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