Today’s post is brief and back to telling you all about my amazing holiday :)

The coach sped us away from Lichtenstein and towards Innsbruck in Austria. My trusty Google map below shows where Innsbruck is.

The countryside along the way was a spectacular panorama of mountains and trees.

I must admit that I often found it difficult taking high quality photos while the coach was on the move. The driver tended to keep the interior lights on and this created reflections on the windows.

Soon after entering Innsbruck the coach pulled up next to a large yellow and white basilica. On previous trips to Europe I had noted the colour scheme and really thought nothing of it. In fact, so ordinary did it appear on the outside that my daughter Rhiannon could not even bother getting off the coach when the guide invited us to explore it. Little did I realise that this “church” was Wilten Basilica and that it had such a splendid interior. Had I known I would have encourage Rhiannon to join us. This said, it was not the guide’s fault, it was our own lack of imagination I guess.

When we entered we were amazed.

It was gorgeous.

Completed in 1756, this Baroque basilica owes its design to architect Franz de Paula Penz. Specifically its style is Rococo, or Late Baroque, characterised by an abundance of decorations and ornamentation, often asymmetrical.

Well, we all stared in amazement and then whipped out our cameras and clicked away. I must admit that I was still trying to learn how to successfully use my DSLR inside where flashes were not permitted. I was getting better but still felt my shots to be a bit gloomy, not really catching the sublime colours.

After a while we boarded the coach and headed up the mountain to our hotel – the Bon Alpina. To be honest I have not mentioned our hotels much to date in respect to this tour. Let’s face it, we were on a Costsaver tour and we all know that this means small, cramped hotels that are far away from the action. But that is how we can afford the magnificence of the rest of the tour. In this case yes, the hotel was away from the action. But cramped and second-rate? no way. I loved this place. Here is the view from the dining room looking into the swimming pool area.

 

And here are some shots in the heated pool. As you might guess, we swam the evening away. :)

I really enjoyed this hotel and highly recommend it.

So my next travel post will cover my exploration of Innsbruck.

Thanks for reading :)

Greg

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