The Grossglockner Road

Austrian countryside, near Grosskirchheim (it’s actually spelt Großkirchheim in German), on the approach to the Grossglockner Road from Lienz, Austria

Continuing from where I left off in the last post, here’s our final road trip of our 2015 2-Weeks Summer Vacation in Europe. From Vintgar Gorge in Slovenia, we made our way northwards again, because we had to catch our flight back to Dubai in two days’ time from the other side of the Alps, i.e. from Munich, Germany. We also had plans to meet up with sister Kim’s family (for the first time ever) in Munich, and were looking forward to it. The only problem, is that in between Slovenia and Germany, is the Alps, and Austria! And the most interesting route between where we were, and Munich, is the Grossglockner Road! Or more accurately, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, the highest road in Austria, named after the highest mountain in Austria!

D’ya think we’d give a place like that a miss, since we were already so close??? Even if it costs a bomb? (Yup, you have to pay a separate toll, and it ain’t cheap… I remember it cost more than 100 bucks! For toll alone! And that’s on top of the blanket toll that all cars already have to pay in Austria).

And that’s how we ended up in the town of Lienz, East Tyrol, Austria, to spend a night before our journey across the Alps on the Grossglockner Road. Here’re the pictures!


Gasthof Gribelehof, Lienz, East Tyrol, Austria – This was where we booked our one night stay in, but not where we eventually stayed. The hotel friggin botched up our booking! …We initially booked for the night before, but then changed our booking when finalizing our plans before flying off to Europe, so they had ample time to do the change, but failed to realize that we had changed the dates. Bummer! They arranged a room for us at another nearby hotel (Bierkeller), which was cheaper, but didn’t have as nice a view as this one! What a waste. We could see the whole of Lienz from here!






What the heck, might as well hang around and take some photos of the Gasthof Gribelehof compound


The road to Gasthof Gribelehof goes underneath an Alpine Roller Coaster! (The guesthouse lies on top of a hillock). There, below is the town of Lienz


Alpine Coaster, Lienz - Gasthof Gribelehof can be seen on top of the hill, on the centre left of the photo


Alpine Coaster, Lienz, East Tyrol, Austria


Bye-bye, leaving Lienz for the Grossglockner Road – outskirt of Lienz with a view of the Gailtal Alps (Lienz Dolomites) towering above behind / beside Lienz




At the village of Winklern, right after crossing the state border from East Tyrol to Carinthia


Großkirchheim, Carinthia, Austria


The countryside just before the start of the Grossglockner Road (It’s spelt Großglockner in German. Yup, they have a special symbol for ‘SS’. I guess German snakes would go hißßß…)


Finally, the Großglockner High Alpine Road…


The last photo we took of the Grossglockner Road before it was completely shrouded in fog… What a bummer, all that toll we paid, and we didn’t even see half of it! The southern part was fine. North of the range, and everything was foggy, gloomy and cloudy like most of the days on the second week of our Europe trip

From the Grossglockner Road, we would end up stopping at Walchsee for a quick lunch, before entering Germany, and getting lost in the city of Munich (bloody GPS led us to the wrong street, how would I bloody know that Munich Airport isn’t in Munich City?!?), resulting in us being very late in meeting Kim, Daniel and little Jared… And that is a story I’ve written a long time ago.

Alright, this is the last post from our 2015 Europe trip, Auf Wiedersehen. We’ll be back. Just wait!

(How do I remember all these place names? I don't, but I have Google Maps! Don’t underestimate Google Maps mate. I love Google Maps, if only Google Maps was around when I was younger, …sigh!)