A Gentle Walk around Tyrol

Poor, neglected blog! If I were a REAL writer I could make everyday life scintillating, I suppose. Better than, "Well, I wrote another thousand words today, and then I cleaned the bathroom. I bet Thomas Mann never had to clean the bathroom..."

You see why I only blog when something out of the ordinary happens, like another fun fact-finding trip to Tyrol! When I was there last year, I spent two days visiting museums and the Hofkirche. This time around, I focused on the great outdoors, spending time where Maximilian exercised his favorite hobby (hunting) and visiting the site of one of his few successful battles for territory: Kufstein, near the German border, which he besieged and conquered in 1504.

In keeping with this mission, I decided not to stay in Innsbruck proper, but rather in a delightful 'Berghütte' (mountain cabin) outside of town. Airbnb has been very good to me, I must say!

The cabin, with shower and sauna
on the ground floor

If you're going to spend your life following a dead emperor around, at least make it one who liked to hang out in beautiful places, that's what I say.

I've woken up to worse views.

As I mentioned before, Emperor Maximilian is still a folk hero to the Tyroleans, not because he was emperor, but because he was their 'Landesfürst', that is, he was the territorial ruler of Tyrol from 1490 until his death in 1519. Innsbruck was one of the places he liked best and visited most often during his peripatetic life. 

How do I know he's still a folk hero? Because when you mention to Tyroleans that you are writing a book about Emperor Maximilian I, they invariably start telling you stories about his life. (This in contrast to Germans, who tend to wrinkle their brows and say, "Which one was he, again?")

One of the favorite stories (or legends, depending on who you want to believe) is how Max climbed so high on one of his hunting expeditions that he couldn't get down again, and was rescued by an angel. This supposedly took place outside of Zirl, a little town near Innsbruck, in the Inn River valley. I took the bus there on the first day of my trip. 

The Inn River

The Martinswand, the scene of
Maximilian's dramatic rescue

At the foot of the Martinswand is a place called Martinsbühel, where one of the emperor's hunting lodges still exists!

St. Martin's Chapel, right next to the lodge

Maximilian was a gifted athlete and skilled hunter who loved to show off, especially in front of good-lookin' ladies. A great way to accomplish this was something called Schaujagd; literally, hunting that you watch. The Martinswand was a prime location for this. The ladies would gather in the courtyard, and watch the hunters climb the wall and chase chamois with long spears. 

An example of Schaujagd, from Maximilian's
hunting and fishing book, by Jörg Kölderer.
c. 1500. 

Since there was no Schaujagd going on the day I visited (though there were a few rock climbers out on the wall) I was forced to entertain myself, darn it. So, I took a little walk. 

My destination: The Kaiser Max Cave

It was steep, but doable. The next photo attempts to show the switchbacks. The steepest parts were provided with barriers of steel cable, to prevent people from blundering off the edge.

There's no shortage of astonishing views in Tyrol, lemme tell ya.

And then I made it: Kaiser Max Cave:

Celebratory selfie

The man himself! He looked busy, so I didn't bother him:

Remember the hunting lodge?

Since it was such a beautiful day, and I still had some vim and vigor left, I hiked up and down a gorge called Ehnbachklamm after I climbed back down the Martinswand.

None of the pictures really do it justice! One of the most amazing things was this: the whole time, 40 minutes up and 40 minutes down, all I could hear was the sound of rushing water. 

After 4-5 hours of hiking I got back to Innsbruck and ate a huge salad and 3/4 of a pizza. There may or may not have been beer involved as well. The next day I was so sore could barely walk, so instead of besieging Kufstein I sort of hobbled around it. But I'll save that story for another day.