Week 57: Feeling very full and at home in Austria...
- Oct 2, 2022
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 23, 2023
WARNING: This blog contains images of lederhosen that some people may find upsetting!
Our stops this week:
One night at Kamper Stop Bled (in Bled, Slovenia)
One night at Autocamp Kekec (in Maribor, Slovenia)
Two nights at Reisemobile Stellplatz (in Graz, Austria)
Three nights at Well Welt Camping (in Kumberg, Austria)
We've driven through Slovenia a couple of times this year but never really seen much of the country, on the first occasion in April we were in rush to leave the Schengen zone and get across the border into Croatia and on the second occasion we were in a rush to get back to the UK to see family. As we found ourselves so close to the Slovenian border last week and very close to one of the places in Slovenia I’ve always wanted to see, we took the chance to return and to visit Lake Bled.
Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t been the best this week, so we’ve been having to plan our excursions around the breaks in the rain… we arrived in the town of Bled early on Monday morning and quickly set-off for a walk around the lake, knowing that the rain was coming our way. Luckily the rain held off and we managed to walk all the way around the lake and we almost got back to the van before the skies opened! I was really pleased that we got a chance to explore in the dry and Lake Bled is certainly as picturesque as I had hoped.
Lake Bled... and some brief blue sky!
The next day we headed down to visit Ljubljana (the Slovenian capital), it looked like it was going to be tricky to drive the van into the centre and find a place to park, so we headed to a large Park and Ride where they have a special overnight area for campervans and direct bus and train links to the city centre… when we arrived it was raining heavily but we decided to make the most of it, put our waterproof coats on and set off to find the bus.
So far, so good… the bus-stop was just a few minutes away and the driver (who didn’t speak any English), nodded to indicate that Bear was allowed on the bus, he then pointed us towards a ticket machine. Yvette and Bear took shelter under the bus stop whilst, I went to buy tickets. This wasn’t quite as simple as I had hoped, I had to use one machine to buy travel cards (like oyster cards) and then another machine on the other side of the car park to load them with credit… five minutes later and soaking wet I returned with two travel cards, just in time to see the bus depart! Never mind another bus was just pulling in, as we walked towards the bus the driver started to speak to us in Slovenian, we said sorry we don’t understand do you speak English, he just shrugged, looked completely disinterested and pointed to a sign on the side of the bus… a picture of a dog wearing a muzzle! Great, we had no muzzle, a dog who has never worn a muzzle and two travel cards ready to go.
With a slightly confused and damp dog, we decided to call it quits and abandon the trip into Ljubljana… we had some lunch in the van, in the pouring rain and made a plan to move on to Maribor. On the way out we left our travel cards by the ticket machine, so hopefully someone will get to use them! We arrived at the campsite in Maribor a few hours later and Bear finally got to have a walk through the woods… it even stopped raining for a while!
The next stop was a place that I have been to numerous times before, but not for around 30 years… the city of Graz, where my Austrian family come from. We found a campsite on the outskirts, with a direct bus into the city centre, so we took Bear with us and went off to explore. I was surprised how much I remembered and how familiar it all felt, I think I’ve been to Graz 4 or 5 times before but all before the age of 10… and usually we spent the time with family, not sightseeing so it was great to have time to explore, find some new places and re-visit lots of places and memories along the way.
One place I remember very well in Graz is the Schlossberg, a big hill right in the middle of the city with great views across Graz in all directions. We’d been on our feet all day and walked miles, so we planned to catch the train to the top but we were disappointed to find yet another place that insisted on dogs being muzzled… oh well, time for Bear and Yvette to have a break whilst I walked up the 260 steps to take in the views.
Views from the Schlossberg in Graz.
The next day we left Bear in the Mo-ho and went back in to Graz to explore some more and this time, we took the train to the top of the Schlossberg, enjoyed a walk around the top and then took the slide back down! Not any old slide... but the worlds highest underground slide! That certainly wasn’t there last time I was in Graz!
Yvette took some convincing to go down the slide but the lady at the top assured Yvette that it was safe and that no-one has ever died on the slide and that many small children have been down the slide and not one has been lost or injured!
I was expecting a much slower, sedate ride but it was surprisingly fast and twisty… as you can hear on this video!
Graz is truly a lovely city (yes I am biased but hey)… however the best thing about Graz is the people… specifically my lovely family! We stayed five nights in and around Graz and over this time managed to meet both of my cousins, two of their kids and my great aunt and great uncle. We were truly spoilt, over-fed and taxi’d around like VIPs!
My cousin Brigitte picked us up from the first campsite and took us to meet her boyfriend Hugh (originally Scottish, now an Austrian citizen) and his dog Fergus (a trained mountain and emergency rescue dog) at a local coffee shop. It’s the first time we’ve met Hugh and Fergus and we had a great time chatting away and enjoying Mozart Kugeln icecream sundaes!!
On Friday night my cousin Robert treated us to a fantastic home-cooked four course dinner, with some traditional local dishes, where along with Brigitte we spent a great evening catching-up, getting to know his two sons Christoph and Philipp and his wife Gabby, who I have only met once before. Of course, they all speak perfect English!
The next day we met Robert for a dog walk, where Bear got a chance to meet his ‘dog cousin’ Charlie who is a one year old and very excitable Border Collie… Charlie really gave Bear a run for his money, running and jumping around as we explored the countryside around Robert’s home village of Kumberg.
Around the village of Kumberg.
Later that evening Robert invited us to join his family to take part in the long night of Museums, for one night every year hundreds of museums and companies across Austria open their doors from 6pm to 1am, with just one ticket to visit as many as you like.
The first stop was the chocolate factory of Josef Zotter… this is probably the closest you can get to Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory in real life! We spent an hour and a half touring the factory, learning about their fair-trade and sustainable approach (including shipping the cocoa beans across the world in sailing boats to reduce their carbon footprint)… plus eating lots and lots (and lots) of chocolate. There are over 300 different samples to try, from raw cocoa beans, to every flavour of chocolate you can imagine, in just about every form from powder, to chocolate bars, to sauces… it was really just too much! Yvette thinks she tried all of the 300 samples and has sworn that she’ll never eat chocolate again… although I’m not convinced that’ll last for long!
Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!
We left the chocolate factory a few pounds heavier and rolled down the road to David Golles – house of Whiskey, Gin and Rum-with a guided tour in German (although Christoph kindly translated for us) and numerous samples to enjoy, well we didn’t enjoy all of them… the gin tasted like some sort of cleaning solution, but we still smiled and said danke schön as they topped up our glasses!
After a good night sleep and feeling very spoilt, the next day we set off to see my Great Aunt Krista and Uncle Friedl, they’ve lived in the same house my whole life on the outskirts of Graz. In fact my uncle designed and built the house himself which they moved in to in 1980, the same year I was born. It felt very nostalgic going back after more than 30 years… aside from a new TV and a few bits of new furniture, it was all exactly as I remembered… I felt very much at home and of course it was time for some more traditional home-cooked Austrian food, with soup and strudle for lunch! Bear was exceptionally well behaved. He didn’t bark, jump up at the table, steal any food or pee in the house, which was a great relief... although I don't think my aunt or uncle would have been upset if he had done any of these things, Bear seems to have put them both under his spell!
Although I feel a bit guilty that I can’t speak German and my family all have to speak English, I feel really connected to Austria and my family here! It’s been a week full of memories and good fun.
Our plan for next week is to travel back to Italy, in hope of some warmer and drier weather (yes it does rain in Austria occasionally!!!) before we move on to France and then start the trip north back towards home, in a few week time.
Ps – Yvette has been learning German, no doubt she’ll mention this in her next blog post… she’s getting very good, although some of her vocabulary is less than useful for day to day conversations!!
This is the same street 37(ish) years later but no lederhosen this time... and the house my great grandparents lived in (they had the ground floor apartment).
Lots of furry (and one feathered) visitors at the campsite in Kumberg!
Bear keeping a close eye on the locals!
A running pig!
My grand-mothers favourite department store in Graz... still going strong!
What a week. Loving the pictures especially the joy in Steve’s smiles. Graz looks pretty awesome and I love the look of the slide. well done Yvette!