As it is still a little overcast today we decided to head up to the Castle and explore that first then come back into town for a walk around and possibly lunch. We walked to the Hop-on Hop-off bus stop as this is the easiest way to get out to the castle, we then realised that we had a while to wait so decided to walk to an earlier stop which was near the tourist information, when the bus didn’t turn up we eventually decided to go to tourist info to find out if it was running which it was but the first and last bus of the day doesn’t actually run in winter! Information that wasn’t particularly obvious from the timetable and as it turned out we weren’t the only ones that hadn’t understood that! Anyway we were soon making our way up the mountain to the castle which has a fantastic view over the city. It was built in the 16th century by Archduke Ferdinand II who lived there from 1563 to 1595 and built a museum to house his world-famous collection which makes this the oldest museum in the world. There are very few signs of when it was a castle that was lived in left as the majority of the halls have been turned over to exhibits but as you walk round you realise just how large the complex is, I think it would be really nice to visit in the summer and have a walk round the gardens but in the snow they are a little bare! We walked round the lower castle which is where there are exhibitions of armour from Ferdinand time, they have a suit of armour for a giant who was 2.6m tall (8ft 6in) and also a few for both the princes when they were little and a dwarf. From there we looked at a collection of ornaments and decorative items made from coral and ivory as well as quite a few paintings it was then time to go to the upper castle which is where the Spanish Hall is, this was not originally called the Spanish hall but it is similar to other halls of that name in Austria so has been renamed to match the others. It has windows all along one wall and portraits of various members of nobility on the opposite wall, the colours are quite spectacular and I am sure in the summer it would be a lovely place to have a party although in the winter you would need to dance a lot to keep warm! From there we went to the chapel which was very small but really pretty and you are able to walk round both the chapel itself and the gallery which give you quite a different view. After all this we decided to have a hot chocolate to warm up then went for the bus. Unfortunately I had mis-read the timetable which meant that we had just missed it but luckily a regular bus that was heading for the station arrived just after we got to the bus stop so we jumped on that. We decided to walk from the train station to Jesuit Church or Jesuitenkirche which is one of the central churches in Innsbruck. It is the official church of the University and focuses on pastoral, liturgical and artistic activities. It was built between 1627 and 1640, however the towers were not built until 1901. The main sanctuary was destroyed during World War II and was reconstructed and a new alter installed in 2003/4. The crypt contains the remains of Jesuits who died in Innsbruck as well as the founders Leopold V and Claudia de Medici. Eleven princes are buried here with six from the house of Habsburg. From there we went to the Hofkirch which is the Court Church. It was built in 1553 by Emperor Ferdinand I as a memorial to his grandfather Emperor Maximillian I although his will had directed that he be buried in the castle chapel in Wiener Neustadt it proved impractical to construct a large memorial there so Ferdinand planned the construction of a new church and monastery in Innsbruck as a memorial, in the end however Maximilian’s simple tomb remained in Wiener Neustadt and the Hofkirche serves as a cenotaph. Before going into the church you walk through the museum which is a strange mix of costumes and rooms depicting how people lived thought the ages and large displays of religious artefacts. One of the interesting points is that while in the museum we walk out onto a balcony overlooking the floor of the church, the cenotaph and the organ which provides a great view. From the museum we walked through the cloisters and into the church itself where you are greeted by the ornate black marble cenotaph which occupies the centre of the nave. It took more than 80 years to construct and although the sarcophagus was completed in 1572 the kneeling emperor and the four virtues were not added until 1584. There are 28 large bronze statues of ancestors, relatives and heroes which were created between 1502 and 1555 all of which seems a lot of work for someone that asked to be buried simply and who’s body was never actually moved here! We decided to get back on the hop-on hop-off bus after this and do a whole circuit as that would provide us with the history of the area and also as it is less busy that it was this morning we should be able to see the things that they talk about. It was really good as we went all the way round the town and up to the ski jump then came back to the Market place where we got off and walked along the river to the Funicular railway to see if we could find a timetable for it but as it turns out it runs ever 15 minutes so as long as the weather forecast for tomorrow is still nice we shall probably do that in the morning. From the funicular we decided to just walk back to the hotel to have a coffee and relax before heading out for something to eat later.
