Around the Achensee Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pertisau

Pertisau is situated in a triangular valley on the western shores of the lake.

Eben is about two kilometres south-east of the Achensee.

Achenkirch is about two and a half kilometres north of the lake.

Answer: 23km

The lake is approximately 9km long and 1km wide, and the path around it is 23km long. There are signs placed along the lake path indicating how many kilometres from the starting point at Pertisau. If you decide to do the walk, starting at Pertisau and walking in a clockwise direction is a good way to go, because then the most difficult part comes first.

Although there are plenty of places which should supply refreshments on the way, it's a good idea to take some food and plenty of water with you.

Answer: A museum

The glass pyramid is part of the building which is home to a museum about the Tiroler Steinöl. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Martin Albrechts found oil shale on the western shore of the Achensee near Gaisalm. He realised that the oils, which could be extracted from the stone, had healing properties. They have been used to make many products including massage oils, soap, shampoo, creams and ointments.

More information can be found at http://www.steinoel.at/home.asp
or, for an English translation, http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.steinoel.at/home.asp&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DSteinoel%2BPertisau%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DG

Answer: Screw propeller

The service began after an idea from the Abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Fiecht. The first boat was the St. Josef, which used steam power to drive its screw propeller until it was converted to diesel power in 1951. It was joined in 1889 by another steamship, the St. Benedikt, which was replaced in 1959 by a new diesel powered vessel of the same name. A third vessel (the Stella Maris) was introduced in 1911, and remained in service until 1995 under its later name of Stadt Innsbruck. The St. Josef and the St. Benedikt are still on the lake. There are also two much larger boats which run most of the regular services.

More information about both the history and the current service can be found at www.tirol-schiffahrt.at

Answer: 3

Construction began in 1888, and the railway was finished and opened for business a year later. Three of the four locomotives which were built at that time were still in service in 1989. Number 4 was taken out of service in 1956. They were manufactured by the Floridsdorf company in Vienna, which specialised in building locomotives for cog railways.

Following damage by fire in May 2008, number 1 was withdrawn from service. Number 4 was being reconstructed in the workshop, so some of the undamaged parts of number 1 were used to complete the work, and number 4 was taken into service in the summer of 2008.

Answer: Eben

After pushing the train up the steeper part of the route from Jenbach to Eben, the engine runs round to the front of the train for the last (flatter) part of the journey through Maurach to Seespitz. On the return trip the engine remains at the front of the train for the whole time.

More information about both the history and the current service can be found at www.achenseebahn.at

Answer: Notburga Museum

The Notburga Museum is adjacent to the station and church at Eben. St. Notburga lived around 1300 A.D. She is the patron saint of servants and peasants. Her feast day is 14 September, and she is generally depicted with a sickle either in her hand or suspended in the air. When requested by her master, Notburga refused to work on the Sabbath. She threw her sickle into the air and it remained suspended in the sky.
www.notburga-museum.at gives more details.

The Sixenhof Heimatmuseum is close to the boat landing stage at Scholastika. It is a former farmhouse which has been open to the public since 1987.
www.sixenhof.at has further details.

The Jenbacher Museum is situated in the Inntal in Jenbach. As well as other things, it contains information about the history of the local metal works and the railways and a large collection of old winter sporting gear.
www.jenbachermuseum.at has more information.

The Achenseer Museumswelt is in the outskirts of Maurach. It is sometimes described in English as the Tractor Museum, which is a bit misleading, since it has many other displays as well as the tractors.

Answer: Bärenbadalm

The Karwendel Bergbahn uses five small cabins to take a maximum of eighty passengers at one time. It takes about half an hour to walk from the top station to the Bärenbadalm.

The Dalfazalm is about three quarters of an hour's walk from the top of another cable car, the Rofan Seilbahn, on the opposite side of the lake from Pertisau.

The Gramaialm is at the head of a valley south west of Pertisau, and can be reached by a vintage bus.

The Feilalm is on the route to the Feilkopf, which is west of Pertisau.

Both the cable cars operate in the summer as well as the winter. There are many other skilifts around the lake which operate only in winter.

Answer: 1847

There has been a castle at Tratzberg since the thirteenth century. In 1554 Georg Ilsung bought it from his cousin, and building work began to create an impressive Renaissance castle. In 1847 the current building became the property of Count Franz Enzenberg III, whose wife was descended from its previous owners. In 1992 the castle became the residence of Count Ulrich and Countess Katrin Goess-Enzenberg, and they have opened some of the interesting old rooms in the south wing to the public.

More information can be found at www.schloss-tratzberg.at

Answer: Mayrhofen

Mayrhofen is the terminus for the Zillertalbahn. Although many of the trains operated each day are diesel powered, there are still two return trips which are steam powered.

Innsbruck, Kufstein and Salzburg can all be reached by services operated by the Austrian Federal Railway.

The Zillertalbahn is a 760mm narrow gauge railway. The Achenseebahn uses a 1m gauge. The Austrian Federal railway runs on the standard gauge of four foot, eight and a half inches (1.435m).