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About Tirol & Vorarlberg
Tyrol (in German: Tirol) is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol. The name of Tyrol came from the Castle Tyrol or Tirol castle (German: Schloss Tirol, Italian: Castel Tirolo) which is a castle near Meran, Italy. It was the ancestral seat of the counts of Tyrol.
The castle hill has been inhabited since ancient times. The first castle was built before 1100. The second construction phase including the strong central tower dates to 1139/40. A third phase of construction took place in the second half of the 13th century under Count Meinhard II. The castle was the seat of Tyrol's sovereigns until 1420, when Duke Frederick IV moved the seat to Innsbruck.
The state is split into two parts – called North Tyrol and East Tyrol – by a 20 km-wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian Province of Bolzano-Bozen (Alto Adige/South Tyrol).
The capital is Innsbruck. The town is known for its university, especially the modern techniques in medicine. Tyrol is popular for its famous skiing resorts, such as Kitzbuhel, Ischgl or St. Anton. Other larger towns are Kufstein, Schwaz, Reutte and Landeck.
Voralberg, the tiny province in the very West of Austria, is the only region in the country with an Alemannic population. This makes their accent (among other things) barely understandable to the rest of the country.
Vorarlberg has a good reputation for its dramatic mountain scenery, tidy cities and access to Europe′s biggest lake, the beautiful Bodensee or Lake Constance. Bregenz, the capital of Vorarlberg, is a very historical place. The counts of the house of Uldarchinger shaped the city throughout the Middle Ages and many buildings from this period are still preserved.
It became part of the Habsburg′s rapidly growing portfolio of territorial real estate possessions around 1500.
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