Arlberg Pass - Flirsch

We departed Vandans a little later than expected, so Innsbruck was out of the question today. Instead, we slowed our movements down as we passed from the region of Vorarlberg to the popular Tyrol region via the Arlberg Tunnel. We thought that Switzerland was the land of tunnels but we are discovering that Austria is up there with them for the title. 

This single lane 15.5 km tunnel keeps you concentrating a little more religiously than normal driving, and some of the big lorries don’t take prisoners! A few years ago we tackled the 25 km tunnel in Norway- still the longest we have been through.  

The Arlberg Pass in the Eastern Alps is part of the European watershed between the catchment areas of the North Sea, the Black Sea, the tributaries of the Rhine and the Danube. Arlberg used to be completely cut off from the rest of the country, oriented more towards Germany and Switzerland, until the railway tunnel was built in 1880–84, connecting Vorarlberg with the rest of Austria. Today the  road tunnel passes underneath the Arlberg Pass being 15.5 km long, it was the longest in the world when it opened in 1978. Today, the Arlberg region has some of the country’s most exclusive ski resorts.

Shortly after exiting the tunnel we stopped at Flirsch, an alpine ski village looking resplendent for the summer visitor. The main buildings (mainly guest house) were decorated with the typical Tyrol window boxes filled with all colours of flowers. We took some time “ooing and aahing” around the village before hopping back on the autobahn and heading to Landeck. 

Landeck was a busy town which services the surrounding villages. It is where water seems to be flowing in all directions.  

We did some provisioning ourselves with a stop at the supermarket, and other domestic necessities. 

An interesting decoration around the boundary of a school - also, note the large mobile decoration in the background. 

You have to love the dedication of the builders who built this structure (church or castle) on top of this rock!

We had a late lunch and then drove on to Sautens in the Ötztaler Valley where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Shortly after arriving another thunderstorm hit with the rain sweeping  up the valley, adding to the already large quantities of water flowing down the rivers. The outside temperature plummeted to 14 degrees while Hilton maintained a comfortable 25 degrees inside.