H1. Triesen to Thun 28 Sept

Woke early for a walk around the hills above our accommodation. Great to watch the sun rising  and highlighting the mountains of Lichtenstein, Austria and Switzerland.

Our Triesen Airbnb host (who has the most well well provisioned unit ever) drove us over the boarder to Sagans to catch the train to Zurich and on to Bern. Gave us another opportunity to see the beautiful Wahlensee and Zurichsee again.

 

Arrived 'home' to Thun after the 1/2 hour train trip from Bern. Stopped into Manor resturant for a yummy lunch then a lap around Coop grocery store before caching our bus to Goldiwil and settling into the Airbnb for the next 10 days. Wandered around the local hills in the late afternoon and later enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

 

G2. Klagenfurt to Lichtenstein 27 Sept

An early start for the short drive to the station and an hours wait for the train departure time. Had coffee and a chat with Alex while waiting. A bit of a challenge with carriage numbers before we got to our reserved seats - which were facing backwards. Relocated to foreword seats which we managed to hold until almost at Salzberg. Quick train change there and more backward facing seats so I rode much of the way standing at the door with camera at the ready.  

 

We got off the train in Feldkirch Austria and found bus 14 heading to Vaduz in Lichtenstein. As adviced by 'Tripadvisor' we got off at Vadus Hofkelleri (the Royal wine cellars) for the best vantage point of taking photos of the castle.

   

From Vaduz we caught the bus 40 and got off at Triesen Post unfortunately this turned out to be a very long uphill walk away from our accommodation! We were rescued by a delightful young woman called Enkel who drove us in her little blue mini up to our Airbnb. A few minutes later we were coming back from photographing St Mamettenkapelle at sunset

 when we saw this sign on a house door. Very appropriate!  

 

The chapel St Mamerta is the oldest chapel in the country. It was built in the 9th or early 10th century. In the tower of the chapel are remnants of the castle from the 12 th century.

G1. Klagenfurt, Magdelenberg & Althofen 26 Sept

After a leisurely start Gabi drove us to central Klagenfurt where we spent two hours wandering through the shops before going to the grandparents home for an authentic Austrian lunch. 

  In the afternoon they drove us back out past Maria Saal and on and up to Magdelenaberg. Close by we saw the Roman Ruins which we visited on a previous trip. At the top there were deer, an old church and a popular resturant. Here we had afternoon tea of traditional Kärntna Reindling.  

 

At 6:30 Rene from Singkreis 'ars musica' choir collected us and drove to Althofen where we joined their choir practice. They are rehearsing typical Karinthian songs for Heimat.

F2. Sunny Kärnten 25 Sept

This morning we travelled past Feldkirken and Maria Saal to Mölbling. Here we attended the service at St Stefan's Catholic Church where Rene, from the Chor Singkreis 'Ars Musica' Althofen, sang with his quartet. After the thanksgiving mass we joined the congregation (who were wearing national costume) for an outdoor lunch. I especially love the Kubis Creme Suppe. Here we joined the quartet to sing a favourite song 'Is Schon still Uman See'. they also sang 'What a wonderful world' for us.

  After lunch the Perschak's drove us to Wörthersee to catch the Schiff across the sparkling waters to Maria Worth. Here we wandered up around the two churches we visited in 2007. 

For the next activity we drove the 8 kilometres up to the relatively new Pyramidenkogel a huge lookout tower.  Geoff went up with our friends to photograph the view while I took photos of it from ground level!

After a lovely dinner with the family we were of again to Maria Saal for a wonderful concert in the church where our Canberra Austrian Choir sang in 2007. We are being thoroughly spoilt by so many people here in Klagenfurt Austria

F1. Klagenfurt region 24 Sept

Started today with a bicycle ride with the Himmers into the city to visit the markets. Here we were joined by three other Austrian friends who had come to our choir practice while they were holidaying in Australia last year. In the afternoon our whole group of nine drove to the Nocky Mountains. After the gondola ride up we walked down to the berg resturant for lunch of authentic Carinthian food. While we were waiting I helped Gabi to collect a bag of wild cranberries from the bushes nearby. We the walked back up to the gondola around 4 pm. Stopped for a photo opportunity at an old school house which has been converted to a guest house and other old wooden houses nearby. The another stop at a resturant for coffee and a variety of superb Austrian cakes!  

   

E2. Sargans to Klagenfurt Austria 23 Sept

We had some time in the morning for a quick walk to the old town of Sargans and up to the Schloss with great views over the surrounding city and country side. All the while watched over by the towering Gonzen Mountain.   We then boarded the intercity train to Austria passing through Innsbruck and changing trains at Schwarzch-St.Veit before alighting in Klagenfurt just after 5pm Spent a lovely evening with our friends - went into the city for ice creams and a wonder around the local attractions illuminated at night.  

               

               

E1. Wandergruppe 22 Sept

Had breakfast with our host then she and Chybo walked us to the station. In Thun we stowed our luggage and met with the people we walked with back in 2014. There were a few new faces but many remembered us and we enjoyed catching up with them again. It was worth the long journey across Switzerland. The day was absolutely perfect - warm and sunny but not too hot.  

The leader Peter took us to Visp and on to Salgesch in canton Valais. From there walked up through the vineyards with their old dry stone walls and ancient looking vines heavy with various varieties of grapes. At one point we saw the grapes being pressed.   We passed a natural outcrop of rocks know as the Pyramids of Raspille and a variety of old churches. We had to reluctantly leave the group at afternoon teatime and continue down to Sierre station to get back to a Thun for our luggage and catch the train to Zurich and on to Sargans. For the second half of the journey the train line followed the lakes of Zurich and Walensee with the mountains fully visible today. Certainly got value from our Swiss Travel Passes today.

  Our Airbnb tonight is situated directly under the Schloss Sargans and right beside it another old church whose bells are currently ringing for 6 o'clock as I wait for the dawn to break over the mountains.