posted by Evelyn Nodwell. 

An Austrian Autumn.

No doubt that Vienna and Salzburg are the hearts of Austrian high culture. But there is so much more to enjoy and experience in Austria. Take Graz, Austria's second largest city, with its medieval town centre, A UNESCO World Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/931). In the province of Styria/Steiermark, Graz and its surrounding regions provide countless opportunities for experiencing fall the way Austrians themselves do.

On a warm September day our first excursion would normally be a walk up the 260 stairs to the Schlossberg, the small mountain in the centre of the city. The terrace on top is our destination for a coffee and apfelstrudel, as we we look over the quilt of red-tiled roofs punctured by sharp church steeples (not to mention, by the blue bulge of the Kunsthaus Graz, the modern art museum), and beyond to the surrounding hills.  

But early this morning every street and lane in the old town is already bustling with people in traditional Austrian dress (trachten) finishing their last-minute set-up of performance stages, food and drink kiosks and display tables.  We are drawn by the excited sounds of musicians, yodelers and singers warming up; and by the smells of roasting pork, fresh pastries, pumpkin soup, and hot, spiced wine. Today is Aufsteirern, the annual nine-hour Styrian (Steiermark) folk festival.

An autumn holiday in and around Graz can take in both traditional and contemporary culture, urban and rural experiences, and seasonal eating and drinking.  A few days after Aufsteirern follows Steirischer Herbst (“Styrian Fall”), a three-week, city-wide International Festival of Contemporary Arts. Simultaneously, the rural region just south of Graz, features a “Culinary Fall” with a “Day of the Open Door” where food producers give tours and provide complementary tasting.  At the vinegar-makers we tasted a twenty-five-year-old sweet balsamic vinegar, next door several flavours of schnapps, while down the road at Zotter chocolates we almost made ourselves ill with tasting ten grades of melted chocolate, and various flavors of wafers and hot chocolate. 

Not far away is a pumpkin festival, featuring Styria’s famous pumpkin oil and all kinds of delicious pumpkin dishes.  Want to see the Lipizzaner horses but can’t get to Vienna? In September they come down in procession from the Styrian mountain pastures, three quarters of an hour from Graz. And to do as the Austrians do, a trip into the romantic rolling-hill wine region south of Graz is a must, to have lunch at a Buschenschank, a vineyard tavern serving elaborate ploughman’s lunches with their wine made from home-grown grapes. A favorite drink available everywhere, but only in fall for as long as supplies last, is the new, semi-fermented wine called sturm (meaning “storm,” from its cloudy appearance). On our way back to Graz, we stopped at a roadside stand for fresh roasted chestnuts and another glass of sturm. If, after all this, you would like to squeeze in another experience, go to the tourist office to find out which churches have an Erntedankfest, the festival giving thanks for the harvest. Or join an Alpine Club hike as a visitor to tour the outlying regions local style. You can take a train to the local mountain, the Schöckl; hike by farms and vineyards; or visit one of Europe’s biggest caves, the Lurgrotte by nearby Peggau. Or go to the farmer’s market in old town Graz to buy some produce or flowers, or to have a sausage and beer at one of the  stands.

Don't speak German? The tourist office in the centre of town has lots of information in English, and you will always find Austrians happy to have a chance to practice their English. Austria has countless, useful tourist internet sites, in English as well as German, that make self-organizing a trip online relatively easy. These include sites for the many fall events. For travellers, cities and towns have centrally located tourist offices staffed with friendly, helpful attendants who speak good English. They can sell bus passes, provide lists of available accommodations, can give information about all events and have lots of English brochures and maps. We chose to get around Austria the relaxing way - by train. For local travel, buses are comfortable and convenient.

Lost on the Alm.

“The horse escaped and ran up the mountain. I have to drive up to the alm to find it.”  We are in the Ramsau am Dachstein area in the mountains. Heidi, our hostess at Walcher Farm, jumps up just as we are about to settle our bill. We have a bus to catch from Ramsau down the mountain to Schladming in time to make the train back to Graz.

Forgetting the bus, our immediate reaction? “Can we come along?” Adventures may, as hobbits say, be “nasty disturbing uncomfortable things” that “make you late for dinner,” but they can also open the door to the most authentic local experiences.

Walcher farm is one of thousands throughout Austria providing farm holidays with local, hearty food; farm activities; hiking trails; traditional, cultural activities and picture-postcard scenery. Ted and I were there to experience an almabtrieb, the celebration of elaborately decorated cows coming back down to the farm in procession from the high, alpine summer pastures (alm); an old tradition still taking place in all of Austria’s mountain regions.

Since it was the fall shoulder season, we left much to spontaneity. Fall is a perfect time to visit Austria - the weather is mild; fall harvests provide bountiful, local food and drink; rates are lowered; tourists are fewer; travel spontaneity is possible; and fall festivals abound. We easily researched and arranged our five weeks in Austria through the internet. Austria has an abundance of useful tourist sites which make self-organizing a trip online relatively easy. Among these are sites for searching farm holiday possibilities throughout all the Austrian provinces, and those which list all the almabtrieb processions throughout Austria, with dates and times.