Posted on Sat, 28-Sep-2024Tue, 01-Oct-2024 by pamMatrei in Osttirol – Austria – Alps 15 Our mountain view apartment in Matrei was very spacious, had nice views of the town in the Isel river valley, including from our balcony. We enjoyed walking the town and visiting the Hohe Tauern National Park museum. One of the walks we did on our no-drive day was above the apartment to enjoy the entire valley of Matrei. The Isel is the longest free flowing glacial river in the entire Alps! Upstream we walked into Hohe Tauern NP to hike the NaturKraftWeg Umbalfälle . The hiking path follows this exuberant water to the glacial source but we only followed it for an hour or so from the end of the road. This is a tributary with a nice bridge near the confluence with the Isel. We enjoyed the wildness of the river, the carved rocks, and the vegetation. This is the Umbalfälle, the Umbal falls. And what do you know – there is a hütte with some hot soup for us! Goulash stew and Tyrolean Knodel Soup, which is a bread dumpling ball of goodness.