardness and fatigue from the road disappeared and disappeared. On her own advice, we went to a local restaurant for dinner, where they served venison. We tried it for the first time in our life, the impressions remained the most favorable. And from the waiter, and from the dishes, and from the entourage.

Just in case, we once again consulted about the timetable for access to the road - for safety reasons, the road is closed at night, inquired about the price and received some practical advice. Well, we heard a lot of compliments of enthusiasm - and what good fellows we are, that we got here by car, and how happy we are, that we are going to admire such beauty, and how smart we are, how well and relaxed we speak English. Flattery is shorter. Rough. But niceaaaaa;)

We were also reassured about the weather. Say, it's always like this here. “Tomorrow everything will be fine, there will be sunshine. You will see! "

And we saw!

The morning that began with the singing of birds outside the window, with the cleanest, wet fresh air in the room, continued by entering the toll section of the Grossglocknerstrasse. Entry costs from about 20 to 34 euros. Together with the payment receipt, we received just such a sticker on the windshield and a couple of booklets, in which the whole range of pleasures available to us on the route was described in detail, with diagrams and maps.

The menu included magnificent mountains- about thirty "three-thousanders", many viewing platforms, attractions with feeding local attractions - marmots, and other joys of the mountain road.

On the way, we constantly came across such pockets - here you can stop, admire the views and get acquainted with the diagram, which shows all the visible peaks and all the beauties that we have yet to meet along the way (map from www.grossglockner.at).

As you can see, we got a lot of clouds. An unimaginable feeling is to ride in the clouds, burst into them and emerge, to stand above them, breathing in deeply a completely boundless, endless space and heady freedom.

And no one ... Only huge bells on the necks of seemingly tiny cows jingle in a deep bass in the distance.

The clouds, which were streaming down the bluish-green velvet slopes, slowly rose, huddled in the marshmallow mountains and drifted towards the horizon, revealing absolutely stunning views.

In the haze far below, one could see rivulets, little men, and houses - like hobbit holes.

The road was not particularly difficult - with a width of 6, and in some places even 7.5 meters, it is not very difficult to drive along it. You have time to look around and not to yawn on high heels. But you still need to be on the lookout. The turns are sharp, the elevation difference is good. So yes, everything I love. There are 36 hairpins on the cards. In fact, there are more of them. 36 are the tricky ones. They are all marked with signs that bear their numbers, heights and names - one (11th, I think) is called "The Witch's Kitchen", for example.

Once this road was built to simply give jobs to three thousand unemployed in difficult times. In 1930, the road began to be built, laying it through the Hohe Tauern. And a year later the road was opened, and the next day after the opening, the first car and motorcycle races took place along it. Subsequently, the flow of people wishing to enjoy the beauty increased many times, so the road was modified, expanded and provided with an extensive tourist infrastructure, designed for guests of different age groups, preferences and opportunities.

It has no transport value. If you need to quickly get from point A to point B, then there is the A10 expressway. And the Grossglocknerstrasse is exactly the kind of road. All of it is entirely a tourist attraction. From the smallest pebble to the Pasterets glacier.

Alpine marmots are one of the symbols of the entire Hohe Tauern and Grossglocknerstrasse park - they are everywhere there. A couple of times balls of piercingly squeaking thick furry pops strove to slide down the mountains under our wheels, but we never got a chance to examine them. Only once was it possible to observe them, and even then from a great height. Woo-n see a mink and a puffy woolen ball next to it on stony ground? Tourists feed marmots, so animals are not at all afraid of people.

The route runs from the entrance to the road through intermediate passes and peaks to the glacier and a large tourist center Kaiser Franz Joseph next to him. The glacier is slowly melting, and the chances of seeing it are decreasing every year. It is all the more annoying that I have not a single track frame left. The glacier was all covered with clouds, and the cold there was doggy - after + 34 ° С in Hallstatt get to +4 ° C on the glacier was very invigorating.

From the glacier, the road leads us down through several more tourist points to the commune of Heiligenblut. It is impossible to drive along the road for a long time without stopping - the views are absolutely stunning. You can admire plenty of flora and local unique fauna. The next photo shows a herd of mountain goats grazing on the shore of a small reddish-rusty lake. Vooon they are visible on the stone with yellowish spots.

A riot of greenery, flowers, the brightest sky, snow-white peaks in the distance - beauty!

It is better to drive in a low gear - especially down. The slope is constant, quite noticeable. The brakes have a tough time.

By the way, somewhere I caught my eye advice in the spirit of "If you are not used to mountain serpentines, do not irritate local drivers with a slow, stupid ride, take a paid excursion by bus or by car with a guide." I do not agree at all! Firstly, I personally do not get the slightest irritation on such a road, neither slow nor fast. There is no time for that. And the surrounding greatness of nature sweeps out all irritability, discontent and intolerance from the soul. Slowly riding cautious old people touch, enthusiastic young people on motorcycles cause a smile and a little alarm - "Don't kill yourself!" And on any such road, drivers actually turn into a kind of brotherhood of initiates. "We did it! Really, beauty ?! " - reads in every look, accompanied by sincere smiles and affection. So don't listen to anyone. If you love it - go and enjoy!

And here it is Heiligenblut and its main attraction - The Gothic Church of St. Vincentz.

According to legend, the Danish knight Britzius brought here a religious shrine - the Blood of Christ. According to the same legend, on the way home, he was hit by an avalanche, which buried him underneath. And he was found by three ears of grain that sprouted over his body. This legend even found its reflection in the coat of arms of Heiligenblut (taken from here). Hence the name of the commune, which in German means"Holy Blood".

But in this frame, Grossglockner himself is clearly visible - the peak that gave the name to the entire road. On the right side of the snow-covered peak this is it. There are several versions of the origin of the name. The Big Bell. Perhaps due to the shape, or perhaps due to the frequent and noisy rockfalls.

Here we ended our journey along the most magnificent and completely unique alpine road. Then our route ran through Switzerland, but more on that later -.
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If you're wondering how we got here, here are the links to the previous parts:

This was the day for which I started the whole trip. I don’t remember how, but I found out about such a place as the high-mountain panoramic road Grossglockner. She really amazed me, it is not so easy to get there as an ordinary tourist. In a good way, for this you need to rent a car, although tourist buses I came across there. But if it hadn't been for Grossglockner on my way, I might have flown to Italy by plane.

The Großglockner alpine road (German Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße) is a panoramic road in Austria. It connects the states of Salzburg and Carinthia. Passes through national park High Tauern (German Hohe Tauern). Named after the highest mountain in Austria, Grossglockner - 3798 m. The length of the road is about 48 km. It is a serpentine of 36 turns. It starts in the commune Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße (German Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße) at an altitude of 805 m. It ends in the commune Heiligenblut (German: Heiligenblut) at an altitude of 1301 m. The maximum height is the Hochtor pass ( Hochtor) - 2504 m above sea level. The maximum slope of the road is 10.2%. The average slope of the northern slope is 7.1%, the southern one is 8.6%. It leads to the center of Kaiser Franz Josef, with a panoramic view of the Pasteurz glacier and the Grossglockner mountain itself. Travel on the road is paid.

There are quite a few panoramic roads in Austria, and there are opinions that Groglockner is not everyone's pearl. But I just wanted to see the Alps, mountain roads, serpentines, enjoy all this beauty. Have a motorcycle, figured out the cash costs, what prevents you from going, especially as long as the student is not tied to either work or family?

The beginning of this day was such a moment in life, which you await with trepidation, like some kind of magic. But what can darken the situation? Of course the weather. It's raining again in the morning.

As I already wrote, my hotel was 40 km from Salzburg. Going to see the city means losing almost the whole day, and I wanted to devote it entirely to the Alps and Grossglockner. I planned to take about 6 hours for 50 kilometers of the road. Having looked at the maps, I saw two large lakes, which were already mentioned on Booking. First I decided to drive along each of the lakes, they were called Attersee and Mondsee. Then go to Grossglockner.

Routine chain lubrication before driving. Again, for the sake of this day, a cigarette lighter was made to charge a regular car DVR. I glued it to the steering wheel with adhesive tape back in Poland. It does not have a waterproof case, but the rain does not interfere with such a video recording, so I wrapped it in a bag from under Auchan.

I leave the hotel, which is positioned as a place for active family vacation with horseback riding, etc.

The weather was not impressive at all: low sky, drizzling rain, poor visibility, relative coolness.

Near the church. They seem unusual to us, but they have such in every city as typical.

If you look closely, then at the top right is the first of the lakes - Attersee.

I went down to the lake itself. V good weather there is a small children's water park here:

Gasoline prices. As in the rest of Europe - 92 there is no gasoline, there are 95 and 95 super. Diesel too - normal and super. At the same time, people have at least logic in order: gasoline is more expensive than diesel, and not like ours ...

What should be sold at a gas station near such a lake? Fishing gear!

While refueling, a man drove up in an old Porsche. Just in case, I asked permission to take a picture - to your health! Cars of this kind are not uncommon in these places.

Wikipedia writes that: "The water in Utters is crystal clear, the transparency is up to 30 meters, there are a lot of fish in the lake."

Sorry for the excessive number of pictures of my motorcycle. There are almost no people around, I am driving alone, and except as my own Steed against the background of mountains, lakes, etc. there is nothing more to photograph :)

Behind these trees there is an imperceptible change from Attersee to Lake Mondsee.

In about an hour the rain ended.

Closer to the city, near the park, people began to come across, I was able to take at least one photo with myself. Women can't take pictures without flowers in the frame :)

I wanted to get there as quickly as possible. I went on the Autobahn and, since the navigator is on my phone, which is always in my pocket, I managed to get through my exit, and I noticed this only when I realized that I had entered Germany. Let's go cars with German numbers, signs about speed limits in the country. Found a U-turn and re-entered Austria, reminiscent of the vignette:

Again, I couldn't think of anything better than dine at McDuck. Another mistake of the whole trip is to eat at this establishment. I always had an excuse why I stay here - almost 100% confidence in the availability of the Internet, value for money and a minimum of time spent. Now I understand how stupid it was. By the way, it was only in this place that Vkonatkte was blocked as a malicious site :)

That's it, the major roads are over, now there is an almost empty two-lane to Grossglockner. No one to the people. I drove through a couple of towns, wanted to withdraw money, but everything is closed, banks do not work. I managed not to understand the "card code" question at the ATM. And he just wanted me to enter a pin code, the existence of which I did not even remember ...

As my sister put it, after looking at the photos, she understood the following about Europe: "There are no people, no garbage, the weather is bad" :)

Here it is, the entrance to Grossglockner! The road is toll, a section of 48 km costs 23 euros for a motorcycle, and 33 euros for a car. There are also different combinations for a different number of days, etc.

Of course, sitting at home all this seemed to me a little fun. I didn’t even really imagine what a serpentine mountain was. It seemed to me that having entered the road, beautiful views would simply open to me. But HIGH a mountain road and implies an ascent to a height.

Favorite photo :)

Turn by turn, higher and higher. This is not easy for an old Steed, the engine loads are large, the radiator fan began to turn on periodically (Steed has water cooling).

There is not always a bump stop along the road, sometimes it is replaced by stone posts, and sometimes a fishing line is simply stretched along the cliff. I suspect this is such an alarm system in case someone falls off the road ...

Here vague doubts began to torment me. Wouldn't it all end with me driving into the clouds?

There were so few people that I sometimes stood alone for several minutes and listened to the noise of the waterfalls in the distance, and the bells of the cows.

There are almost no landscapes to be seen:

Alpine cows, there are quite a few of them:

Another rise:

Here all my experiences were justified. I drove into the clouds ... Visibility is 50 meters maximum. Moreover, it started raining. It's good that almost no one is there. During my time on Grossglockner, I saw a dozen motorcyclists, and a maximum of a hundred cars.

If you listen closely, you can hear the grazing cows ringing bells:

I didn’t take pictures in the fog / clouds, because there is still nothing to be seen, why take a picture?) If at least something peeped in the distance, I took a picture, so I cannot convey the whole atmosphere in the photographs.

Frankly speaking, it was creepy, and even scary, what was there. A motorcycle is not sustainable. Rain, the risk of falling increases, feet and hands are wet. You can only see the edges of the road, the bump stop is far from everywhere and you realize that behind this fog lies a multi-meter abyss, and if you fall there, they will not find you right away.

Photos do not convey this feeling as well as video. You can see and feel what the transition from normal weather to clouds looked like:

The ascent ended and the descent began. Behind, we have passed the maximum height - the Hochtor pass (German Hochtor) - 2504 m:

Even when I admired this place on the Internet, I knew that this turn from the main road leads to the observation deck. But I had no desire to go there. First of all, I won't see anything around. Secondly, it became a pity to drive the motorcycle somewhere high up again.

Anyway, then I did not experience any pleasure. One thought came to my mind - to get through this Grossglockner as quickly as possible. I looked at the odometer and measured the kilometers when this nightmare was over. Increased speed and stopped stopping less often.

Of course, now I regret that I did not see my own special beauty in all this. Why hide, only from the photographs of the house I began to understand what I was running from. Great!

In fine weather there are sea people here, the abundance of motorcycles is simply amazing. I was there all alone.

In one place I liked the tunnel in which the light was turned on from the motion sensor. Very cool: you drive, and in the darkness ahead, the lights gradually light up.

On the descent, engine braking must not be forgotten. Regular brakes have not been canceled either, but there is a very high chance of overheating them, which should be avoided.

Heiligenblut is the finish point of Groglockner.

I stopped to take a breath, and then in