Austria 6: East Tyrol

 

20 - 24 June

Into the valley

We were advised against using the steep Katschberg Pass so made our way to Lienz via the tunnel and tolled motorway driving over a fantastic viaduct. Then through a small part of the Carinthia area before entering East Tyrol.

With all the forests here it's hardly surprising that forestry is a big industry and you pass plenty of huge stacks of timber and processing plants.  And you are always surrounded by mountains as the roads creep along in the valleys.

Just before Lienz we passed the Roman city of Aguntum.  This was a thriving trade centre between AD100 and AD400. There is an interesting museum to look around before the guided tour (by app in English or map and leaflet in German). Much of what has been excavated has been covered over again to preserve it but whatever was found has been replicated. It was very interesting but because of the temperature of 34 degrees we didn't stay very long.

Market Place, Aguntum

Lienz is a small town with old and new areas, located between the two rivers Drau and Isel. Camping Falken, our next stop, is a 15 minute walk away and sits below the Lienzer Dolomites a little over 20 miles from the Italian border.  The facilities are good but I was amused to find that each toilet cubicle, male and female, is provisioned with no less than 20 loo rolls!

In view of our tired state and the high temperature, we had an extremely leisurely day pottering around the town, ricocheting from cafe to cafe, finishing with a walk by the River Isel.

Marktplatz, Lienz

As always, there are churches galore, but one in particular caught our eye, Antonius-Kirchl.  Inside it is no more than 10 metres by 8 metres and heavily decorated.  

It was amusing to see laundry strung out across a narrow street.

We also came across an art exhibition in another church, Spitals-Kirche, where many of the artists exhibiting had used famous paintings as inspiration for their alternative interpretation.

Back at the van it was 38 deg C, reduced to 34 when we opened doors and windows and no cooler in the shade outside.  A few rumbles of thunder in the early evening developed into nothing more than that.

It was a different story next morning. Although it was sunny and very warm when we woke, there was a sudden strong wind, followed by thunder. Undeterred we set off for the bus stop (at the railway station) and got a bit wet when it started raining. We had initially fancied taking the train across the Italian border but the cost put us off when we could travel on most buses for free, thanks to the latest visitor card.

The route through the valley was quite steep sided so the scenery was not particularly wonderful but it was interesting to see how much industry we passed. The town of Sillian just 2.5 miles from Italy has a population of only 2000 and relies on forestry and tourism so has plenty of facilities, including banks, restaurants and supermarket. 

We had a brief look around the town but as the weather was not improving, we decided to have lunch and return to base rather than doing a walk or visiting the castle.  This gave John the opportunity to look around the inside part of the railway museum at Lienz.

Our final day while at this site was largely spent cycling eastwards alongside the fast-flowing, milky grey-green River Drau and railway track. 

We rode along in the sunshine, accompanied by birdsong and butterflies dancing above the wild flowers. Bliss. Until we stopped for some water and spied a large flying beetle with extraordinarily long antennae heading towards us. (Later we looked it up and thought it was a Sawyer beetle).  We did pass a sad piece of world war two history though.....

"During the last days of May 1945 some 40,000 Cossacks and their families arrived in the valley of Lienz fleeing from the USSR through Italy, having crossed the high mountain pass of Ploecken in the Carnic Alps and Corinthia.  They felt safe in this area under the protection of the British.  However, in accordance with the Allies' Treaty of Yalta, they had to be extradited and sent back to the Soviet Union.  After their leaders and officers were summoned to a fake conference and never returned, some 22,000 people from the Lienz area and some 16,000 more detained in other camps alongside the River Drau were destined to be deported and imprisoned before being taken to labour camps in Siberia or shot.  Unwilling to accept the forced repatriation they refused to go.  During the terrible commotion that followed, many of them lost their lives as a result of being heavily beaten by British soldiers. Many, especially mothers with children, jumped into the River Drau in desperation, where they drowned.  "Kossack tragedy on the River Drau" is commemorated yearly here at this cemetery.  The majority of survivors have already passed away but the memory of this tragic event remains very vivid thanks to their grandchildren and friends."

We had no specific destination in mind but an information board implied there was a cafe/restaurant in Nikolsdorf just over 1 km from the cycle path. It was a good job we had taken rolls and water with us as there was nothing on offer there. In fact, we didn't see a soul. On the return leg we stopped at the Dolomiten Golf Club which welcomed cyclists and what a beautuful place it was.

We probably cycled nearly 20 miles in total, not bad for us oldies still using mechanical bikes!