“That bloody war,” the woman said, a pained and angry look on her face. I can’t quite remember how the Second World War came up in conversation, but when it did her anger was clear. We were on a train heading from Austria up towards Munich, the beginnings of our slow rail journey across Europe…
I was looking forward to the climb. Firstly, after about a fortnight of doing little else except imbibing copious quantities of food and wine on our journey through the south of France to Austria, I knew I needed some serious exercise. Secondly, I’d never done any serious hillwalking outside Scotland, so I was keen to…
If you don’t visit, Austria is quite an easy country to forget about. A smallish nation in the middle of Europe, it’s known for mountains, skiing, Viennese waltzes, and perhaps not much else. Remember, though, that less than a century ago it was one of Europe’s five great powers, an empire that stretched across much…
Admont is a quiet little town in the Styrian mountains that, while pretty and a great base for exploring the Gesäuse National Park, wouldn’t normally be big enough to register much on a week or so’s visit to Austria. We have a pile of great friends there (why we do is a whole other story that…
I never really considered Austria as a renowned wine producer – or beer producer to be honest, though it does both excellently. The major wine producing region is Sausal, in the south of the province of Styria and near the border with Slovenia. Look across the rolling green hillsides with vineyards as far as the…
Austria’s second largest city, Graz, is an easy place to like. It’s got all the basic prerequisites for a good city. It’s pretty. It has a river running through it and a hilltop castle lording over it. It has trams. It has gorgeous architecture. It’s got plenty eateries, drinkeries and shopperies. It’s got Hitler in…
Scouring the departures board at Zurich’s main railway station, there was a moment of mild alarm when our intended Graz sleeper train wasn’t there. In its place though, at exactly the same departure time, was a train to Belgrade. I thought for a minute, and realised that given Belgrade was beyond Austria, this was indeed…
A report of a long weekend in Austria in 2010: my first proper explore of the country, and among many other things a chance for a behind-the-scenes tour of a beautiful monastery.
It was our wedding anniversary this weekend, so I took Nicole away for a wee trip to Graz, Austria. It was a secret, and Nicole didn’t know where we were going until we arrived at the gate at Stansted airport on Friday morning. We stayed with some wonderful friends of Nicole’s that she hadn’t seen…