For several months now I had been planning another
trip to Europe, to visit my family in my home town
in Austria, as well as to spend eleven days on the
beautiful island of Mallorca and three days in the
fascinating Czech capital of Prague, both destinations
I had long wanted to visit.
On May 15, 2009 I finally landed in Graz, after
an uneventful flight from Toronto via Düsseldorf.
The only notable detail was the inspection by the
“swine flu police” in Düsseldorf
– since Canada has been affected by the swine
flue epidemic all Lufthansa passengers had to fill
out a health questionnaire and present themselves
to two public health officials upon exiting the
plane.
Preparations for a festival in my home town.
On this sunny yet cool morning I finally landed
in my final destination. Graz, Austria’s second
largest city, is a wonderful destination; its late
medieval and Renaissance-era city core have helped
to make it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My brother
picked me up and we drove into my small provincial
home town, and it was great to reconnect after almost
a year.
The ancient Taborkirche (church) of my
hometown, dating from 1188
I spent the first few days doing local excursions
with my family. Styria, my home province in Austria,
offers great travel opportunities, from active travel
for hikers, bikers and skiers, to cultural attractions
including many impressive castles, fortresses, monasteries
and other architectural heritage sites.
Our hike in Wildon with my family
Our first excursion took us to Wildon, a small
rural town about 20 minutes south of Graz, that
was first mentioned in historic records in the 13th
century. The surrounding area has been inhabited
since about 4000 B.C. Our destination was the Wildoner
Berg, a mountain that is distinguished by a ruined
fortress, the Hengistburg, whose original foundations
date back to about 1000 BC.
Religious shrine along our hike to the ruined castle
of Wildon
Today there is not much left of the fortress other
than a few walls and a relatively well preserved
tower since the fortress was destroyed by lightning
in 1810. Mountain goats were climbing around the
medieval remnants of this once impressive fortification.
The town of Wildon is well known for its legends,
for the “wild man” who supposedly terrorized
the local population, and the “white lady”,
a ghost who is said to haunt many castles and fortresses
in Styria.
The castle ruin of Wildon
We capped our trip to Wildon off with a visit to
a “Buschenschank”, a local family owned
wine restaurant that serves wine produced on the
family’s property. Styria is a popular wine
growing area, with three separate regions that specialize
in different types of wines. Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer
and a truly local brand called Schilcher enchant
knowledgeable wine enthusiasts. Eight wine routes
allow travelers to explore the Styrian wine country
in scenic drives, and hundreds of local wine restaurants
and cozy bed and breakfasts cater to the travellers’
needs.
The columbines are in full bloom in the forest
Our second excursion took us into the high Alpine
pastures of Eastern Styria, the so-called “Almenland”
region, the largest contiguous mountain pasture
region in the Alps. The region is most well-known
for its great hiking and skiing opportunities, and
every year in early summer mountain cattle are driven
up onto the mountain to start their long outdoor
grazing season. The region has even developed its
own brand of organically raised beef called ALMO.
Various restaurants in the area dedicate themselves
to serving local organic beef specialties in addition
to providing traditional Austrian fare.
Approaching the summit of the Rote Wand
on a foggy day
We went even higher than these Alpine meadows and
started a hike up the “Rote Wand” (literally
translated “Red Wall”), a 1,505 m high
mountain whose characteristic is a vertical rock
wall whose name is derived from the red-called limestone
rock that gives it its unique colouring. Usually
the Rote Wand offers a phenomenal mountain panorama,
but today we had caught a foggy day and we had no
scenic views at all.
Here's the whole gang after reaching the summit
After entering our name into the summit book we
started our descent and came by a large herd of
ibexes, large wild mountain goats that were grazing
calmly beside a pond. Dozens of these large stocky
animals with their impressive round horns were fascinating
the hikers and my brother’s dog admired them
from afar.
Huge mountain goats on top of the Rote Wand mountain
After our equally foggy hike down from the summit
we stopped at the Tyrnauer Almhütte, a typical
rustic Austrian mountain hut that offers drinks
and simple fare to hungry hikers. The sun was finally
coming out and we enjoyed a nice hot Fritattensuppe
(pancake strip soup) and rye bread with cheese.
The mountain hut where we took refuge
In the early afternoon we headed down from the
mountain and my brother, a gifted professional chef,
cooked us a delicious rosemary chicken with vegetable
rice and salad. To burn off some calories we went
on a second hour and a half long hike from my home
town of Weiz to the Kleine Raabklamm (the “Small
Raab River Gorge”), a popular local hiking
destination.
Panorama shot of my home town
Municipalities throughout Styria and Austria in
general have invested great effort into expanding
and signposting their system of hiking and biking
trails. When I was a child, places like the Kleine
Raabklamm were known mostly by local hiking enthusiasts
with insider knowledge, while today all sorts of
hiking paths are signposted and have been made accessible
and are promoted to the wider population. Finally,
after all this physical exertion we capped the day
off with a delicious icecream at Gelateria Claudia,
a popular Sunday hangout for icecream lovers in
my home town of Weiz.
Delicious ice cream
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