Austria is a place that draws in a great number of visitors from all over the world throughout the year, because it is just such a great place to visit! Obviously, the grand majority of tourists are guys and girls who are passionate about snowboarding, skiing or other winter activities. Indeed, Austria is a regular Nirvana for skiers, because of the innumerable resorts placed in the tall Austrian Alps. Thousands of kilometers of ski circuits await their users annually. However, since Austria has an interesting history and gave birth to such a wide variety of internationally recognized artists, traveling to Austria is also an opportunity to see attractions like the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the great Opera House in Vienna and many other well known cultural attractions.
But there aren't many tourists have knowledge about other, less talked about places that are very interesting to visit, like the beautiful Ambras Castle in Innsbruck and the eerie Werfen Ice Caves, a few kilometers away from the same city. And it's a bit of a shame too, because there are other attractions that only locals seem to be aware of, like the Golden Roof or the Hellbrunn Castle.
The Ambras Castle stands guard over the city of Innsbruck, high up on a hill nearby. It was built by Archduke Ferdinand II, and it was this person's home for nearly thirty years, from 1563 to 1595. Because of this, the name of Ferdinand II always appears along with the name of Ambras Castle in every chat about this structure. There are a few beautiful halls in the palace that are worth seeing, and the most interesting is the great Chamber of Arts and Curiosities, a long hall filled with old mechanical devices , statues, paintings, furniture and other objects. The bronze animals, rock crystals, coral crucifix and the portrait of Dracula are just some of the things that will surely impress you when you'll see them first hand. Then, the Spanish Hall is really long and tall, being an excellent setting for contemporary classical music concerts that are regularly held in Innsbruck over the whole year. The Armories and the Upper Castle section are also interesting to see.
The second attraction I should mention is the largest cave complex in the world, the Werfen Ice Caves! More than forty km of caves have joined under the Alps around Innsbruck, transforming these relatively small grottoes into a gigantic maze that was a Mecca for geologists for about a century. The section open for public touring is of about one kilometer though, but who would prefer to go forty kilometers on foot anyway, right? The caves are full of incredible ice formations. This doesn't resemble anything you saw until now, believe me.
As I said, you can discover many other extraordinary things to see in Austria besides the ice caves and the Ambras, you just need to look around. Here's an idea: if you go to Austria, don't put all your trust into your tourist flyer. Instead, you should ask some locals where to go and what to see. You will love it when you find out there are some great, less famous locations in almost every town you'll visit.
But there aren't many tourists have knowledge about other, less talked about places that are very interesting to visit, like the beautiful Ambras Castle in Innsbruck and the eerie Werfen Ice Caves, a few kilometers away from the same city. And it's a bit of a shame too, because there are other attractions that only locals seem to be aware of, like the Golden Roof or the Hellbrunn Castle.
The Ambras Castle stands guard over the city of Innsbruck, high up on a hill nearby. It was built by Archduke Ferdinand II, and it was this person's home for nearly thirty years, from 1563 to 1595. Because of this, the name of Ferdinand II always appears along with the name of Ambras Castle in every chat about this structure. There are a few beautiful halls in the palace that are worth seeing, and the most interesting is the great Chamber of Arts and Curiosities, a long hall filled with old mechanical devices , statues, paintings, furniture and other objects. The bronze animals, rock crystals, coral crucifix and the portrait of Dracula are just some of the things that will surely impress you when you'll see them first hand. Then, the Spanish Hall is really long and tall, being an excellent setting for contemporary classical music concerts that are regularly held in Innsbruck over the whole year. The Armories and the Upper Castle section are also interesting to see.
The second attraction I should mention is the largest cave complex in the world, the Werfen Ice Caves! More than forty km of caves have joined under the Alps around Innsbruck, transforming these relatively small grottoes into a gigantic maze that was a Mecca for geologists for about a century. The section open for public touring is of about one kilometer though, but who would prefer to go forty kilometers on foot anyway, right? The caves are full of incredible ice formations. This doesn't resemble anything you saw until now, believe me.
As I said, you can discover many other extraordinary things to see in Austria besides the ice caves and the Ambras, you just need to look around. Here's an idea: if you go to Austria, don't put all your trust into your tourist flyer. Instead, you should ask some locals where to go and what to see. You will love it when you find out there are some great, less famous locations in almost every town you'll visit.
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