Schwaz in Tyrol was the former centre of silver mining in Austria, and is now the main town for the Zillertal ski region, with the hospital, schools and shopping centre. You probably wouldn’t go here on holiday, unless you were one of the unfortunate skiers constantly being ferried to the hospital via helicopter. This was the view from my hotel window, the hospital is on the other side of the river Inn.
The hotel was extremely Tyrolean inside. I needed a good rest as I had an exhausting class that week.
You also got a free copy of a children’s book about the local mountains.
The restaurant sold dumplings and schnitzel.
Tiroler Tris, where you get three kinds of dumplings. I asked the guy what the delicious dipping sauce was, and he replied “butter”. It may not look like a lot, but this plate is extremely filling.
Spätzle.
There’s a lot of building work going on in Schwaz, with a new bridge and extra housing.
The Inn is not a friendly river at all, especially when the snow melts in the Spring, and I imagine building a new bridge isn’t that easy.
The new part of Schwaz is pretty bland.
The kids kept pestering me to ask if I was staying at the banana hotel. I wasn’t, and I certainly was not going to tell them where I was actually staying.
I wouldn’t mess with this guy.
I think this is where they keep the secrets, out the back of Spar.
Lots of small towns in Austria have these street display cabinets, and they’re never vandalised.
I kind of want the travel banana hammock, despite having nowhere to actually use it. Maybe they have them at the hotel.
The outskirts of town still have more Tyrolean type buildings.
There still seemed to be some livestock in that barn too. Traditionally they were built next to the houses to provide free winter heating.
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