Hotels in Saas-Fee and the Saas Valley will be looking back on 125 years of tourism; a good reason to celebrate this anniversary with their guests. In September, various nostalgic events will be taking place. Guests will even receive free rail and Post Bus passes.

Those involved in the tourist industry in the Saas Valley are getting together and looking back over the past 125 years. This was the time when, in 1881, with the opening of the first hotel, tourism arrived in the glacier village. Susanne Voide-Dillitzer, Head of Marketing in the Saas-Fee Tourist Office: ?We want to give something back to the guests. Therefore, September has been declared the anniversary month.?

September, or Herbschtmanund, as it is called in the Saas dialect, will be dedicated to looking back on the good old times. For instance, how about going up to Saas-Fee on mule back, as in the old days, before the road through the Saas Valley was built. ?The goal,? according to Susanne Voide-Dillitzer, ?is that the service providers all join in so that guests will have a good time.?

Fun does not have to cost a lot of money. Saas-Fee and the Saas Valley want to make an attractive offer with the Saas Valley Card. This was initiated at the instigation of the Saas-Fee Tourist Office, the organization of holiday apartment operators and the cable car systems. Any person lodging with any of the participants (hotels or holiday apartments) will receive the Saas Valley Card. Armed with this pass, valid for rail and Post Bus travel, guests during September will not pay one penny. The only exception is the ride up to the Allalin revolving restaurant in the Metro. This will not be free of charge, but the Saas Valley Card will give the holder the right to a discounted price for the ride up to 3,500 meters (11,375 feet). Included in this price is the entrance to the Ice Pavilion and to the Mike Horn adventure exhibition.

September, the Herbschtmanund in the Saas Valley, is, as the proverb says, worth its weight in gold, not only because of the golden larch trees, the blue sky and the white peaks. A stay in the Saas Valley stirs the senses. And makes you want to get active. Apart from the nostalgic events, guests will also be able to enjoy all the comforts of the modern tourist industry: infrastructure of the highest level, unlimited freedom, multi-pack activities for every age and lively hospitality.

Article provided by the Saas-Fee/Saastal Tourist Office.

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In winter, around one million guests scale Saanenland?s peaks, comfortably, in one of the 62 lifts of Gstaad Mountain Rides. On the trail or on a sled run, in the snow-park, on the hiking path or in one of the numerous mountain restaurants, what reigns is pleasure, as light as the powder snow. However, behind the scenes people are working around the clock. Behind the seven mountains near Gstaad, neither the seven dwarfs nor the ginger bread man are at work, but the 360 employees as well as the committed personnel of many local businesses.

One of these 360 employees is Oswald von Gr?nigen, Deputy Manager of the Rellerli cable car. He?s not just any man, as you may notice, since, as the oldest employee just before his 35-year anniversary with Gstaad Mountain Rides, he knows, like no other, what is most important to demanding holiday guests: perfect trails, comfortable transport to the top of the mountain, and culinary delights - simply the few extras that Gstaad has to offer.

Trails that are perfectly prepared all the time are standard in the region of Gstaad Mountain Rides. Thirty-one grooming machines work around the clock, guaranteeing a smooth and steady run down. Around 80 employees are responsible for the preparation and safety of the trails and if need be, for keeping them well-covered with artificial snow. However, in the evening when the lifts close, the real challenge begins. The 250 kilometers (156 miles) of trails have to be loosened, packed down, and smoothened. With an average trail width of 20 meters (65 feet) the total area to be groomed is the equivalent of 5,000 ice-hockey fields. Despite the availability of the most modern equipment, this work on the steepest of slopes continues right into the morning hours and when there is fresh snow-fall, even longer.

The working day of the machinists begins hours before the first ski-guests catch the lift up the white mountains. Step by step, the ski lifts and cable cars are brought back to life. The cable cars that have been parked overnight in the garage-halls are hooked onto the cable, safety checks are carried out and all the important functions are tested. Apart from this morning routine, the machinists also do regular maintenance work. Every screw and every clamp is checked, the door-automatics are tested and worn windows and benches are replaced. The monthly check of all the ropes ensures maximum safety. When required, a magnetic inductive test is carried through ? that means, an ?x-ray? is taken of the rope piece. Depending on the result, the rope is repaired or replaced, so that the utmost safety of our passengers is guaranteed.

Article provided by Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus.

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Shielded and shaded by the Kapuzinerberg hill, the ancient Linzergasse leads up from the Platzl next to the Staatsbr?cke, to where the Linzer marked the end of the city until 1894, and is a street which hasn?t lost any of its hustle and bustle.

The street has been one of the city?s main traffic routes on the right side of the Salzach since the time of the Romans and was the most important main road leading out to Linz, Vienna, and the northeastern corners of the Habsburg Empire. Speedy mail coaches, elegant traveling carriages, heavy duty ox and cart vehicles, and horse drawn vehicles all clattered down the cobbled street, taking passengers into Salzburg and filling the lane with life. A number of these beautiful old buildings can be traced back to the 14th and 15th centuries and are still places of conscientious hard work. The great fire which caused immeasurable damage to the right bank of the city in 1818, didn?t stop at the base of the Linzergasse, but the wounds have healed, and charming, lovingly cared for restored houses and buildings once again adorn this beautiful district in the city of Mozart.

The Linzergasse has always been know as being typically Salzburg, with its workshops and manual trades, its small shops, its numerous restaurants and hostels, giving it a distinctive character as the sister of the international and elegant Getreidegasse, on the other side of the river. If anyone needed a wood turner, a cloth seller, a butcher, a box maker, a chain smith, a watchmaker, a cooper, a locksmith, a chemist, a doctor, a hairdresser, a sweet pastry baker, a candle maker or even a bell foundry, then the Linzergasse was the right place for centuries. Whereas the other side of the river in the archbishopric was famous for art and culture, writ large, there was little time or room for such frivolity in this narrow part of the town. Thus, the more important the architectural, cultural and historical delights visitors discover on ambling down this beautiful old lane with their eyes wide open.

Coming from the Platzl down by the Staatsbr?cke, the passer by can?t help seeing the building at number three, where the famous doctor and scientist, Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, aka Paracelsus, lived from 1540 ? 1541. Number seven has been the home of the Engel Apothecary since 1809, whose most famous assistant was the poet, Georg Trakl, born in 1887, and who worked there for a short period. Right next door, at number nine in the Gablerbr?u Hotel, there?s a memorial plaque remembering the famous singer, Richard Mayr, the incomparable ?Lerchenau Ox? in Richard Strauss? Der Rosenkavalier opera, who was born in 1877 in the very same building and known for the several Mozart opera characters he played.

Across the lane there?s an impressive archway and a flight of stone steps tempting visitors to explore the picturesque route up the Kapuzinerberg along ancient Stations of the Cross. With a little effort, the haul up to the Kapuzinerkloster is rewarded with a breathtakingly beautiful panoramic view of the splendor of the old town at the foot of Hohensalzburg fortress across the river. The old city walls erected during the 30 Years? War, most of which are still intact, are spread across the side of the Kapuzinerberg like a net, and show how well the city was fortified in times of war.

A few strides up the road there?s the church of St. Sebastian and the accompanying graveyard behind it, built in 1600 by Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau in the style of an Italian ?Campo Santo,? and which hasn?t lost any of its centuries of grace and quiet beauty, despite the hectic events of yesteryear and the present day. The graveyard is the last resting place of the famous doctor of his time, Paracelsus. His grave carries the inscription: ?On the 24th of September 1541, he exchanged life for death.? The splendorous mausoleum for Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, probably Salzburg?s most famous ruler of the baroque period, in the centre of the graveyard, has always attracted visitors.

For music lovers in the search of traces of Mozart?s past on the way to the mausoleum there are also the resting places of several figures in his midst: Mozart?s father, Leopold and his wife, Constanze, her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen and her Aunt, Genovefa von Weber, mother of the composer, Carl Maria von Weber. Old citizens and business families were laid to rest amongst the stately arcades of the graveyard and a stroll around these holy walls is equal to leafing through the pages of Salzburg?s history. The artful restoration of the Church of St. Sebastian was savior for Philipp Hinterseer?s glorious iron trellis work and the high altar is adorned with Hans Waldburger?s statue of Mary from 1611.

Article provided by Tourismus Salzburg GmbH.

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