Dear friends, as you know I spent the Easter holidays in Carinthia and I was pleasantly surprised by their traditions and habits during this holiday LINK
What I haven’t told you about yet are all the new things I discovered in this area J I decided to write a little guide with a just a few interesting discoveries. Ready? Go!
The first place I suggest you visit (and which I told you a lot about last year) is Klagenfurt.
1.This is probably the best season to visit it because it’s filled with color! After a walk through the trees and the colorful flowerbeds of the Goethepark, you can head towards the Stadttheater theatre: it’s worth visiting! Next, I suggest you head towards the church of Stadtpfarrkirche St. Egid; climb the 190 stairs to the top for a truly breathtaking view over the city. Hard work but totally worth it!
2.Take your camera with you and take a trip to the Weingut Taggenbrunn vineyard, where there’s also a magnificent sculpture that represents the goddess to Time, but mostly to admire the breathtaking scenery. They also have a restaurant with outside tables over the vineyards, a hotel you can stay in overnight or simply stop by it for a glass of excellent wine.
3.About ten minutes from here there’s one of the nicest convents I’ve ever seen, the St. Georgen from the eleventh century. It’s a large building on a lake, with a fabulous restaurant and large glass windows overlooking the park; the garden is actually a spiritual retreat, with totems on which you’ll find spiritual sentences (unfortunately they were only in German, but with a fantastic Google App it was enough to take a photo of it and I found the translation in Italian!) Here you’ll also find a church and a hotel.
4.You should also stop at the Castle of Hochosterwitz! This area is full of magical castles, but this is definitely the most famous, mentioned for the first time in 860 in a document of the king of Western France, Louis II. It has 14 perfectly preserved gates which will guide you along a path of gardens and flowers and lovely views, until you reach the top, 150 metres up, where they have a rest area and an armory you can visit!
Since 1571 the castle has been property of the Khevenhüller family. If you’re as lazy as I am, you can reach the top with a cable car and walk the path on the way down, so you don’t need to tire your legs out too much!
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5.Where to sleep? At the foot of the castle, just 5 minutes away, there’s Dienstl Gut a 4 star country house which is unique! They have everything, with a huge park and a swimming pool. They also have a riding school where you can go horseback riding or take lovely horseback walks through the woods! The food is delicious, the chef here is from the Netherlands and serves traditional food with seasonal vegetables which look delicious. The personnel (almost all from the Denmark) is superb, helpful and kind. During the summer season the hotel organizes holidays for children 8 years and older; they stay in wooden huts and take part every day in various activities, like horse-back riding and hiking (they’ll speak German and a little English!). The price? For the lodging, meals, snacks and horseback riding the price is 460 euros a week! I’m planning on sending my son Gio here 😉
6.The little town of Sankt Veit an der Glan is worth a visit. In case you didn’t know this was the capital of Carinthia until 500 years ago; a lovely hamlet with just 12.000 residents surrounded by medieval walls. You should stop at Taupes Genussschmiede for a cup of excellent coffee. It’s so good because it’s the owner himself to roast the coffee beans. Three special blends, one is 100% arabica, one is organic and the last is a mix with 20% robusta. They also serve local pastries like the Reindling which is considered the best in Carinthia… I was lucky enough to try it!
With the taste of the pastries still on my mind I’ll end the article. Don’t you feel like traveling to central Carinthia for a weekend?
See you soon 🙂
