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2020. Corona. Travelling is a different game. Yet our Fernweh acted up too often. So we arranged a train trip to Germany and Austria. Specifically to Leipzig in Saxony, several spots in Bavaria and returning home with ÖBB‘s Nightjet from Innsbruck in Tyrol to Brussels in Belgium.

After the German leg of our 2020 autumn rail trip visiting Leipzig, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Munich, Neuschwanstein, Lindau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we ended our trio with two days and one night in Innsbruck in Tyrol.

There we visited Schloss Ambras or Ambras Castle. Ambras Castle was built in the 16th century on the spot of an earlier 10th-century castle, which became the seat of power for the Counts of Andechs. The cultural and historical importance of the castle is closely connected with Archduke Ferdinand II (1529–1595) and served as his family residence from 1567 to 1595.

Ferdinand was one of history’s most prominent collectors of art. The princely sovereign of Tyrol, son of Emperor Ferdinand I, ordered that the medieval fortress at Ambras be turned into a Renaissance castle as a gift for his wife Philippine Welser. 

The cultured humanist from the House of Habsburg accommodated his world-famous collections in a museum: The collections, still in the Lower Castle built specifically for that museum purpose, make Castle Ambras Innsbruck one the oldest museums in the world.

Segments

There’s plenty to see in Schloss Ambras.

• Armouries;
• Chamber of Art and Wonders;
• Strasser Collection of Glass;
• Habsburg portrait gallery;
• Collection of Gothic Sculpture;
• Spanish Hall;
• Inner Courtyard;
• Bathing Chambers of Philippine Welser;
• Chapel of St Nicholas.

Ambras Castle is absolutely wort a visit if you have any interest in European history. Because the Habsburgs and their relatives were and are everywhere.

Also, look out for the albino peacocks.

Previously on this adventure

1. The delicious German state secret: dining onboard Deutsche Bahn.
2. VIDEO | Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.
3. Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof.
4. EAST GERMANY | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum, Leipzig’s GDR museum.
5. Hyperion Leipzig.
6. Leipzig.
7. By ICE from Leipzig to Nuremberg.
8. Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum.
9. Novotel Nuremberg City Centre.
10. Documentation Center NS Party Rallying Grounds in Nuremberg.
11. Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field with the Norisring.
12. Memorium Nuremberg Trials.
13. Nuremberg’s real-life Playmobil Imperial Castle.
14. You need at least two full days in Nuremberg.
15. DB Regio from Nuremberg to Regensburg.
16. Thurn und Taxis princely palace museum in Regensburg.
17. Eurostars Park Hotel Maximilian Regensburg.
18. Regensburg.
19. With Alex from Regensburg to Munich.
20. BMW Museum & BMW Welt in Munich.
21. Munich’s Olympiapark.
22. Sofitel Munich Bayerpost.
23. Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.
24. Deutsches Museum’s main site on Munich’s Museuminsel.
25. By train to Neuschwanstein.
26. Only 15 Minutes and No Photos in Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle.
27. Museum of the Bavarian Kings in Schwangau near Neuschwanstein.
28. Füssen in Bavaria, the gateway to Neuschwanstein.
29. Münchner Stadtmuseum – Munich City Museum.
30. MUNICH | Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum / Pinakothek der Moderne.
31. Five days and four nights in Munich, including Neuschwanstein.
32. By train to Lindau and Lake Constance.
33. Lindau at or in Lake Constance.
34. Hotel Bayerischer Hof Lindau.
35. Trainspotting at Lindau.
36. By train from Lindau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen via the Ausserfern railway.
37. Staying firmly on the ground in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
38. Mercure Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
39. Visiting Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze.
40. Mountaineering in Germany part 2: The Alpspitz.
41. Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Innsbruck via Mittenwald on DB Regio.
42. Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.