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PERFECT INNSBRUCK
Elisabeth Geisler of Sitzwohl,
with the restaurant’s cookbook
3. The farmers market
Was es da alles gibt (“here you can find
everything”) says a sign at Markthalle,
Tirol’s largest farmers market. In the
case of this functionalist treasure that
means hams, sausages, cheeses, wines
and obstler (fruit schnapps). There have
been markets at the bridge over the river
Inn, for which Innsbruck is named, for
more than 200 years. You should make a
beeline for the west wing of the market
hall, a gorgeous art nouveau building
that, early in the morning, provides a
taste of most of the produce from the
surrounding countryside with farmers
carting in honey, homemade schnapps,
newly baked bread and freshwater fish.
Don’t miss the mountain cheese from
Tiroler Schmankerl-Alm.
Herzog-Siegmund-Ufer 1.
www.markthalle-innsbruck.at
4. Required reading
Apart from a granite table with fresh
tulips, it is wall-to-wall books at
Buchhandlung Haymon. Local architect
Rainer Köberl has won numerous
awards for the stripped-down interior
of this shiny black temple to the written
word, including one for new architecture
in Tirol. Outside, the recently spruced
up Sparkassenplatz turns into a
miniature Rockefeller Center in winter,
complete with outdoor ice rink.
Sparkassenplatz 4.
www.haymonbuchhandlung.at
5. Cram in a run
Lest you forget, the slopes are always
tantalizingly within reach of Innsbruck.
Everyone seems to be shouldering their
skis or cradling their snowboards, not
least the town’s university students.
The Nordkette mountain range is just
a 20-minute cable car ride from the
lecture hall so there’s time to hurtle
down the Hafelekarrinne, one of the
steepest runs in Europe, and still make it
Browsing the shelves of
Buchhandlung Haymon
72 DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013 SCANORAMA
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