We're standing on the Nordkette Ridge, and on the mountain called the Haflekar, looking south and downward into Innsbruck. The Inn stands out as a ribbon making an arc towards us, and it flows from right to left. Most of Innsbruck is within the bend in the river. The Altstadt or Old City of Innsbruck is near the green patch to the right of center along the Inn, and the main train station is in the center of the city.         Innsbruck is here because this is where the Sill River comes down from the Brenner Pass through the valley in the upper center of the picture, and the Sill flows through Innsbruck and into the Inn. You can see the Sill as a light linear sliver near the center of the city. Two major valleys and trade routes thus come together here. Rail lines and autobahns run east and west from here along the Inn and south (away from us) up the Sill Valley to the Brenner Pass and into Italy.         The Inn makes the bend that you see here because it flows around the alluvial fan of the Sill. Like other towns in the Alps, Innsbruck sits on an alluvial fan, and its earliest medieval settlement (in Wilten, not in the Altstadt) was at the apex of the fan and so at the mouth of the Sill Valley. Only later did the building of the Inn Bridge lead to the founding of Innsbruck proper at the Altstadt.

 

On to the next image in the full trip down the Inn, at the western railroad bridge.

On to the next image in the shorter trip of highlights.

Back to the Trip Down the Inn page, where you can choose from the full list of images.

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