To Mayrhofen, Austria that is.
The S.O. and I reckless exciting like run with the bulls at Pamplona. So this past weekend, we settled for the next best thing. We drove down to Mayrhofen Austria to witness the walking of the cows.
Known as the Almabetreib, it is a good, old-fashioned, Austrian Festival that celebrates the bringing of the cattle off the mountains and back to the grass and grazing of the valley. Mayrhofen is located at the far end of the Zillertal Valley, which is home to some fantastic mountain scenery, what appears to be great winter skiing and lots of activities for the summer too.
Now to be clear, Mayrhofen is not the only city to host a fall cattle drive. It happens in Bavaria, Austria and in Switzerland. It usually takes place in late September or early October.
The Almabtrieb (in Switzerland: Alpabzug, Alpabfahrt, or in French-speaking Switzerland: Désalpes; German language literally: drive from the mountain pasture) is an annual event in the alpine regions in Europe, referring to a cattle drive that takes place in late September or early October.
During summer, all over the alpine
regions cattle herds feed on alpine pastures (Almen in Austria or Germany, Alpen in Switzerland) high up in the mountains, a practice known as transhumance. In numbers, these amount to about 500,000 in Austria, 380,000 in Switzerland, and 50,000 in Germany.
While there is often some movement of cattle between the Almen (sing.: Alm), or Alpen (sing.: Alp) respectively, during the summer, there is usually one concerted cattle drive in the autumn to bring the cattle to their barns down in the valley. If there were no accidents on the Alm during the summer, in many areas the cattle are decorated elaborately, and the cattle drive is celebrated with music and dance events in the towns and villages. Upon arrival in the valley, joint herds from multiple farmers are sorted in the Viehscheid, and each animal is returned to its owner.
In many places this Alpine custom of Almabtrieb has today evolved into a major tourist attraction, with a public festival, and booths set up along the course for selling agricultural, as well as artisans’, products along with alcoholic beverages.
In the spring, the reverse cattle drive moves from the valley barns to the Alp (in Switzerland: Alpaufzug, Alpfahrt, Alpauffahrt; in Germany/Austria: Almauftrieb). It is celebrated in Switzerland, though less well known. It is not celebrated in Germany and Austria, however.
Mayrhofen’s festival is famous, and we had to book our accommodation some three months out. The S.O. says she has been dying to see this and I am glad she browbeat me into it. I love being in Austria amid the mountains and this festival was a lot of fun.
Some pictures of the cows:
And goats too!
Interestingly enough, we had expected it to be one long parade of cows. It wasn’t. It was
The scenery in the Zillertal Valley is beautiful. Here are some shots the S.O. took of the
This is taken from the top of the Penken Bahn.
The previous day we went up to the Schlegeis Mountain way, which is a toll road that goes up to a lake and a damn, only about 30km from the Italian border. It is some beautiful country. Here, several hiking trails merge and one can take day hikes lasting 1.5, 3 or even 6 hours. We took a 3.93km hike that took us to a waterfall. Video below shows how beautiful the scenery was
You may have noticed the little statue as the camera passed. It is of a woman squatting to pee. It’s carved out of wood. In German below it, it tells you, that its OK to deal with your “emergency” in the bushes. Nature will make things right. Just don’t leave any man-made waste on the trail.
The lake was pretty too.
And you could walk across the dam.
The ski resort looked like it had potential.
All in all, I can’t say enough good things about Mayrhofen. I’m going to go back. To see something other than cows.
Post Script: The most amazing thing about the Fest? Walking through town at night afterwards, you would never know that there was a fest there. Talk about Austrian efficiency. Even the cow poop was gone.