One of my earliest memories of vacationing in Slovenia's Bohinj region was of a headscarf-wearing lady of indeterminate age, perhaps in her late fifties or early sixties, cutting pasture grass by hand; in other words, with a scythe - before placing the presumed silage in a back-mounted basket. Now, if I was to ask you…
With 40 fewer days of snow cover than 60 years ago, the alpine regions of Austria are not only losing the very element on which its leviathan winter sports sector relies upon, but also the use of melted snow that impacts river flow, hydroelectric capabilities, and the ability of farmers to harvest precipitation to water…
Awarded the Best Europe Tourism Project by the British Guild of Travel Writers, Slovenia's innovative Juliana Trail has been recognized for providing a tourist-centric product designed to take the strain off traditionally popular, but at times overwhelmed areas of the Julian Alps. Without it sounding like a tired cliche, there is more to Slovenia's alpine…
Standing up to your knees in snow at 1,800 metres above sea level whilst at a ski resort is not an unusual occurrence in itself but indicates one potential anomaly: assuming the scenario doesn't relate to off piste terrain then why hasn't the particular area been groomed for winter sports aficionados? The answer might surprise,…
To me, Slovenia has always punched above its weight as an alpine nation. It can of course be argued that the modern day border that wraps around a territory occupied by 2 million inhabits has within it quite by chance some of the most dramatic mountainscapes of Europe, but it isn't necessarily what you have…
To be at the very end, neglected, and alone through no fault of your own has to be the ultimate insult to injury when an inadvertent, but preventable, fall from grace has brought about such a sad demise. This though has been the fate of Bohinj's Hotel Zlatorog, once one of the most famous establishments…
My final alpine retrospective turns to Saalbach Hinterglemm, where skiing doesn't get in the way of partying through the winter months, whilst mountain bikers and hikers seek an uneasy coexistence during the summertime. As is common with many of my initial visits to resorts in the mountains, the first impressions I gained of Saalbach and…
In my penultimate alpine retrospective I focus on Kitzbuehel, the chic Tirolean resort situated within its eponymously named alps. Having travelled for over 20 years to Austria's mountainous regions, predominantly throughout the Tirol but also within Salzburgerland and Carinthia, the two resorts seemingly visited by nearly everyone who insist they have stayed in the country…
There are two types of locations in the Austrian and Slovenian Alps where I naturally gravitate towards - those that offer vistas where vertiginous peaks dominate as standard, and areas where rolling countryside gives way to higher ground. Where characteristics overlap in what otherwise are very different landscapes, a feeling of not having been overdeveloped…
It is now several years since I last stayed in Zell am See, one of Austria's most famous lake resorts. Its proximity to Saalbach Hinterglemm and Kitzbuehel coupled with excellent public transport links have though enabled me to visit it on several occasions since. Framed by majestic peaks and on the cusp of the Tirol,…
Where the partying is hard and the skiing more so, St. Anton am Arlberg is not a winter resort for those seeking temperate early nights and gentle, undulating pistes. Between late-November and mid-April sleep is often an optional extra for travellers carousing until almost the lifts once more crank into operation, and for those frequently…
It has been several years since I last ventured over the Europa Bridge towards the Stubai valley/Stubaital in the high Austrian Tirol. Initially alarmed by the amount of traffic which this in effect 'one way in, one way out' valley receives, particularly heading towards Neustift, its all year round epicentre and the Stubai Gletscher(glacier), it…
The Great Reset is a term that has been bandied around for the last year, primarily in the wake of and to some extent the continuation of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Seen by many as more a basis for what conspiracy theorists have presaged for years than a coordinated global response to Covid-19 and the…
*For writing on a similar theme, please visit: https://ukshortwavefreeradiomemories.blogspot.com/ Aged in my early teens in the Autumn of 1990, little could I have known that randomly tuning around the international shortwave bands on a basic analogue radio one Sunday morning would spark a hobby that has, albeit intermittently, endured to this day. Already moderately aware…
It is difficult to comprehend the reputational and financial implications that Bohinj must have suffered in the last decade from the simultaneous decay of many of its preeminent hotels, in particular the Zlatorog, Ski Hotel, and the Bellevue. Tourism has never been an industry which the area places its unswerving faith in and dependence on,…
It is now over 20 years since I first visited Slovenia's Lake Bohinj, but until recent times changes to the area's preeminent hotel stock had been painfully, glacially slow, if that is to say that the inexorable decline of many of its most famous tourist accommodation has only in recent times started to be arrested.…
In the last of a series of articles reflecting on Neil Critchley's first full season that is now nicely coming to the boil, I ask myself: have I been too harsh on what Blackpool's head coach has sought to achieve, and how he has gone about it? Most would answer that question with a resounding…
The new General Secretary of the Austrian Alpine Club, Clemens Matt, recently made a bold statement which will resonate with those seeking to install more and further infrastructure in the mountains of Carinthia, Salzburgerland, and the Tirol, suggesting that every mountain does't need a cableway, nor a connection between neighbouring valleys. As winters shorten and…
Undeveloped land within the Austrian Tirol, in particular along the Inn Valley and where it is more tableland than vertiginous peaks, is in great demand and under growing pressure - in equal measure. There is little doubt that the region's popularity as a tourism destination and the location of second homes for wealthy Austrians, and…
A run of four draws in as many home games has seen Blackpool FC fail to make up ground on those currently within the League One play off places, and steal a march on teams currently outside the top six but with similar aspirations to the Seasiders. Without a hint of bias or trace of…
