Shoulder Season

 

It’s been lovely traveling in the “shoulder season” between summer and fall. The crowds are mostly gone while the weather remains nice. The fields we ride through are a mix of dying corn and sunflowers on one side and pumpkins and gourds ready to be harvested on the other. The vines are all heavy with grapes as this year’s vintage awaits crushing.

We’re now in Austria! (Half the time we don’t even know when we’ve crossed a border until we get the text on our phone telling us the new rates.) In fact, it’s not that different from the neighboring countries, but the language is so much more recognizable due to all the English cognates which makes it easier to navigate. I often think I could fake the language just by speaking English with a German accent - “ich trink bier und vein und mein hund trinks wasser” That sentence doesn’t come up too often, but you can see the similarity. Yeah. Ja.  

As luck would have it, there was an annual wine festival the night we arrived in Lower Austria. We continue to travel through the various wine countries (coincidence?), and this part of Austria is covered in vineyards run by small family businesses. Veltliner is the most famous of their wines, but there are many others, mostly white and all very good.

The festival was held at a “kellengrasse”, a one lane village comprised of grape pressing houses and storage areas which are built into the hillsides for temperature control. Each is owned by a local family, with some dating back to the 17th century. 

Each of the families would display their wines, often accompanied by food, for sampling.  If they no longer produce wine, then they displayed art and local crafts in their houses.

The event is very well-attended by families from throughout the region. We definitely enjoyed ourselves, making the long bike ride the following day even more arduous. 

Parking in an e-bike only spot

There are many bike riders in this part of the world, but we seem to be the dinosaurs on bikes that actually have to be pedaled. I alternately disdain and envy them. But with so many extra people riding on bikes thanks to battery assist, the countrysides and cities have an abundance of dedicated bike lanes. We get a lot of satisfaction when we pass the e-bikes.

We rode a dedicated bike lane most of the way to Mariazell

While I’m killing myself each day pedaling, I’ve been receiving castigatory messages from my health app telling me my daily number of steps have significantly declined of late. You’d think it could see the 5 hours of daily exercise and instead send messages of commendation. Why do I care? I can’t help it, but I do.

Support for the Ukrainian fighters in the tiny Austrian ski resort town of Mariazell’s main cathedral

I’ve started calling this ride “the second largest city in the country tour” because we seem to be staying in all of them - Krakow, Brno, and now Graz. So far it’s our favorite city by far - fantastic restaurants, beautiful architecture along a river, friendly people, very manageable on a bike. We stayed here 2 nights but could have stayed much longer. 

Our apartment was on this busy pedestrian street, full of life

Graz was one of the most bombed cities in WWII, as fighter pilots returned from bombing strategic points in Vienna. You would never know it from the way it’s been beautifully and authentically restored. 

Graz has a huge bike culture. Residents pedal to the nearest tram (which are all free) and leave their bikes along the stops, most often unlocked. (We checked. Only the e-bikes were locked!)

Our next stop was Slovenia, to the (2nd largest!) city of Maribor. It was a beautiful ride into the Julian Alps. 

Those hills can really add up! This is at the top of the final, very steep, thankfully paved, climb into Maribor. 

But meals like this are the reward for all that climbing!

Next up, Croatia -