A visit to Nowa Huta I’ve always had a soft spot for the hard lines of communist-era architecture. To me, there’s something weirdly comforting about chunky, rectilinear concrete buildings. Perhaps it’s because they remind me of sheer cliff faces. I’ve no idea what they do for the Oldies, but I was quite happy to join them on a trip to Nowa Huta, an industrial satellite town meaning ‘new steel mill’ which was built from scratch in the 1950s not far…
Sights that defy belief. Words that defy comprehension. Guide in Birkenau: ‘You will probably be here longer today than most of the prisoners who arrived here. Around 80% were sent directly to the gas chambers.’ Guide in Auschwitz: ‘Hitler promised to make Germany great again.’ I have no words.
Peter Rosegger Museums, Alpl and Krieglach Here we go again, I thought, another visit to an Austrian farmhouse. I had seen a fascinating collection of beautifully restored Austrian houses not long ago in the Stübing open-air museum. This time it was different, however. Firstly, this house is in its original location and secondly it was the birthplace of the famous Styrian author, Peter Rosegger. And what about this for a location! This is the nearest I’ve seen to a human…
Moravia-Lower Austria Border Region I have certainly been enjoying our outings from our base in Poysdorf in the Weinviertel. Like the Waldviertel, the landscape here is wonderful. But whereas the Oldies were waiting for the poppies to flower in the Waldviertel, the crop they were waiting to burst into colour here was the sunflower. Once again they were in luck and the flowers complied. Beautiful! I had expected Lower Austria to be positively flat – in comparison at least to…
Beer town Weitra ‘Lovely’, I thought, ‘an ancient walled town. No wonder the Oldies are anxious to visit.’ But I soon discovered that they had an ulterior motive for visiting Weitra. It’s not only as pretty as a picture, it is also Austria’s oldest brewing town. In fact, this year Weitra is celebrating the 700th anniversary of being accorded brewing rights. I know of several small towns in Ireland which used to boast dozens of pubs, but Weitra beats them…