KITZBUHEL- A LOVELY LITTLE ALPINE TOWN.

Have you heard of Kitzbuhel? If you are a ski enthusiast then of course you would have heard of it. For the others, I would like to say that it is a small little town in Tyrol region of Austria. It's in the Alps and it  is beautiful.The History of skiing and Kitzbuhel dates back to more than 120 years. In March 1893, Skiing pioneer Franz Reisch conquered Austria's first high Alpine ski route by skiing down Kitzbeheler Horn peak. After that this sleepy little town metamorphed into the skiing destination that it is today.

The wide road.

There is a wide  road in the center of the town, and the town is really quite small. Cars do  not ply on this road. The shops that one sees on both sides of the road are only exclusive designer shops. For a town which has a population of less than 9,000 people the shops appear rather extravagant. Yes, actually these shops are for the extremely large number of tourists who visit here throughout the year.

Designer shops.

Kitzbuhel is a world famous fancy ski resort and has hosted the Winter Olympics twice. There are 56 cableways  and lift facilities available around this area. There are 168 kilometers of slopes and 40 kilometers of cross country skiing tracks. As one looks all around one can keep looking at one ski lift after another. The Annual World Cup ski races are held nearby at Hahnenkamm mountain. The downhill race on the Streiy slope which is counted as one of the toughest downhill competition of the World Cup is also here.

This wide road is meant for walking!

It is not only a winter place. For summer  adventure sports there are 120 kms of mountain bike paths and 500 kms of hiking trails. Biking and hiking are very popular in the Alps. I was simply amazed to see the bikers (struggling-to my eyes) with their bikes on steep and narrow climbs. Walking itself seems quite a task and here I saw a number of people biking! 

Besides this there are six tennis courts and four golf courses also. The Austrian Open tennis on clay is held here in summer.

Horse drawn carriage for tourists!

Is it any surprise then that there are about 10,000 hotels in this area? Also that the designers have opened their shops here?

A gravestone

There is St. Catherine's Church here. I was charmed by the graveyard attached to the Church. There were few graves and all of them were very beautifully maintained. They looked like family graves and so the head stones had the names of different people buried in the same patch at different times.

The Graveyard

Not being a sports enthusiast, I was more enraptured with the beauty of this small little town which is world famous and has developed basically for all the different type of Sports facilities that it can extend to the rich, famous and adventurous!
There is wild life also in the Alps. Although I tried my best I could not see either the Ibex or marmot or owl! 
Kitzbuhel has maintained its pristine, calm, peaceful and clean unspoiled beauty in spite of the numerous visitors and tourists that come here throughout the year. I enjoyed my visit to this little town about which I had really known almost nothing. Now, it will remain in my memory as a lovely place which one only reads about in Mills and Boons novels!