Many of you will know that I am originally from Austria, but that
I have been living in Toronto for more than 20 years. I left Austria
early on, by myself, at the young age of 20 and found a permanent
home in Canada’s largest, most multicultural city. I always
realized that I originally came from a beautiful country, but somehow
the big wide world was calling me and settling in Canada’s
most cosmopolitan urban centre has been a great decision.
In the early years I used to go back home every year when my father
and grandmother were still alive. My mother had already passed away
more than 20 years ago. But from 1995 onwards, after the death of
my father and grandmother, I paid very few visits to Austria and
thinking of my home country often brought back sad memories of people
that had passed away. So for almost 9 years I did not travel back
home at all until in 2004 I decided to go back for my 20th high
school reunion which in itself was an interesting experience.
My home town, Weiz, in Eastern Styria
Now, almost three years later, there was a big reason to go back
to my home town: my brother Ewald’s 50th birthday. This big
round birthday of my only sibling was an event I simply couldn’t
miss. And in addition, I made the decision to discover my part of
Austria through the eyes of a travel writer and really take advantage
of the sights and activities that my home town and its surrounding
regions have to offer.
The parish church of Gleisdorf
So this Thursday I boarded an Air Transat plane to fly from Toronto
to Vienna and one hour into it I realized that we also were making
a stop in Montreal which added about two hours on to the trip. As
an astute traveller, I always try to save money on travel, and Air
Transat was about $500 less expensive than going with Air Canada
or Austrian Airlines. But I also realized that Air Transat planes
are packed in very tightly and there is very little space between
seat rows. As a matter of act, when the lady in front of me tilted
back her seat rest I almost thought she was going to knock my teeth
out.
View of my home town
But never mind, I realized that for a savings of $500 I would have
to sacrifice a little bit. Altogether the flight to Vienna was pleasant
and I guess I am lucky since I am one of those people who is able
to sleep on the plane. So I landed nice and early yesterday at 8:35
at Vienna Airport. I had done extensive searches on the Internet
for an inexpensive car rental and I had located one off-airport
rental company: www.interrent.at was considerably more affordable
than all major car rental companies at the airport, but it was located
in a business park in the town of Schwechat about 10 minutes from
the airport.
So following the advice on their website, I booked a door-to-door
delivery service called www.airportdriver.at that dropped me off
at the front door of Interrent which was located on the second floor
of a five-storey office high-rise building. Service was swift and
minutes later I had my little Volkswagen Polo, an economical little
car, perfect for booting around the foothills of the Austrian Alps.
When driving in Europe, fuel efficiency is a major consideration
since a litre of gas is going for about Euro 1.15, so a small car
that is good on gas is a great choice.
Austrian flowers
I enjoyed my drive on the A2, the highway that connects Vienna
with Graz, the capital of my home province Styria. Apart from some
construction work close to Vienna it was a beautiful drive across
the Wechsel mountains into the region of Eastern Styria. Along the
way I saw various signs pointing to a variety of theatre festivals
in the province of Burgenland that are held in various castles and
fortresses, a great way to use some of the old medieval buildings
that are located all over Austria.
The weather was sunny and very warm and although my car had air
conditioning, I had the window open and enjoyed the warm wind blowing
in, listening to Ö3, Austria’s modern music radio station.
I turned off the highway at Hartberg in eastern Styria, and drove
through rolling hills past tiny scenic villages such as Schielleiten,
Stubenberg am See, Lebing and Floing to my home town of Weiz. The
rolling hills of Eastern Styria are always a pleasant area for a
drive.
The Raab Valley
I have to admit driving along the roads that I used to grow up
on was a strange feeling – not much had changed visually since
I had left 20 years ago. The same farms and villages, mountains
and hills were still there, although most of the buildings were
beautifully renovated, mordernized and painted. It was obvious to
me that Austria has experienced long periods of prosperity since
every little town was clean and the architecture was in near perfect
condition. No peeling paint, no run-down buildings, no garbage strewn
around anywhere - everything appeared to be in tip-top condition.
Finally at about noon time I arrived in my home town and took a
quick spin around the centre. Weiz is a district capital with a
population of about 9000 people, and it is located about 25 km from
the Graz, Austria’s second largest city. It always amazes
me that when I ask North Americans about Austria they all seem to
know Vienna and Salzburg, and some of them have heard of Innsbruck,
but very few people have actually heard of Graz, even though with
a population of about 250,000 people it is Austria’s second
largest urban centre.
The St. Thomas Church (Taborkirche) in Weiz
Weiz in itself is an industrial town that for many years was centred
around the ELIN, a manufacturing company that produces electrical
equipment such as transformers and generators for hydro electricity
production. In recent years, a Canadian company called Magna International,
founded by Frank Stronach, a former resident of Weiz, has built
several factories in the area. Magna is the largest automotive parts
supplier in the world, and Frank Stronach is considered one of Canada’s
(and Austria’s) greatest entrepreneurial success stories.
Due to these manufacturing jobs, Weiz has become a rather dynamic
and prosperous regional centre and many new developments in the
downtown area attest to that fact.
An interesting piece of artwork in the middle of the countryside
The overall feel of the town had stayed the same so after satisfying
my initial curiosity I drove to my brother’s house on the
outskirts of town where my sister-in-law Anneliese welcomed me;
my brother Ewald was still at work. It was great to see her again
even though we had just recently seen each other in November of
2006 on the island of Tenerife where my husband and I had gone on
a joint vacation with my brother and sister-in-law. After settling
in and unpacking my suitcase we went for a quick walk downtown to
do some shopping and got caught in a major thunderstorm. So we sat
down in a little café in Weiz’ pedestrian zone called
“Weberhaus” and waited out the downpour.
Main Square in Gleisdorf
In the evening I had a reunion with my brother as well and we started
catching up on all the news. Around 11 pm I got a bit tired and
jetlag started hitting me so I headed off to bed to rest up for
today since we had early plans. Bright and early at 8 am Ewald,
Anneliese and I left to do some shopping in the nearby town of Gleisdorf,
the second largest town in the district of Weiz. We went for a nice
walk with the dog and strolled through the farmer’s market
where I admired all sorts of locally grown fruits, vegetables, home-made
breads, and a typical Austrian specialty: smoked pork meat.
Delicious Austrian breads
Austria has a long-rooted agricultural tradition, and farming,
although only providing about 5% of the employment in the country,
is still an important tradition, particularly in the extremely fertile
area of Eastern Styria. People go shopping every few days and many
of them actually try to buy local produce and meat in the local
weekly markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Big supermarkets and
TV dinners are by far not as popular as in North America, and many
people still prepare home-made food from scratch, using and actively
seeking out local ingredients. And my brother is a chef, and today
was his birthday dinner, so he was on the hunt for some special
fresh ingredients.
Colourful peppers
After Gleisdorf we also checked out the farmers market in my hometown
of Weiz which was a bit smaller. I took the opportunity to shoot
some video clips of the main square of my home town and the surrounding
buildings which go back to the 17th century. The old church, the
so-called Taborkirche, even dates back to the 1100s, was built in
the Romanesque style and is dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury.
Some ancient Roman gravestones are on display in the church yard,
an indication that this area was already settled about two millennia
ago by the Romans, and nearby excavations even prove that there
was human settlement here in the Pre-Roman times. Other excavations
in the province of Styria have unearthed proof that there were human
settlements here dating back many tens of thousands of years ago.
An area with a lot of history…
Ripe Austrian tomatoes
We had successfully finished our shopping trip and my brother started
the cooking while Anneliese and I decided to go on a local hike
to the so-called Kleine Raabklamm (Small Raab Gorge) and the Bärental
(Bear Valley). Like most of Austria, Eastern Styria with its rolling
hills, forests, rivers and brooks is just predestined for hiking,
and we enjoyed our 1.5 hour hike from Mitterdorf through the valley
of the Raab River. The Raab is a major river in the area that eventually
flows into the Danube and into the Black Sea. A beautiful hiking
/ biking trail took us through forests and lush green meadows to
the valley of another tributary – the Bärental, which
may indicate that this valley was inhabited at some point by bears.
One of many wayside shrines
The interesting thing about this area is that there are a variety
of wayside shrines, and one in particular is supposed to mark the
grave site of hundreds of people that died during the late 1400s
of the Black Plague. Ever since I was a child, this dark forested
area that was supposed to be the final resting place of hundreds
of people from more than 500 years ago has fascinated me, and even
today visiting this place sent shivers up my spine.
The Main Square of Weiz
Our serene hike continued and shortly after we had reached an elevated
ridge on the southwestern side of Weiz from where we had a great
view of the entire region. Weiz’ most prominent building is
the Weizbergkirche, a baroque church on the Weizberg hill that can
be seen for kilometers while the town spreads out in the valley
below. The entire scene is framed by an amphitheatre of mountains
with an elevation of about 800 to 1000 metres.
Another view of my home town
There was still a bit of time left before our dinner plans, so
I hopped into my little rental car for a country driving tour. I
went past the village of Gutenberg and the Goller Mountain to the
mining village of Arzberg that used to be a location for silver
and zinc mining. Today a mining educational trail displaying local
minerals and a mining tunnel introduce the public to the mining
history of this little town. Arzberg is also one of the entry points
to the Raabklamm (the Raab River Gorge), the longest river gorge
of Austria. I returned to Weiz via the mountain road on the east
side of the river, next to the limestone cliffs of the Gösser
mountain.
The old mining town of Arzberg
After a refreshing shower it was time for our small birthday party,
and our friends Luis and Isabella had arrived. Together with my
brother and sister-in-law this couple had visited us in 2005 and
I reported extensively from our
Toronto adventures. Anneliese’s niece’s husband
and son also joined us and we got ready for a beautiful five-course
dinner prepared by my brother Ewald, the expert chef.
Delicious antipasti start off a great meal
Everybody enjoyed the amazing meal and we sat together until about
10:30, laughing, exchanging stories. The little boy and my brother’s
dog became friends on the couch and we all had a fabulous time.
A long night of discussions until 2:30 am followed since I had to
catch up on everything with Ewald. But then it was time to go to
sleep since tomorrow (well, actually today), we are planning another
hiking trip and I definitely will need to get some rest.
