Heiligenblut

From last night´s aire we got several brochures, but all in Italian, one of which was the Gola Della Galizia. This is a gorge and waterfalls, near to where we were staying. It has a prepared climb route, and we were fascinated to watch climbers, some of whom were obviously quite novice, making their way across and up rock faces, and across rope bridges,  that to us looked impossible. W could follow them on their early stages from the walkway above. The water from the gorge is used to power small millstones which grind perfectly spherical stone balls. In the past these have been used as ships ballast and shot for cannon, but now they make in interesting souvenir. 

From here we went onto Lienz. This is another medieval alpine town. Several churches and a castle, even though it was Sunday, not all the churches were open. The ones that were, followed the norm for outrageous decorations and sculpture. The one bucking the trend being a Dominican Convent Church: plain painted walls, and simple wooden furnishings. 

The highlight of our day here was the Ostirodler (trundle bahn). To ride this, you take a cable car up the mountain. We reckon it beats anything Alton Towers has to offer: you ride your own individual "bobsled" on rails,  but you are in control of the brakes. We don´t know how long the track is, but the ride takes about 5 minutes. Great fun ! 

After finding our aire, we took a short cycle to the local waterfall call Jungfrausprung or Maiden´s leap. The legend goes that the devil disguised himself as a charming young man, and was trying to get the maiden to submit to him. She saw through his disguise, and rather that lose her virtue, she made a daring jump across the chasm, and survived, while he chased her and fell into the murky depths.