Clive Holland

“ As one nears the goal of one's pilgrimage, the way is marked by stations of the cross. One passes through a silent region, and, as one ascends, the pretty villages scattered below in the valley of the Inn are gradually and for a time lost to view. Scarcely any one is met save a stray pilgrim or some tourist curious enough to make the ascent, and no sound is heard save the soughing of the summer breeze in the pines and the tinkle of little streams or the water-music of the Stallen torrents. ”

“ The approach to Innsbruck, whether one come to it by railway or by road from the west, north, east or south, is picturesque and even wonderfully beautiful. Most English and American travellers, however, we imagine, come to the old-time capital of Tyrol via Zurich and the Arlberg railway, with its marvellous tunnel all but six and a half miles in length, above which tower snow-clad peaks and glaciers. This route provides a wonder-world of delight, a succession of deep gorges lying at the foot of towering mountains covered on their summits with a mantle of spotless and eternal snow. ”

“ The railway takes one through beautiful scenery in about an hour to the summit of the mountain, which is so favourite an 180 excursion with the well-to-do Salzburgers, and from which such a beautiful prospect is spread out at one's feet. To the north one can catch glimpses of the undulating foreground of the Alps and shining lakes; whilst Salzburg now more than 4000 feet below looks almost insignificant, and like a toy town set in the midst of a green plain through which winds a thin, silver line, the Salzach. ”

“ The courtyard, shaded by trees which throw a diaper of shadow and sunlight on the paving stones, with the delicately pretty porch leading into the church, is a spot of sheer delight for the artist and the dreamer of dreams; who there, amid the quietude of ancient things, can the better conjure up visions of other days when Bozen streets rang to the passing of armies, and men at arms, and in them were heard the cries of mediæval merchants selling their wares drawn from north and south. ”

“ The view from the terrace, with its trellis of passion flowers and vines, across the Inn valley on a clear summer's day is one of great charm and beauty, and as one gazes across the fertile valley to the wonderful range of mountains that towers above it, the colours of which seem to change with every passing cloud, one can realize something of the affection Ferdinand, art lover and artist as he undoubtedly was, always had for Castle Ambras. ”

“ The valley is at its broadest where the city stands, allowing a wide prospect and charming views from the slopes of St. 74 Nicolaus and Mariahilf across the river to the Berg Isel, and the wooded sides of the Mittelgebirge, with here and there a tiny village with outstanding spire perched high on the mountain side, or set amid the plain. The valley lies east and west of Innsbruck with the river flowing eastward like a silver ribbon, amid cultivated fields of fertile alluvial soil, threading its way through the gradually narrowing valley to Kufstein and thence through Bavaria to the Danube. ”

“ The first named is one of the most interesting and well-preserved examples of the mediæval schloss in Tyrol. A whole volume might be devoted to a description of its beauty of situation, architecture, romantic history and sieges, and yet leave much unsaid. Its huge round tower dominates the landscape, just as its beautiful lower courtyard, with its four tiers of cloistered corridors round two sides, with the "springs" of the arches supported upon short columns of unworked marble, its fine main hall, with priceless carved and panelled oak and hunting trophies, make it a unique possession. ”

“ To leave this fascinating old-world town, where so much of the most beautiful in modern ideas stands side by side with ancient things, without a visit to some of the charming and interesting places in the immediate district—lovely lakes rivalling the deep-blue sky above them in the tint of their waters; peaceful valleys, where pure air invigorates scented by passage through pinewoods and across flower-decked Alpine pastures; wonderful peaks covered with that eternal weight of glorious snow, and bound about in some cases by the immemorial fastnesses of environing glaciers—should be impossible. ”

“ In the valley of the Salzach there is no lack of variety as regards scenery. One has widespread meadows, almost throughout the year starred and gemmed with many coloured and sweet scented flowers, melting away into the woods which clothe the lower slopes of the environing hills, where the sombre hued pines give a darker note of green to the landscape; whilst yet above these in the distance are crags of grey and slate-coloured limestone, and crowning the whole vast snow-fields glistering white at noonday and taking on a tint of delicate rose colour at sundown. ”

“ Innsbruck and every trace of the wide valley and environing hills across it have suddenly vanished, and one finds one's self in the midst of wide extending and restfully green upland pastures, with a vista of the charmingly situated little villages of Natters and Mutters, across the Sill Gorge (which here is almost imperceptible) with their church steeples, green tinged and red turreted, shining in the clear Alpine air, and giving to the scene just that touch of colour which an artist loves. ”

“ In this comparatively small area one has a variety of scenery unsurpassed by any, so far as we know, on the Continent of Europe. Within the confines of the Dolomite region one has the wide range of lofty mountains and terrific cliffs, in places reminding the traveller of the cañons of the Rocky Mountains, with pinnacles, battlements, and towers, rearing themselves on every hand like ruined and Titanic fortresses, yet with their wildness softened in a measure by their beauty of colour when gilded by the sunrise or bathed in roseate hue of sunset light. ”

“ From the pleasant dining-room on the first floor, with curtains of spotless muslin to keep out the almost blinding sunshine of the valley, there are fine views towards Meran, and of the towering mountains across the stony bed of the Passer.
At the Inn there are some interesting relics of the patriot, and pictures of him. One shows him as a big, strongly built man of not much above average height, with a short nose, a fine and lofty forehead, dark eyes, and a rather ruddy face, well-marked eyebrows, and the famous long beard. ”

“ The Stubai Thal is a combination of scenery of widely different character. Within a radius of a few miles, towering above 130 its green and peaceful pastures, at least two score of magnificent peaks rear their heads skyward, none of which fall far short of (whilst many exceed) 10,000 feet in altitude. The lower portion of the valley is reminiscent of the far-famed, music-loving Zillerthal, with its dark-green pine forests, fertile meadows, and villages perched here and there on the slopes of the mountains, or nestling in the valley itself around the white-walled churches. ”

“ Numerous as are the undoubted attractions of Innsbruck in early spring, summer, and autumn, when the encircling fields and mountain slopes are gay with Alpine flowers, and beautiful with the varied tints of the foliage of trees and shrubs, the town is yearly becoming more widely known and more largely frequented as a winter holiday resort, where what are generally known as "winter sports" can be indulged in to one's heart's content. ”

“ The trembling notes, like those of an old singer whose voice has become feeble but has retained much of its sweetness, float out upon the still evening air with a mystic appeal which few that have heard them can, we think, have failed to have felt. For ourselves it is one of the lasting and unforgettable memories of Salzburg as well as of its castle.
Nowadays the cable railway takes one to the summit in a few minutes, and one is spared the fatigue of the long climb up by the Nonnberg. ”

“ To these beautifully situated spots, which are peopled by happy and friendly disposed peasants, come year by year an increasing number of travellers from other countries 259 of Europe and from America, flocking into all the more frequented parts intent upon enjoying the beautiful scenery over which hangs, during the summer months, a vault of deep-blue sky, looking all the bluer by contrast with the snow-clad Dolomite peaks, whose grandeur and fascinating beauty are not easily forgotten by those who have once gazed upon them. ”

“ Some weeks of exploration leaves one with a keen desire for closer acquaintance with not merely the lovely scenery but with the simple-hearted, hospitable people who dwell in the more secluded valleys, with whom the great outer world with its storm and stress has indeed little to do and for whom even has little interest.
"You should return to Innsbruck from Hall in the late afternoon, starting just before sunset," was the advice of an artist friend. "You will then see what you will not easily forget." ”

“ And in such old-world towns as Innsbruck (of many historical memories) , beautiful Salzburg, vi charming Bregenz, Botzen, and Meran the traveller with more artistic, literary, or antiquarian tastes will delight.
That Tyrol deserves to be better known few who have once come under the spell of its charms of scenery, and the frank hospitality and friendliness of its people, or have wandered amidst its lovely valleys and mountains, will deny. ”

“ A WOODLAND SHRINE
The pilgrimage of St. Georgenberg is one of the most famous and ancient in Tyrol. So ancient, indeed, that its origin appears to have dated as far back as the end of the tenth century, when a chapel was consecrated here by Albuin, the then Bishop of Brixen. Even before this, however, Scherer asserts that a young Bavarian nobleman named Rathhold, from Aiblingen, "having learned the hollowness of the joys of even his great position, made up his mind to live apart from the haunts of men in some wilderness and solitary spot." ”

“ It is truly a land of mountains, valleys, lakes, and rushing torrents that may well have bred the race of romance-loving, poetic, and hardy people who dwell in it. In the minds of those who know it there arises almost inevitably a comparison with the nowadays overcrowded and over-exploited Switzerland—and the comparison is, both as regards scenery and general interest, greatly in favour of Tyrol. ”

“ The grim fortress upon the rock, somehow or other, when seen in the fading light of evening, seems to bear its story of cruelty, rapine and harshness on its face. Many a gallant heart in the old days, which people are so prone to label "good," pined or fretted to death within its walls; and, unless tradition is entirely at fault, many a noble maiden and dame also were incarcerated and died tragic deaths within its thick, grim walls, and in its sunless dungeons. ”

“ Then the snow on the towering peaks of the environing mountains glows with at first a golden light, which passes through pearly tones to bright rose pink as the sun sinks behind the soaring crags. The last gleams of the sun linger upon the highest peak as though loth to fade through rose to pale purple, and in turn to change to steely blue, and finally to that blue-black which challenges the deeper indigo of the Alpine sky. ”

“ Thus it was that out-of-date weapons—most of which had seen service in the war of a century before—billhooks, scythes, clubs and pitchforks, with whatever other arms their own ingenuity could devise or the village blacksmiths make, were pitted against the arms of some precision of the French and Bavarian troops. All that the peasant forces had to sustain them in the struggle against well-armed and disciplined veterans, superior as regards knowledge of warfare, was dauntless courage and a greater acquaintance with the country and of hill fighting. ”

“ And what a shrine it is! An isolated tabernacle set upon a rock in a solitary place, and amid surroundings of the greatest beauty and impressiveness; shut out of the world and shut in with nature. The cross at the head of the bridge records the miraculous escape of a girl long ago who, whilst attempting to pick the fairest flowers for a chaplet to place upon the Madonna's head or lay upon the altar, fell into the ravine, a distance of over one hundred and fifty feet, and yet escaped serious injury when death seemed certain. ”

“ Just before one reaches Schwaz, one sees storied Castle Tratzberg high on a wooded spur of the Bavarian Alps, with its three turrets in line, seeming to overhang the rocky eminence upon which it stands. Up above the castle, scarcely visible from the valley, is the famous pilgrimage church of Georgenberg, which all who can should visit. ”

“ But if from Bozen one looks merely for the rosy hue to tint the skyward-piercing pinnacles of rock, which have been poetically called the "Rosengarten," or rambles in the picturesque and beautiful valleys and tiny defiles at their feet, one will not be disappointed. And the 214 "roses," like other similar phenomena, are in a sense a weather glass; the deeper the red they glow the finer the ensuing day. At first a plum-hued twilight, such as one gets in the Maloja valley, seems to fall down out of the sky, and then the mountain peaks commence to receive their baptism of crimson. ”

“ Riva, which is the Tyrolese port of charming Lake Garda, is one of the most delightful spots in all Tyrol. As one stands on the promenade, far towards the south stretches the beautiful lake, whose deep-blue waters and exquisite environment of mountains have been sung by poets and described by travellers in every language of Europe. ”