Day 4 - Swarovski Crystal Factory... Innsbruck To Stelvio and back
Saturday morning we awoke to a beautiful view...
There were kids skateboarding in the plaza..
Sounds like a great day to go to Stelvio...... except... we had also planned to go to the Swarovski Crystal factory.
This was the highlight of the trip for my wife (indeed, perhaps the raison detre), as she initially didn't even want to go to Europe...
At any rate... despite my recommendation that we make the drive to Stelvio right away... we ended up going to Wattens, about 15 KM the wrong direction..
to make matters worse... we ended up doing the entire tour of the Museum.. which turned out to not be
a tour of the plant... But a crazy modern art exhibit, that ran : € 9.50 apiece...
Finally we made it to the showroom....
and finally ... the exit...! I can say Yes to that!
It was now mid afternoon.. and the GPS indicated 2.5 hrs for the trip from Innsbruck to Stelvio... The first part of the trip was mostly Autobahn....
and of course.. more "stop for picture" requests..
Knowing that the scenery ahead was only going to get better... I began to drive faster and ignored further requests to stop.
We finally turned onto a road ... in which a BARRICADE was across the road for travelling up. I was determined, and drove on past it.... the GPS indicating still another 30 minutes to go.... We began to climb... and the road became quite narrow... I began thinking back to what the sign said... and I believe it said something along the lines of...Pass this sign after 1600 hours, and you take your life into your own hands...
The switchbacks were tight, and the road so narrow, that one literally had to stop to allow cars coming down the hill the opposite direction. And when I say stop... I mean.. pull to the right of the road... Don't look down... and hope that you know where the tires are.. because it's a long way down! We were wondering had we gone the wrong way? My companions became increasingly concerned. A motorcyclist appeared behind me... I slowed and let him pass... now confirming that I wasn't the only idiot charging up the mountain at 1800 hours... with about an hour of sunlight! Suddenly. the motorcylist left the road, instead taking his bike up the side of the mountain! Within a few KMs.. the road turned to GRAVEL. Fortunately.. I had heard this might happen... so I pressed on, at slower rate... This was really not much fun. Previously... the driving on the two lane roads had been great ! We came to a crest and stopped and talked to two motorcyclists.... Where is the Stelvio pass? 3km ahead! With renewed energy I continued... we reached a sign that IIRC indicated 2638 M above sea level...
and then finally.... we stopped a moment for the iconic photo....
and were promptly passed by a lady driving an E46 convertible.. with the top down....
literally smoking a cigarette as she drove down the mountain.!
ED TIP: When driving mountain passes ... it's always nice to drive behind a local... that way the peanut gallery in your own vehicle " we are going to die... It's too dangerous!.. you are going too fast! " quiets down!
We stopped for a " pit stop" at this hotel. Oddly... the entire mountain had several hotels and bars. It seems that many locals must ride/drive up the mountain and stay the night. Motorcyclists appeared to be travelling the mountain several times... and there were even bicyclists going up and down the mountain!
once we reached the base of the mountain... we set the GPS for the Hilton.... and made it back just before 10pm.
The round trip took about 6.5 hours.... and really... if one intends to stop along the way... budget a couple of hours more time..