Innsbruck

Dano / November 13, 2025 / Comments Off / Innsbruck

Today we’re off to Innsbruck for a short over-night stay to check out how much of the town has changed since our last visit in 1982. December 1982 was our honeymoon and we spent a couple, maybe 3 days in Innsbruck on our journey around Europe. Back then, hotel rooms, B&B’s were the only game in town and reservations had to be requested and verified via snail mail. Planning for a trip back then had to start very early! Our trip in 82’: Amsterdam, Munich, Innsbruck, Venice, Paris, London, and back to Amsterdam; 21 days! What a prelude for our travel style now.

Headed off to the train station, grab a McDonald’s breakfast and enjoy the 2hr ride to Innsbruck. Possibly, no definitely the worst sandwich I have ever had at McDonald’s. Melted cheese-like product with a slice of paper-thin bacon on a tortilla. The cheese-like product was disgusting!

What McDonald’s in Austria calls a “Breakfast Sandwich”

Innsbruck is the fifth-largest city in Austria and the provincial capital of Tyrol, as well as one of the largest cities in the Alps. It is halfway between Bavaria and northern Italy, and is a hub of a region popular for skiing and other mountain-related activities. The river Inn runs through the city. The name, “Innsbruck” is taken from ancient Roman meaning “the Bridge over the Inn”.

The city is well known for its sporting opportunities, especially alpine sports, as it is in the Alps and surrounded by mountains. Innsbruck also hosted the 1964 and 1974 Winter Olympics. Several ski resorts are situated inside the city or within short distance.

Checked in to our hotel and made our way to the city square. In Europe, everything revolves around the square. Catchy, huh! So far nothing looks familiar to us but again, that was 43 (almost) years ago. At that time, we stayed in a B&B along the river. We walked along the river in fresh, crunchy snow to a small restaurant that served pizza, which sounded great to a couple of young Americans. When we received our cheese, ham, mushroom, and tomato sauce pizza, it came out a little differently than we expected. The pizza was sectioned into quarters with each quarter having an ingredient, ¼ cheese, ¼ ham, ¼ mushroom, and ¼ tomato sauce. Top it all of with a nice scoop of baked beans right in the center. Pizza will definitely be on our menu for lunch. But now, a quick stop for pastry and a coffee!

Home for the night

New thing, glass shower right in the bedroom!

View from our room.

Pastry break!

First, lets do a little touring. How about St. James cathedral. (A real saint!) This cathedral was named in honor of James the Great, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. This was a real saint, not like St. Hippolyte. Still wondering about that one.

St. Sames or St. Jacob Cathedral

This is an 18^th century, Baroque styled cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Innsbruck. Built from 1717 to 1724 on the site of a 12^th century church dating back to 1180AD. The cathedral is known for two notable treasures, a painting of Mary of Succor, c.1530, and the tomb of Maximillian III, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. (The Teutonic Knights began in 1190 as a hospitaller branch supporting the 3^rd Crusades. In 1198 they were granted a military status by the Pope. After loosing several battles in the 15^th century, the group splintered with Austria retaining their order. (They still exist today as a charitable organization.)

The ceiling

The Pulpit

The Organ

The Apse

The Altar

Out and about, next we went looking for the Triumphal Arch. It was built on order from Empress Maria Theresa in 1765 to mark the marriage of archduke Leopold and the Spanish princess Maria Ludovica. Tragedy struck Empress Maria Theresa during the celebrations, which lasted for several days. Her husband, the father of the groom, died. As a result, the north side of the Triumphal Arch shows mourning motif to commemorate the sudden death of the emperor.

Triumphal Arch

Next up, pizza! Time for lunch and a chance to see if Innsbruck still makes pizza as we remember it. In a word, no. We stopped at Crocodile Pizza, don’t ask, no idea why its called that, ordered a ham, cheese, mushroom pizza with light sauce. Didn’t look anything like our first Innsbruck pizza but tasted pretty good. Time marches on!

Not the same, but still good.

For the afternoon, we’re going to tour the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace is a former Habsburg palace, and considered one of the 3 most important cultural buildings in Austria (the others being the Hofburg palace and Schönbrun palace in Vienna). It is the main building of a large residential complex used by the Habsburg dynasty. Construction started ~1460 under Archduke Sigismund. There have been numerous expansions over the next 2.5 centuries. The most significant alterations were made between 1754 and 1773 under Empress Maria Theresia, who gave it a Baroque look. The palace now hosts 5 themed museum areas: Maria Theresia’s Rooms from the 18th century, Empress Elisabeth’s Apartment from the 19th century, a Furniture Museum, an Ancestral Gallery, and a Painting Gallery. As with most palaces, no pictures are allowed inside.

The Palace

Coat of Arms

Final site before we call it cocktail hour, the Golden Roof. Most famous landmark of the city since 1500, the Golden Roof is a late-Gothic alcove balcony which is decorated with 2657 fire-gilded copper tiles. (I’m sure they don’t use that process any more.) It was built to commemorate the wedding of Emperor Maximilian I with Bianca Maria Sforza. The balcony allowed the emperor and his wife to enjoy festivals, tournaments and other events on the square below.