August
2, 2007
Hello from Austria – An Excursion
to Slovenia and Italy – Monte Lussari
After yesterday’s exciting
outing to Graz we were planning an even bigger outing today:
an excursion to the so-called “Drei-Länderecke”,
an area where Austria, Italy and Slovenia come together. So we left
early in the morning to drive from my home province of Styria along
the A2 Highway to the Austrian province of Carinthia. The drive
across the mountains of Western Styria is extremely scenic and the
pleasant panoramas continued into the picturesque province of Carinthia
(“Kärnten” in German).
The province of Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian province;
it is close to 280 km long, but in some areas only 45 to 50 km wide.
The western part of the province is characterized by the Austrian
High Alps while the eastern part features wider valleys and medium-altitude
mountains. Carinthia is an extremely popular tourist destination,
in particular the scenic lakes (e.g. Wörthersee, Ossiacher
See, Millstätter See, Weißensee and many others) are
a huge tourist draw in the summer, and in winter this province features
several excellent ski areas for Alpine skiing enthusiasts.
In full bloom
Our destination for today was a mountain called “Mangart”
which is located in Slovenia and at 2679 m the fourth-highest peak
of the Julian Alps. This part of the Alps extends from north-eastern
Italy into Slovenia and was named after Julius Cesar. The predominant
mineral in this area is limestone which features many prominent
and jagged mountain peaks.
View of the Predil Lake
The Mangart mountain is most easily reached from the Italian side,
so we crossed the Austrian-Italian border at Thörl-Maglern.
Because Austria and Italy are both EU member countries, we did not
even have to show our passports any more and continued into the
border town of Tarvisio and turned left into a mountain river valley
that would take us to our destination. Our drive took us through
quaint mountain villages that seemed rather remote and secluded,
and less than half an hour from Tarvis we reached the beautiful
“Predil Lake”, a gorgeous lake with green and turquoise
waters that is surrounded by an imposing mountain panorama. We stopped
for a brief picture break and continued our ascent up the Julian
Alps past various switchbacks and leftover fortifications dating
back to World War I. Many mountains in this area were actually scenes
of the mountain warfare that characterized the First World War.
Major military operations took place in this area right in the high
mountains between the middle of 1915 and late 1917 and more than
300,000 Austro-Hungarian and Italian soldiers perished in these
battles.
Another scenic vista of the Predil Lake
Finally we reached the Italian-Slovenian border and we still had
to present our passports. We continued further up on the flanks
of the Mangart Mountain, but our vehicle started to overheat. My
brother stopped and opened the hood, and we started to conclude
that the engine cooling fan was not working. As a result, we would
be unable to continue climbing up the steep roads and had to turn
around and head back into the valley.
A view towards the limestone peaks of Northern Italy
All of us were a little disappointed since we were not able to
reach our mountain destination, but we were quick on our feet and
decided to think of an alternate location to visit. My brother suggested
to head back to the Tarvisio area in Italy and to take the cable
car up Monte San Lussari. Since the road was either downhill or
even, our vehicle was able to cool down and we were able to continue
our trip on fairly flat terrain.
Church in Tarvisio
South of Tarvisio we drove through the village of Camporosso whose
name is said to go back to red toads that were said to populate
the area. We stopped at the base station of the Monte Lussari cable
car and then the three of us took a ride up in one of the 91 cabins.
We were able to take my brother’s dog with us and enjoyed
the eleven minute long ride up the mountain. As we ascended the
mountain vistas got more impressive.
Arrival on Monte Lussari
We exited at the top and I was surprised to see a tiny mountain
village on top of the mountain which actually has been a popular
pilgrimage destination for more than 600 years. Legends say that
in 1360 a shepherd was looking for stray sheep and found them, kneeling
next to a shrub and when he came closer, he saw that there was a
wooden image of Mother Mary with Baby Jesus. He picked up the wooden
image and took it down to the village to give it to the parish priest.
But the next day the image was on the mountain again, surrounded
by kneeling sheep. This miraculous event repeated itself for the
third time and then a senior church official issued the instruction
to build a chapel at the location where the image was found.
Amazing mountain views
Several buildings surround this chapel, and almost all of them
house either restaurants or retail stores where you can pick up
souvenirs and religious trinkets. Several restaurants feature outdoor
patios or balconies that provide an unforgettable view. We walked
through the small market area and hiked up just a few meters to
the summit area of Monte Lussari from where we had a beautiful 360
degree of the surrounding mountains.
Three hikers and a dog
Lunch time had arrived and we decided to sit down on one of the
balconies looking southwards into the Italian Alps. On this gorgeous
clear day the view was astounding, and our appetite was stimulated
by the crisp Alpine air. We each ordered a dish called “Tris”
which consisted of three types of pasta and also featured porcini
mushrooms and a local sheep cheese. The imposing mountain in our
view was the Cima di Cacciatore (Hunter’s Mountain). Neither
one of us could finish this hearty lunch and we decided to walk
it off a bit with another walk in the summit area before we took
the cable car down into the valley.
"Tris" - a three-cheese specialty
We drove back to Tarvisio where we stopped for about an hour and
checked out the local market. Tarvisio is the main town in the Val
Canale area of Italy, a very unique region since it is the only
area where Europe's major language families, the Germanic, Slavic
and Romance-language speakers, meet, a unique constellation. Tarvisio
itself used to be part of Austria-Hungary until 1918 and the town
used to be mostly German-speaking. For many years it was an important
market town and benefited from the border traffic with Austria and
the former Yugoslavia, and respectively today’s Slovenia.
Even today there is still a significant amount of shopping activity
going on on weekends.
Street view of Tarvisio
As the afternoon was rapidly coming to a close we decided to start
our drive back to the eastern part of Austria which would take about
three hours. Near the Carinthian city of Klagenfurt we happened
upon a traffic jam on the highway and the constant stop and go action
brought our car close to overheating again. As we started to ascend
the mountain chain between Carinthia and Styria, we drove onto a
parking lot where we let the vehicle cool down again to make sure
we’d be able to get across the mountains. Finally in the late
afternoon we had reached our home town of Weiz and my brother and
sister-in-law were looking forward to resting and relaxing after
a somewhat stressful drive.
5 litres of wine for 6.10 Euros?
Well, I had had a bit of a snooze in the car, so I was ready to
keep exploring. I hopped into my rental car and decided to continue
with some local explorations. I drove through the picturesque Weiz
Gorge along the Weiz River into the mountain highlands that frame
my hometown. I drove up into the region of Sommeralm which is a
landscape characterized by high-altitude alpine meadows, located
at about 1200 m. Most of the area is above the tree-line and cows
graze freely on wide open spaces. I watched a local farmer feed
the cows and continued driving along the narrow road that connects
the Sommeralm with the adjacent region of Teichalm (the word "Alm"
refers to "Alpine meadow or pasture".)
Pedal boats wait for customers at the Teichalmsee
Some years ago seven small local municipalities came together to
form a region called “Almenland”, a designated natural
park region that offers opportunities for hiking, biking, skiing
as well as wonderful mountain vistas. Several restaurants and bed
and breakfasts provide opportunities for hearty Austrian dining
and accommodation, and a small local lake features pedal boats.
I parked my car at the “Teichwirt”, a large local restaurant,
and started my walk around the lake.
An over-sized wooden Alpine ox
At the southern end of the lake is an over-sized statue of an Alpine
ox, a symbol of the successful local free-grazing cattle operations
that sell their products to numerous restaurants in the region.
Every summer more than 4000 Alpine oxen graze in this area and apparently
the meat that they produce is the most popular brand in all of Austria.
The Latschenhütte, a place of rustic Austrian entertainment
I walked past the very rustic restaurant and local entertainment
centre called the “Latschenhütte”, a place that
features Alpine disco parties every Tuesday and "Over-30"
parties every Friday. Typical Styrian live music is also offered
regularly and this complex of wooden structures is a popular entertainment
destination for people from the surrounding region. Just next to
it I stopped to watch a group of grazing cows and was entertained
by a duo of bovine creatures that were “horsing around”
(or should it be “cowing around”?) with one another.
They were snuggling up to one another, occasionally one tried to
jump the other and all around they seemed to have a good time.
The sun starts to set over the Teichalmsee
The sun was now setting and the air was getting cool, so I started
my drive home past the mountain villages of Fladnitz and Passail,
two major villages in the Passail Basin, a high-altitude plateau
that is framed on all sides by mountaineous terrain. I definitely
had had a full day today and was looking forward to new
adventures tomorrow.
Useful books:
Related links:
Austria 2007
- Going back to my roots
Arrival and first
impressions of Austria
Our hiking trip through
in Southwestern Styria, Austria's Tuscany
Exploring one
of Austria's most famous limestone caves
Hiking the Raab River
Gorge and exploring the architectural treasures of Graz
Our excursion
to Slovenia and Italy: Monte Lussari and Tarvisio
Classical music,
reunions with old friends and a final BBQ
Medieval
history at the Riegersburg and a reluctant goodbye
|