Hiking and biking around Bavaria, Tyrol

SEEFELD, AUSTRIA — My idea of vacation means some vigorous, sweaty adventure, plenty of sunshine and scenery, and if the coffee is fresh and the beer is "gute" — all the better.

Being long used to relaxing "staycations" in the Lowcountry, this year I finally cashed out some credit-card miles for a 10-day trip to visit friends who work and live in the Innsbruck, Austria, area during the summer. My only task was to immerse myself in all things outdoors in the Alps of Bavaria and Tyrol in their August prime.

I'm not a fan of whirlwind tours of any country or region (travel shouldn't be a checklist of sites, cities and countries), but I squeezed in more than I imagined — thanks to fine, mostly sunny weather — while being on my own relaxed schedule.

I managed to savor city life in Munich, Germany, Innsbruck and the sports

tourist town of Seefeld; take long bike trips through quaint villages and lush countryside; relax in the sunshine with European families next to alpine lakes, rivers and pools; and run and hike on what seems to be an infinite system of trails.

And I did it without stepping foot into an automobile, not even a taxi.

Granted, train travel at times was challenging. English, especially in towns of central Austria and northern Italy, is not spoken as much, or as proficiently, as I had thought. Among the rewards of train travel, though, was being able to gaze without distraction at towering rocky peaks and neat river valleys.

Pedal power

Train travel was trumped only by the bike. I rented one, a mountain bike, in Seefeld for a large chunk of my stay. For the amount I rode, the $17-per-day rate was a bargain.

My first longer journey was with a longtime friend, Dr. Donald Sparks, to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Sparks is an economics professor at The Citadel who for the past nine summers has taught in a summer program offered by Florida's Stetson University and run out of the University of Innsbruck. His wife, Katherine Saenger, joins him for about a month each summer.

The highlights of the bike trip included stops for fresh apple strudel and coffee in Mittenwald, a small Bavarian village famed internationally for its violin craftsmanship since 1684.

Part of the beauty of bike travel is the ability to move through historic, pedestrian-only sections of these villages and coming upon scenes of everyday life. For example, in Partenkirchen, we first heard the brass instruments and drum of a Bavarian band before seeing the end of a joyful wedding, all participants dressed in Bavarian garb.

When Sparks was working, I set off on solo bike trips, with even more "adventure."

After taking the wrong road off the mountain from Seefeld to Innsbruck, I found myself on the Inntal-autobahn, an Interstate 26 of Austria, that was posted for 100K (just 62 mph). I knew I needed to get off as soon as possible, but where, I didn't know. Finally, after enduring the prolonged, annoyed honks of passing trucks, I finally located a rest stop next to where I wanted to be, a virtual road for bikes and pedestrians along the glacially fed Inn River.

From there, I biked on into Innsbruck for an afternoon tour of the city on my own that included a stop at the Alpenzoo Innsbruck, and a pizza and beer in the old city near the Innbrucke, the bridge over the Inn River, before taking the train back to Seefeld.

Wanting to build on that bike trip, I set a course the next day for a trip from Seefeld via the historic Brenner Pass to Vipiteno (Sterzing), Italy, with serious doubts on making it because of strong headwinds, grueling 17 percent grades going from Innsbruck into Ingls and Patsch and, later, threatening skies. And while this ride is not for beginner or unfit riders, it is designated on an official Innsbruck "Bike & Fun" map as part of the "Bike Trail Tirol."

At 4,495 feet, the Brenner Pass is the lowest pass in the Alps and was used by the Romans, who named it for the local tribe of Brennii, as the route between Verona and Trento, Italy, to Oenipons or Innsbruck. The bike route is on roads and, from afar, looks down on Brennerautobahn. I somewhat dreaded the descent into Matrei, another gorgeous Tyrolean village along the Sill River, because it was now close to and looking up to the autobahn. And it meant one more wicked climb into the border town of Brennero (Brenner), Italy. After Brennero, it was a literally 10-mile downhill coast into Vipiteno.

Historically, the region is the gray zone between the German-speaking culture to the north and Italian-speaking culture of the south, and as a result, towns have Italian and German names. This part of Italy is known as southern Tyrol. While Vipiteno (Sterzing) looks like many of the small Austrian towns I'd seen, everybody on the streets was speaking Italian.

Though I intended to take the train back to Seefeld that night, the combination of a sketchy Italian train schedule and my interest in staying in the old city tempted me to stay. I found a comfortable, modern and eco-friendly room for the night at Hotel Lilie ($117/person/night) that included an ample breakfast spread of breads, cheeses, thinly sliced meats, muesli, yogurt, jams and, of course, coffee brewed fresh by the cup.

Munich in summer

The bike was also a handy, inexpensive mode of transportation on a weekend visit to Munich, which has ample, well-used bike lanes throughout the city. Sparks and I visited the English Garden, a 2.3-square-mile park (larger than Central Park and the largest on the European mainland) on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday stops included watching surfers on the Eisbach, a small man-made river that flows through the park into the Isar River, and for some rehydration at the Chinese tower's 7,000-seat beer garden, the second biggest beer garden in Munich. A sunny, warm Sunday brought thousands to the grassy shoreline of the Eisbach for sunbathing.

A visit to Munich, I felt, would be incomplete without delving into its dark past of the 1930s and 1940s: a trip, via train and bus, to Dachau.

The Nazi German concentration camp was the first opened — in 1933 — and was the prototype for others, and contained training for the SS, or Schutzstaffel, a brutal arm of the Nazi military primarily responsible for the torture and murder of millions of Jews, Poles, communists, dissidents, intellectuals, homosexuals and mentally disabled people.

It was a chilling and somber experience that brings the terror of the Holocaust into another level of reality. I was impressed, however, at the number of high school age students who toured the site and who seemed to understand the gravity of the place. The message, written in several languages on one memorial, was "Never Forget."

Another memory from the trip, this one much fonder, is the hotel in which Sparks and Saenger always stay at in Munich. The Hotel Mariandl ($88-$102/person/night) is a classic, from its creaking staircase, artwork and antique decor, unique rooms (some with shared bathrooms in open hallways) with clean, comfortable beds to its greatest amenity, Cafe am Beethovenplatz. The cozy yet spacious bar and restaurant features small classical or jazz groups performing live each night.

While it's tempting to stay close to home at Mariandl's cafe, a visit to Munich also should include a visit to one of its many beer halls and gardens. Sparks and I went to the massive hall and garden, the Augustiner-Keller, which has a capacity for 550 people inside and 5,000 outside. Unfortunately, it rained that evening, so we were forced inside.

Change of pace

Compared with the Munich metropolis (population 1.35 million), Innsbruck, known internationally for hosting the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976, is less than a tenth its size, more laid-back and its tourist economy more evident.

Innbruck's tourist epicenter is the landmark known as "The Golden Roof," which is really more historically significant than visually spectacular. The roof was decorated, circa 1500, with 2,657 fire-guilded copper tiles for Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1500.

Perhaps one of the best offerings of Innsbruck is a city-run, guided hiking program, which is typically free. On the day I went, a bus took us to Ingls, where each group member was charged $17 for a cable car ride up to Patscher Kofel. The ride took us over the 1976 Olympic downhill skiing course where Austrian skier Franz Klammer wowed the world with his gold medal performance, as well as over the bobsled and luge runs.

From Patscher Kofel, the group of probably 70 hikers split up. About two-thirds, including myself, chose the harder climb to the peak of Viggarspitze, elevation 7,565 feet. It featured the best view of the trip: Alps in all directions, the Inn River valley and Innsbruck.

If one wants a home base for venturing into Bavaria and Tyrol, Seefeld may beat out Innsbruck.

Located on a train line, it also offers plenty of hotel rooms, restaurants, shops, recreational amenities (indoor and outdoor pools, fitness centers, trails in all directions, etc.), as well as a well-staffed tourist center able to answer any question — even in English.

Reach David Quick at 937-5516 or dquick@postandcourier.com.