Hidden Treasures of the Kamp Valley I must admit I hadn’t any great expectations when the Oldies said they were planning to explore the Kamptal/Kamp Valley. After having spent so much time on the mighty Danube, the Kamp seemed a mere trickle in comparison. But what a magical river valley it is. There you go. Size really isn’t everything! For the Oldies, a visit to Langenlois in the wine growing region of the Kamp Valley was a must, of course….
Melk and Göttweig Abbeys I’ve been enjoying life on the river and could sit here all day, watching the birdlife and boat traffic. There are not many tourist cruisers at the moment, but there are plenty of interesting cargo boats, some of them so long, they seem to go on forever. The Wingless Wonders, of course, also wanted to explore the local towns, Krems Und Stein. That’s not a typo. The town between Krems and Stein is called Und. I…
Roman Museum Flavia Solva, Hunting Museum Schloss Stainz Once again, I found myself roaming around locally with the Oldies. This time, we ended up roaming around Roman remains in Wagna. Aargh! Just when I am getting to grips with local geography, I discover that Wagna in the Austrian province of Styria was formerly known as Flavia Solva in the ancient Roman province of Noricum. My poor little bird brain hurts! It’s hard to believe that, 2,000 years ago, Flavia Solva…
Austrian Sculpture Park, Unterpremstätten I thought I had finally lost it the other day. One minute we were driving along the motorway south of Graz, the next, it felt like we had wandered into a 1970s album cover. Our trip to the Austrian Sculpture Park was quite a trip! We must have passed by the sculpture park dozens of times over the years. If I had got a fish for every time the Oldies declared they really must visit it…
Austrian Open-Air Museum Stübing As a nest-builder myself, I’ve never ceased to be amazed at the lengths you humans go to when it comes to your own version of nest-building. Your houses can be incredibly beautiful and elaborate, and you invest a huge amount of time and effort in them. I still have fond memories of the gorgeous wooden houses we visited in Podbiel and Cicmany in Slovakia. But the other day, I saw something I’d never seen before –…