In books, movies and speaking to other travelers, I heard and read about the mountains of the Alps and the beauty of the surrounding scenery, but seeing it with my own eyes, truly took my breath away.

There are two different train routes from Northern Italy to Austria and Germany and both of them go through the Alps. But since we were limited by time in our expedition and wanted to explore Salzburg (Austria), we took the shorter route from Venice.

To be able to take the train to Alps, from Venice (Venice Santa Lucia train station), we had to take a 5 minute train ride to the main train station (Venizia Mestre) outside of the Island and the take a two hour bus ride to Villach (Austria). Unfortunately, the only direct train from Venice to Salzburg is at night (8 pm to 6 am) and we did not want to miss seeing the Alps, so in order to reach our destination, we first took a two hour bus ride and then the 5 hour of train ride to Salzburg.

The first hour of the bus ride was in Northern Italy and we had the opportunity to see a bit of the countryside from the highway. In the next hour or so, as the bus passed the Italian/Austrian border, we started to feel the elevation of the road. The smaller hills and valleys started to set the stage for us. As a Torontonian and not having much experience dealing and seeing peeks and valleys in my natural surrounding, I admit that I was a bit nervous. As the road took its upward projection, so did the bus and its passengers. The mountainsides started to appear from a distance, dressed in green and their peeks covered with a white snowy shawl. The mountains seemed gigantic and invincible. As I watched them getting closer, I felt powerless and weak to be near them, but they also felt magnanimous and protective.

The anticipation was exciting but to my disappointment we arrived at city of Villach a few minutes later and the Alps were concealed from our vision. Villach was situated in a valley surrounded by trees and towering hills which prevented us from seeing much of the mountainside. We had three hours for the train to arrive, so we decided to spend the period exploring the town and grab a bite to eat.

Few hours later we were on our train. Since it was a weekday, there were only few passengers in our car. I felt even more nervous and excited than before. As soon as the train took off, it started to elevate more. Also, for some reason, I thought the train would have to go through the long tunnels to pass the mountain, but to my surprise it passed only few short tunnels along the way and gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with our host. Slowly, my nerves began to settle and I felt more comfortable moving around the car. I grabbed my camera, stood by the window for the duration of our ride and tried my best to take as many as pictures I could. As we climbed higher, we noticed that we were no longer hostage to surrounding mountains, and I felt more like we were equals and belonged in this beautiful scenery.

As the train elevated and coiled around the mountain, the scenery became miraculous. Our companion for a while was a shy river which would play hide and seek with us. It was calm and welcoming. The mountain, our host, and nature's guardian dressed in a forest green its shawl of snow definitely took centre stage. The sun shied away from us after an hour and the mountain fog started to hover over us. As the sun peeked through the fog, we noticed that our host, is actually dressed in many different shades of green which intoxicated us with its variety.

About an hour or two of continuous elevation, we reached closer to the top and the deep valleys and meadows became visible. When we reached near the top, looking down in the river and ponds, the sky and landscape appeared in an inverted fashion and it felt like heaven and earth had collided. In the distant valleys, we noticed small villages with their bright colors flowers, roads and wooden lofts and we wondered how people lived and commuted in these rural areas; it was incredible.Along the way, our train passed and stopped in a few stations in small villages and we could see the ski resorts and chalets. We realized that many Austrians and Europeans take the same train ride to reach to the ski resorts in the Winter.

The landscape of these villages were magnificent. Everything was in order, neat and clean. The wooden houses and chalets with white chock walls and dark brown windows and roofs were well guarded by the mountain and prosperously situated amongst colorful flower meadows. The back yards and streets showered with lilies, rock jasmine, edelweiss, etc. Some of the houses reminded me of the smurf homes, physically tiny but significant in personality. They were most astonishing and surprising and I could not believe people could live in such small places.

The entire time, I felt I was in a beautiful painting, canvassed by such colors, beauty and wonder. There was so much to see and to take in. There was an indescribable and harmonious balance in everything that truly lifted the soul.

Few hours later we arrived closer to city of Salzburg and our host surrendered and relinquish its sovereignty. The peak and valleys with petite villages and farm land began to disappear and small hills, more modern towns and roads took over. The five hour train ride seemed so short that I could not help feeling sad and disappointed at the end.

In honestly, I am not able to genuinely describe the experience of this five hour train ride through the Alps, but if you ever have the opportunity to experience this magnificent part of Europe, I would highly recommend it. 

Happy Travels!