The panoramic high-altitude Austrian Grossglockner road, which is a serpentine of 36 turns, is a charming a tourist route acquainting with the beauty of the protected natural areas of the Central Alps.

The forty-eight-kilometer road, passing through and connecting the federal states and, begins in the commune of Fusch an der Grossglockner Strasse and ends in Heiligenblut. It passes through the Hochtor Pass, where the center of Kaiser Franz Josef is located at an altitude of 2369 meters. It offers stunning panoramic views of the glacier and the highest mountain in Austria, the Grossglockner. Actually in honor of this 3798 meter mountain peak and the road was named.

The plan for the construction of the mountain road was presented by a group of experts in 1924. It was a difficult period in history in economic terms. The country suffered from catastrophic financial losses as a result of the First World War, and therefore the project was skeptical. The government was forced to revisit the project in 1929 after the financial markets began to fall. This event greatly affected the weak Austrian economy. It was necessary to somehow employ several thousand people.

Construction began on August 30, 1930, and four years later the head of Salzburg drove along the new highway. And a year later, in August 1935, the Grossglockner Highway was put into operation and opened to the public. It is interesting that construction costs turned out to be less than planned, and tourist attendance in the very first years significantly exceeded the most optimistic estimates. In the future, 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. The fare is on average 20-50 euros, depending on the duration of the ticket and the type of transport. In winter, the passage is closed, because the height of the fallen snow often exceeds 10 meters.

Every year, driving along the picturesque route, about one million people admire the beauty of the Alps. The stages of professional cycling races take place here, and many European automakers like to run their latest car models on steep mountain slopes.

Grossglockner Alpine Road - PHOTO

Cow plugs. Gerlos and Grossglockner mountain roads. Krimml waterfalls. Supreme Mountain peak Austria and the Pasterze Glacier.

Through Austria by car. Innsbruck - Krimml - Flattach. Grossglockner Alpine Road. Krimml waterfalls.

The very case when watching is better than reading. On the sixth day of the journey, we begin a full immersion in the Alps. Today is devoid of urban tourism, but full of beautiful mountain landscapes, waterfalls and amazing alpine roads. The main star of today is the famous Grossglockner high-altitude road. Yes, and the waterfalls near the town of Krimml turned out to be quite personal. Follow our journey and subscribe to our YouTube channel, as well as to the email newsletter of our blog (column on the right or at the bottom of the page).

Route map and accommodation.

The entire route of this day passes along mountain roads. Moving along them is unhurried, but bewitching, just have time to turn your head. The total length of the Innsbruck-Krimml-Grossglockner-Flattach route is about 280 kilometers, including branches to the Edelweisspitze and to the Pasterze glacier.

Accommodation: Apartments Appartementhaus Mentil , Igls, suburb of Innsbruck. Booking through Booking.com. One night - 84 € (the most expensive accommodation on the trip). Breakfast is not provided. Free parking . Attention! On booking, the price is indicated less (45€) than it actually is, since in addition small print there is a note about the cleaning fee.

Holiday Almabtrib and road problems associated with it.

So I came to leave hospitable Innsbruck and our luxurious apartments Waldhaus Igls. We leave them in their original form and order.

We drive through the outskirts of Innsbruck, drive a little along the autobahn, then turn towards Zell am Ziller, then a little more and find ourselves on the road leading towards the town of Gerlos and the toll mountain road of the same name.

At the entrance to Gerlos, we begin to come across processions of dressed-up cows and shepherds.

Each procession completely occupies one of the lanes of the road, forcing cars to stop and wait for it to pass. The first couple of times it looks interesting and funny, we are even glad that we got to some traditional event and have the opportunity to enjoy the national Austrian flavor. Shepherds are cheerful, waving greetings to you.

But at some point it starts to tire, because time is running out. But the most important tin happened in the city of Gerlos itself. Here we got stuck in a dead traffic jam for almost an hour.

And, interestingly, for a long time there were no cows, then two not very large processions passed, but we continued to stand dead.

But it turned out that at this time passes traditional holiday Almabtrieb (Almabtrieb). This is the name of the event dedicated to the return of cows from the high Alpine pastures home, held in late September or early October. If the grazing season was successful, then the cows are dressed up and they proudly march down. The shepherds are also all dressed up, many drink beer and are already a little tipsy.

Another danger is the uncontrolled movements of cows. Our car, for example, was hit by one of the cows with a bell around its neck. And these bells - wow, not small at all. Thank God, there were no serious consequences.

At about 12-30 we finally set off and it turned out that the traffic jam in Gerlos was caused not only and not so much by cows, but by people (tourists) who had already begun to celebrate the holiday with might and main. Both beer and schnapps. The people had fun and walked, staggering along the road as if at home. Therefore, the movement was alternately one-way and at low speed.

Having escaped to the operational space, we began to enjoy the alpine landscapes. The weather was excellent, as were all the next few days of our stay in Austria. So lucky so lucky. Soon a very beautiful lake appeared on our way.

We assumed that it is also called Gerlos.

However, during the preparation of this report, it turned out that his name was Speicher Durlassboden. In general, this beauty began to quickly expel the negative from wasting a lot of time in a traffic jam.

Soon we passed the toll point of the Gerlos mountain road (9€) and headed to our first point today - the cascade of Krimml waterfalls. The road is beautiful, but not to say that it is very exciting. As you approach the waterfall, you can stop at the observation deck just opposite the latter. There are good views of the valley from here.

And, in fact, the waterfalls themselves.

A little closer.

Another lookout is already at the entrance to the Krimml.

We finally reach the city, there are several parking lots, we stopped at P3, which seems to be the closest to the entrance to the park. We were lucky, there was one place. True, we could not figure out how to pay for a long time, until Anya went to a cafe opposite and gave 5€ in cash. I don't even remember if they gave us any check.

From the parking lot, you need to go under the road bridge and walk along the path for 10-15 minutes, pay the entrance fee (€3 per person) and now we find ourselves at the site of the lower waterfall.

It is already very beautiful here, the water falls on the stones with all its might, raising a column of spray.

The ascent is quite steep, but the opportunity to take a breath arises constantly, as views of the falls appear all along the way.

Here we are already approaching the middle of the road. I must say that this cascade of waterfalls is one of the highest in Europe, the total height is about 385 meters.

Double cascade.

The way to the highest cascade, judging by the sign, takes an hour and fifteen minutes. To the middle of the way - 40 minutes.

The views are of course amazing, the waterfall is very impressive.

Here we have reached the middle point. There is a restaurant and a huge stone, and you can also go to the Krimml-Ache River, which creates waterfalls. Here the river is calm. Soothing landscape.

It turned out that my trekking boots were dirty from a previous trip (I don’t remember where), so I decided to take the opportunity and washed them right in the river.

We are very pleased, we drank selfies.

We decided not to climb to the very top, since the time was already approaching 15 o'clock, and we wanted to get to the Grossglockner track in the bright light of day. On the descent, we turned into one of the branches that we passed during the ascent.

Eh, what a goof!

An attempt to shoot a rainbow, which is formed by the reflection of the sun in splashes of water.

At 15:36 we leave the Krimml and, slowly winding through the mountain valleys, at 16:48 we reach the Grossglockner road toll point. The cost for a car for the whole day is 35€. With this ticket, you can leave and return any number of times, but only within that day. By the way, the last entry in the autumn period is possible at 18-45. The road itself closes at 19-30.

Well, what can I say about the road. We will not go into the history of construction and other technical facts. Let's just enjoy this really amazing and amazingly beautiful high mountain track. We managed to fly here a bit on a drone and we got such wonderful views.

In this photo, the Haus Alpine Naturschau museum is visible below, at an altitude of 2260 meters.

This is the northern section of the road, viewed from the south.

The turret is the lookout point of Fuscher Torl. Fuscher Lake is visible to the left.

Here you can see the restaurant complex in front of a separate branch of the Edelweisspitze road.

First, we unknowingly drove past a branch on the Edelweisspitze and ended up on Fuscher Torl, an altitude of 2428 meters. Look how beautiful and neat everything is.

The evening sun creates magical lighting.

Anya saw edelweiss, which, unfortunately, had already dried up. But I'm not 100% sure it's him. Write who knows.

Around, wherever you look, stunning mountain panoramas.

At these altitudes, things are actively moving towards winter, the grass is already quite withered, but still beautiful.

Edelweisspitze

The highest point of the Grossglockner track, accessible to cars and motorcycles, is the Edelweisspitze peak, 2571 meters high. Here you need to climb along a narrow serpentine paved with paving stones. The road is breathtaking in places.

Here we are at the top.

The parking lot is small and even at this time of year and day there are quite a lot of cars. I don't know what's going on during high season.

Souvenir shop with an observation deck on the roof.

As at all viewpoints of the road, you can have a bite to eat here.

North slope of the Grossglockner road. Almost in the center you can see a branch, from here we launched our quadrocopter for the first time.

Here we see Fuscher Torl and how the road goes around the hill.

Fuscher Lake. As written in the road booklet, here you can walk around the lake. But, to be honest, this puddle did not impress us at all.

One of the steep serpentine turns on the Edelweissspitze.

Hochtor Pass

And most high point the main road is the pass Hochtor, height 2504 meters. Here the views are also good, but not so impressive.

The main adventure at the pass where we stopped was getting to know cute sheep.

Anya did not miss the opportunity to feed them.

They ate bread with great pleasure. In this photo, in the background, although it’s bad, you can see the Hochtor sign, the only photo evidence of our stay here 🙂

Another beauty. The sheep were really cute. When it was time for us to continue our journey, they did not want to let us go for a long time and pursued us right up to the car. The parting was sad...

Pasterze Glacier

It was evening, dusk was rapidly falling. Of course, we regretted that we did not come here earlier. We really missed that very hour lost in Gerlos. With some risk, but we still went to the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs tourist center (2369 meters) - the last point of our stay on the Grossglockner. Arrived here at 18-45, there were almost no people.

This is where you can watch the highest peak Austria - Mount Grossglockner, which gave the name of the road. The height of the mountain is 3798 meters. In the photo below, this is the highest peak on the left. And from here you can observe the longest glacier in the Austrian Alps - Pasterze.

The length of the glacier now reaches 9 kilometers. Over the past 100 years, the glacier has melted very much, only its small tail is visible from the tourist center, and once it filled the entire gorge.

In the daytime, it is proposed to go down directly to the glacier (its remnants), now we only had to admire the views.

This concludes our stay on the Grossglockner road. Exactly at 19-00 we left the glacier and already at 19-13 we left the Grossglockner track. At 20-00 we reached the town of Flattach, where another cozy apartment was waiting for us. We booked them for 45€, but it turned out that the cleaning fee was in the fine print, so we had to fork out 84€! As a result, this accommodation turned out to be the most expensive for us. This is the only negative (albeit a serious one). The rest of the apartments were very good, unfortunately, we did not take any of their photos, but they are on the video. We also really liked the hostess, originally from Sweden, she was very positive and showed sincere interest and attention to us.

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Grossglockner high road and Pasterze glacier

It was one of the days in the Austrian trip, when, in the context of changeable weather, all the members of the group especially acutely felt the organizational skills of Mina Kofman, our wonderful guide. After carefully studying the weather forecasts, she made several successful rearrangements in the plan of the trip, and thanks to this and a lot of luck, wonderful weather accompanied us in all corners of Austria, although it is quite possible that in other places it was raining with might and main at the same time and / or unusual views were hidden behind a veil of fog or clouds.

On the day of the trip to Glosklockner, the sun shone with might and main in the morning. In the few hours that we were at the top, the clouds increased, but visibility remained 100% for many kilometers. But during the descent, more precisely at the final stage, the sky finally covered with clouds and it began to rain. But we again "ran away" from the rain moving at a decent speed towards the pretty Austrian town of Zell am See. We even managed to walk along it for a couple of hours, and even then we were covered by such a downpour that few people thought.

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, this is nonsense, because the bus immediately took us into its cozy arms, the driver turned on heating to keep us dry, and on the way to the hotel we watched movie about the incomparable and dearly beloved by the Austrians Empress Sisi. The day turned out great, in a word)

Orientation for photo-timeline observers:

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1. So back to the beginning of the day. The Pasterze Glacier is not the only attraction that we had to "taste" that day. The panoramic 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 for tourists with its history and magnificent views that can be observed by stopping at one of the many parking pockets panoramic platforms. This road is visited, it is visited, and not just driven 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 the most beautiful places peace!

2. Like many other attractions, the Großglockner High Alpine Road is paid and has limited access. There are certain hours of the day and seasons when the road can be used. From October to March and at night the road is closed.

Read more in my journal:

3. We were lucky, we chose the "right" time of the year to travel to Austria: August. The road we were interested in 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 in the snow". Let me remind you that this was in mid-August. Emotions from this lesson, as you can see, are purely positive)

Read more in my journal:

The Großglockner High Alpine Road runs through the Hohe Tauern National Park. The length is 48 km, in some places the road is raised above the ground with the help of overpasses, as in the lower right corner of this photo. Also, the road is replete with 36 sharp turns like "mother-in-law's tongue" and climbs up to a mark of 2,504 meters. A bit of history: initially, in 1924, a road project was developed with a width of 3 meters, with the possibility of expansion. The project was very expensive, and Austria at that time was exhausted by inflation and economic losses as a result of the First World War (reduction of the territory by 7 times, loss of international sales markets, etc.). For a while, this project was forgotten. But the wedge is knocked out by a wedge, and oddly enough, it was the stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange in 1929 that finally gave impetus to the revival of the project. Large-scale construction means the emergence of thousands of jobs, and after the default, unemployment in Austria has reached unprecedented heights. Construction work began in 1930, the road was widened to 6 meters and 3200 people were employed, and already in 1936 the Großglockner High Alpine Road was officially opened. The opening was a real triumph. The government announced new road"an eternal testament to Austrian achievements in difficult times." To recoup the funds invested in the construction, the government made the road toll. The predicted number of visits was 3 times less than the actual figures (375 thousand visitors in the first year of operation) and the money flowed into the treasury.

5. In the 60-70s of the 20th century, modern highways were built somewhere nearby, which took over the cargo-passenger flow, and the Großglockner High Alpine Road received its exceptional character of a sightseeing and sightseeing panoramic road.

6. There are many panoramic platforms along the road. We settled on the largest one with the most amazing view. Half-green-semi-snowy slopes are unusually picturesque all year round! How can you not take a picture against such a backdrop?

Read more in my journal:

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

8. Probably the most beautiful view of the Großglockner High Alpine Road, which combines both the grandeur 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 itself from the bus window, I was not able to capture the following: this road is just damn popular with all kinds of groups united by car or motorcycle brand, and of course with cyclists.

We came across groups of 5-15 Smart cars, then Lotus, then Mazda MX-5, then Jaguars, then Audi TT and of course Harley Davidson motorcyclists, Honda motorcyclists , just motorcyclists and lots and lots of 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 anyone that "something is wrong" here. Immediately there was a feeling that this is a special place. A place like a "car broadway", where people gather not just like that, but to "show themselves and look at others", and of course enjoy the fabulously beautiful atmosphere of these places.

Read more in my journal:

9. We drive up to the Fuscher Torl gate - a monument is dedicated to the workers who died during the construction of the road.

10. Gate Fuscher Torl (2.428 m)


Source: www.primokilometro.it

Read more in my journal:

11. Height 2369 meters. The Kaiser Franz Josef Center is located here. The Center itself is not visible in the picture, because this picture 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 souvenir shop, a restaurant and a large parking lot, there is also a multi-storey museum with an exhibition dedicated specifically to the highest Austrian mountain Glosglockner, mountaineering, ecology and the Pasteursee glacier.

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

12. Of course there is a considerable amount observation platforms from which you can see this ice giant.

Read more in my journal:

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

14. If there is enough time, then you can go down the trail and get closer to the glacier. In 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 Great Passages Well, this should happen .. After eventful trips in the most different directions, I must admit, I did not expect anything particularly attractive from the planned "dacha exile" during my trip to "I will travel to Nenko Ukraine." But here it was not. A pleasant surprise: I was simply fascinated by the leisurely countryside atmosphere, transparent silence, delicious clean air, beautiful nature during the summer time. I categorically did not want to leave from there, it’s good now to look at these photos and at least mentally immerse myself in this country nirvana.

15. And in some places, 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 talisman 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 observation platforms, "manna from heaven" periodically falls on them in the form of various goodies. The souvenir shop even sells special food for marmots. But despite the generosity of man, groundhogs show caution and show neither gratitude nor disposition to those who throw "manna from heaven" at them.

If a person approaches them, the groundhogs begin to make 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 the year))


Source: www.grossglockner.at

18. Where melting glacial water has the ability to settle, you can still 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, then they are very pretty.

A small lyrical digression. You can skip the next two paragraphs if you like.

Once, when I just got behind the wheel, I was wildly afraid and did not feel confident at all in the driver's seat. However, I was fabulously lucky with an instructor who had truly angelic patience and "rolled out" me. Yes, I rolled it out so much that after nine months of driving experience I ran into Lago-Naki in a car with a clearance of 13 cm (excluding protection). And it was in those days when this road was "suitable only for vehicles of high cross-country ability." Too bad we found out after the fact. However, we successfully made it to the top and went down! I didn’t ruin the car, they themselves remained intact, and for 10 hours at the wheel I got soaked to my underwear and five hundred times called myself bad words for arrogance. But the “long” weekend spent like this was a success, we gained impressions, delights and rested absolutely magically! And they became incurably ill with a passion for mountains and mountain roads. Sanka, thank you! I still love you and am forever grateful! You gave me a chance to make my wildest dreams come true.

So, I must say that I was not only lucky with the instructor, but also with my husband. Seeing how attached I am to the steering wheel and my cars, not only has he not even once in all these years even tried (!) to get behind the wheel on all our trips (I don’t know how he manages to do it - I couldn’t be sure!) . But every year he even tries 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. Moreover, the more terrible the road, the more often it is mentioned in all sorts of ratings “the most dangerous roads..., the most difficult roads..., the most beautiful mountain roads... etc., so much the better. And the more firmly I will be in my striving for it. So in my personal list of conquered roads there was a road to Lysefjord in Norway, just last year the Stelvio pass appeared on our route -. And just like that, the Grossglockner Alpine Highway was added to our itinerary this year. Thank you, gladchenko !! You are my knight and my hero!

Now back to Austria.

After Hallstatt, in which we admired the clouds, the lake, froze before dawn, and then roasted during the day on the way to the parking lot, our path lay in the town of 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 enjoy the views - this is how we planned to catch my favorite clouds in the morning and find enough time for stops and oohs and aahs.

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 under the pouring rain. These drops on the windshield made me nervous - I really did not 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 met us as her beloved relatives, the communication was so informal, warm and lively that both the feeling of awkwardness and fatigue from the road were instantly erased and disappeared. On her own advice, we went for dinner to a local restaurant where they served venison. We tried it for the first time in our lives, the impressions were the most favorable. And from the waiter, and from the dishes, and from the surroundings.

Just in case, we once again consulted about the road access schedule - for safety reasons, the road is closed for the 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 what lucky people we are that we are going to admire such beauty, and what smart people we are, how well and relaxed we speak English. Flattery is shorter. Rough. But it's nice ;)

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

And we saw!

The morning, which began with the singing of birds outside the window, from the purest, most humid fresh air in the room, continued with the entrance to the paid section of Grossglocknerstrasse. Entrance costs from about 20 to 34 euros. Along with the check for payment, we received just such a sticker on the windshield and a couple of booklets, which described in detail, with diagrams and maps, the whole range of pleasures available to us on the route.

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

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 still have to meet along the way (map from www.grossglockner.at).

As you can see, we got a lot of clouds. An unimaginable feeling - to ride in the clouds, break into them and emerge, stand above them, breathing in the completely boundless, endless expanse and intoxicating freedom.

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

The clouds that flowed down white foam on the blue-green velvet slopes slowly rose, huddled into marshmallow mountains and floated away to the horizon, revealing absolutely stunning views.

In the haze far below you could see rivers, little men and houses - like hobbit minks.

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 stilettos. But you still need to be on the lookout. The turns are sharp, the elevation difference is good. So yes, just the way I like it. According to the cards, there are 36 hairpins. In fact, there are more of them. 36 is the most intricate. They are all labeled with their numbers, heights and names - one (the 11th one I think) is called "The Witch's Kitchen" for example.

Once this road was built just to give work to three thousand unemployed people 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 those wishing to enjoy the beauties increased many times, so that the road was modified, expanded and provided with an extensive tourist infrastructure designed for guests of different age groups, preferences and abilities.

It has no transport value. If you need to quickly get from point A to point B, then there is the A10 highway. And Grossglocknerstrasse is exactly a species road. All of it is an attraction. From the smallest stone to the Pasterze Glacier.

One of the symbols of the entire park Hohe Tauern and Grossglocknerstrasse are alpine marmots - they are everywhere. A couple of times, balls of piercingly squeaking thick hairy priests strove to roll down from the mountains under our wheels, but we never had a chance to look at them. Only once did I manage to observe them, and even then high altitude. Wow, do you see a mink and a plump woolen ball next to each other on stony ground? Tourists feed marmots, so animals are not afraid of people at all.

The route runs from the entrance to the road through intermediate passes and peaks to the glacier and the big tourist center Kaiser Franz Joseph next to him. The glacier is slowly melting, the chances of seeing it every year are becoming less and less. It's all the more disappointing that I don't have a single travel frame left. The glacier was completely covered with clouds, and the cold there was dog-like - after + 34 ° С in Hallstatt get into +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 (Heiligenblut). It is impossible to drive along the road for a long time without stopping - the views are absolutely amazing. You can admire plenty of flora and local unique fauna. In the next photo, on the shore of a reddish-rusty small lake, you can see a herd of mountain goats grazing. 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 lower gear - especially down. The slope is constant, quite noticeable. The brakes have a hard time.

By the way, somewhere I came across advice in the spirit of “If you are not used to mountain serpentines, do not annoy local drivers with slow stupid driving, take a paid tour by bus or by car with a guide.” I don't agree completely! Firstly, personally, neither slow nor fast ones cause me the slightest irritation on such a road. There's not before. And the surrounding grandeur of nature sweeps away all irritability, discontent and intolerance from the soul. Slowly riding cautious old people are touching, enthusiastic young people on motorcycles cause a smile and a little alarm - “Don't kill yourself!”. Yes, and on any such road, drivers actually turn into a kind of brotherhood of initiates. "We did it! Really, beauty? - is read in every look, accompanied by sincere smiles and affection. So don't listen to anyone. If you love it - go and enjoy!

And here is Heiligenblut and its main attraction - Gothic church of St. Vincent.

According to legend, the Danish knight Bricius brought here a religious shrine - the Blood of Christ. According to the same legend, on the way home, he fell under an avalanche, which buried him under him. And he was found by three ears of corn 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 on this frame, Grossglockner himself is clearly visible - the peak that gave the name to the whole road. On the right side of the snow-covered peak, this is it. There are several versions of the origin of the name. "Big Bell" Perhaps due to the shape, or perhaps due to the frequent and noisy rockfalls.

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

It 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-altitude panoramic road Grossglockner. It really impressed me, it's not so easy to get there as an ordinary tourist. On a good note, for this you need to rent a car, although I also came across tourist buses there. But if it were not for the 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 lands of Salzburg and Carinthia. Passes by national park High Tauern (German: Hohe Tauern). Named after herself high mountain 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 of Fusch an der Grossglocknerstrasse (German: Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße) at an altitude of 805 m. It ends in the commune of Heiligenblut (German: Heiligenblut) at an altitude of 1301 m. The maximum height is the Hochtor Pass ( German 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 slope is 8.6%. It leads to the center of Kaiser Franz Josef, with a panoramic view of the Pasterze 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 the Groglockner is not everyone's gem. But I just wanted to see the Alps, mountain roads, serpentines, enjoy all this beauty. I have a motorcycle, I figured out the cash costs, what prevents me from going, especially while the student is not tied to work or family?

The beginning of this day was such a moment in life that you wait with trepidation, like some kind of magic. But what can darken the situation? Of course the weather. It has been raining again since 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. Looking at the maps, I saw not far from the hotel two large lakes, which were mentioned on Booking. I decided to first drive along each of the lakes, they were called Attersee and Mondze. Then go to the Grossglockner.

Before leaving, the standard procedure for lubricating the chain. 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 rain is not an obstacle for such a video recording, so I wrapped it in a bag from under Auchan.

Leaving the hotel, which is positioned as a place for active family vacation with horse riding, etc.

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

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

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

Went down to the lake. AT good weather there is a small children's water park:

Gasoline prices. As in the rest of Europe - there is no 92 gasoline, there are 95 and 95 super. Diesel is also normal and super. At the same time, people have at least the 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 taxied in an old Porsche. Just in case, I asked permission to take a picture - good luck! Cars of this kind are not uncommon in these places.

Wikipedia writes that: "The water in Attersee is crystal clear, the transparency is up to 30 meters, the lake is a large number of fish."

Sorry for too many pics of my bike. There are almost no people around, I am traveling alone, and except for my native Steed against the backdrop of mountains, lakes, etc. nothing else to photograph :)

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

About an hour later the rain stopped.

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 soon as possible. I went along the autobahn and, since the navigator is in the phone, which is always in my pocket, I managed to drive my exit, and I noticed this only when I realized that I had entered Germany. Send cars with German numbers, signs about speed modes in the country. I found a U-turn and again entry into Austria, they remind me of the vignette:

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

That's it, the major roads are over, now there is an almost empty two-lane to Grossglockner. Nobody to the people. I drove through a couple of towns, I wanted to withdraw money, but everything is closed, banks do not work. At the ATM, I managed not to understand the question "card code". And he just wanted me to enter a pin code, the existence of which I did not remember ...

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

Here it is, the entrance to the Grossglockner! The road is paid, a section of 48 km costs 23 euros for a motorcycle, and 33 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 know what a mountain serpentine was. It seemed to me that when I entered the road, they would simply open beautiful views. But HIGH mountain road and involves climbing to a height.

Favorite photo :)

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

Not always there is a chipper along the road, sometimes it is replaced by stone pillars, and sometimes a fishing line is simply stretched along the cliff. I suspect it's some kind of alarm system if someone falls off the road...

At this point I began to have vague doubts. But will 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 waterfalls in the distance, and the bells of cows rattle.

The landscapes are almost gone.

Alpine cows, there are quite a few of them:

Next climb:

Here all my worries were justified. I drove into the clouds... Visibility is 50 meters maximum. Not only that, it was raining. It's good that almost no one is there. For all my time on the Grossglockner, I saw a dozen motorcyclists, and a maximum of a hundred cars.

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

I didn’t take pictures in the fog / clouds, because you can’t see anything there anyway, why take a picture?) If at least something looked in the distance, I took a picture, so the whole atmosphere cannot be conveyed in the photographs.

Frankly, it was creepy, and scary, what is there. A motorcycle is not sustainable. Rain, the risk of falling increases, feet and hands get 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 many-meter abyss and if you fall there, you will not be found right away.

The photos don't convey that feeling as well as the video. You can see and feel what the transition from normal weather to clouds looked like:

The ascent ended and the descent began. Passed behind maximum height- Hochtor pass (German Hochtor) - 2504 m:

Even when I admired this place on the Internet, I knew that this lapel from the main road leads to the observation deck. But I had no desire to go there. Firstly, I still can’t see anything around. Secondly, it became a pity to drive the motorcycle again somewhere high up.

And in general, then I did not feel any pleasure. I had one thought - to quickly pass this Grossglockner. I looked at the odometer and counted the kilometers when this nightmare would end. Increased speed and became less likely to stop.

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

In perfect weather, there are a lot of 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 turned on from the motion sensor. Very cool: you are driving, and the lights are gradually turning on in the darkness ahead.

On the descent, do not forget about engine braking. Conventional brakes have not been canceled either, but there is a very high chance of overheating them, which should be avoided.

Heiligenblut is the finishing point of the Groglockner.

Stopped to take a breath, and then in