5 September 2017: Sankt Anna am Aigen to Furstenfeld, Austria
Mileage: Today-30; Total-394
Beautiful riding today in the Styrian spa region. After an excellent breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread, cheese, sliced meats, tomatoes, grape juice and coffee at our winery guest house, we tacked the first climb, about 20-percent from the winery to the public road.
Karen, our host, felt autumn had arrived. The 90+ F in Croatia dropped to highs in the 60s with 2 days of rain. Slovenia and Austria has offered perfect cycling weather, a crisp 50 F to start and highs in the low 70s F. Also, the air is pristine clear, free of the smoke from fires further south. Road surfaces are nearly flawless, BUT, we did encounter some sharp hills.
A curious aspect of travel, particularly bicycle travel, is the conflicting advice offered. Avoid X route, it's unsafe, hilly, longer, has too much traffic, not very interesting. We found and lost the bike routes multiple times, despite good signage. We wanted Eurovelo 9, which often overlaps with Austrian R-# routes, such as R-12, but routes cross frequently and offer alternatives that pass through or by-pass villages. Then add the routes laid out by local touring companies and arrows painted on the road from cycling, running, or walking events. Sometimes, the less-trafficked local roads are more direct and less hilly—and sometimes not.
Observations on the contrasting appearances of countries
Croatia, especially the Croatia Coast, has been discovered. Facilities were generally good, but abandoned housing and buildings are common. Tourism IS the economy. Moving away from the coast, seemingly half the rural buildings were is varied rates of decay. The further from the coast, the poorer the condition. Damage from the war ending in 1995 is often evident and little being done to raze, clean up, or rebuild. I suspect local jobs are scarce and the young and educated migrate to cities or countries with improved earring possibilities.
Serbia was discernibly poorer than Croatia. As forestry is the major industry, few people are needed to grow and harvest trees. As we traveled north from Serbia back into Croatia, the Zagreb region, things were significantly better. Still, Zagreb is bustling but not overly attractive. Slovenia contrast sharply with neighboring Croatia. Having last visited about 2007, everything looked cleaner, better, wealthier. That trend continued into Austria, as the Styrian region is a major wine, orchard crops, and forage crop area. Storybook houses and villages are the norm. Wine averages tend to be fairly small and family owned and operated.
Sunrise from our east-facing room at the winery.
Karen. Having made our breakfast, Karen relaxes over coffee with us.
Atop the Styrian Hills. Yes, we did climb up from the misty valley below.
Typical local road, narrow, smooth surface, and steep.
Dog of the Day #1
Perhaps a retired DEA employee? Nothing interesting. After sniffing me, the trailer, and my bike, he had not further interest in us.
Most small villages have one or two small cafes.
Yes, that's the village name.
Small bar and grocery on the right.
Anyone would enjoy riding these Austrian roads.
The large manor house on the hill evoked old WWII movies. Karen said there was fierce fighting in this area, mostly Russian and English armies driving back the German/Austrian forces.
In front of a village hall.
Whimsey
Vines in Slovenia and Austria tend to be planted perpendicular tot he hill. As a former Iowa farm boy, we always planted on the contour lines, parallel to the hill to minimize erosion.
We have no idea why "40" is shown in plastic beer cases, but I bet there is a man, not a woman, behind this.
Note the 2nd from top WWII photo. You will find no remaining evidence of war in Austria. Building 100s of years old are nearly always in top condition.
Roller blader on cycle R-12.
Yes, we just climbed and climbed to gain this view, the flatter R-12 cycle path.
Orang Man Group. I never detected movement.
Yes, it was 18%.
Dog of the Day #2. Owned the bar and restaurant, wandering in and out when he was able to stir from basking in the sun.
While Austrian cell towers often are disguised to look as if a tree is mounted on the top, someone had a sense of the macabre.
I've bee trying to understand the pumpkins in the Styrian Region. Thanks to Tourist Information, here is a link: https://grandferdinand.com/en/pumpkin-seed-oil-styria/
To save looking unless you are really interested, here is an excerpt:
Pumpkin seed oil is undoubtedly one of the most famous culinary specialties from Styria. The popular oil is extracted from the seeds of the Styrian oil pumpkin and is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product.
Unlike other pumpkin varieties, the Styrian oil pumpkin’s seeds are enclosed by only a very thin green hull. Those soft seeds are crushed, roasted and then pressed. The green hull is the reason for the viscous oil’s distinguishing green colour. A litre of pumpkin seed oil requires approximately 2.5 kilograms of dried seeds from 30 to 35 pumpkins.
Styrian pumpkin seed oil has a nutty flavour and is a popular salad oil, for example on a warm salad of potato and lamb’s lettuce or on a beef salad. A splash of pumpkin seed oil in pumpkin soup is tasty and looks appealing, and some people like to drizzle some of the oil over their scrambled eggs.
Furstenberg Pumpkin Sculpture.
Pumpkin Seed Oil.
No idea what they are promoting, but if you have ridden a tandem, you know this happened to you.
Furstenfeld, Austria, Church
Furstenfeld's 1st and only craft brewery.
Good. Note the BREWED WITH LOVE AND MUSIC.
Our lunch spot in Furstenfeld.
Helpful Tourist Information Officer in Furstenfeld. He offered us 1/2 price passenger and bike train tickets to Vienna tomorrow and found us lodging at Barbara's Bed and Breakfast, directly across from the train station.
Any business or building that can trace origins to 1557 is impressive.
Upon checking in at Barbara's B & B, I explored by bicycle while Stuart rested. This is the gate to the upper town, a predominantly vehicle free zone.
Appears to be roping potatoes.
Barbara's Bed and Breakfast
Well, I do like the scenic views in the area where you are now, but the names of the towns sound like the noises that one makes while vomiting. If you were dealing with 20% climbs, you should have hired Sherpas to carry your gear. On yesterday evening's ride, we were struggling with one hill that was 15% for a short time. I've got to say, Larry, that this tour doesn't seem to offer much in the way of dogs of the day. Your #1 looks like a slightly run-down wolf, and your #2 looks like he's been dead for a long time. It's good that you'll have a rest day now, and then hopefully easier riding. Be safe.
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