Leaving Hungary for Graz and Worthensee

Monday 24^th June

Lake Balaton to Graz

We packed up but decided to have a coffee before we left so it was nearly 12 before we were on the road. It was a very windy morning and so it was also raining heavily. The rain stayed with us all day and the temperature had dropped by about 10C. Not a good omen as we left Hungary for Austria.

The roads were good if a little wet and we made good time. We decided to stop for lunch and both had a Hungarian goulash as it would be our last chance. The goulash tends to come either as a soup in a ‘kettle’ or as a stew normally with dumplings or noodles.  We had the latter and it turned out to be a very filling meal. It also used up most of the last of our Hungarian Forints and we were left with the equivalent of about £30 for fuel.  We wanted to fill up before we crossed the border as fuel was more expensive in Austria.  For the same reason we also did a shop at Tescos and were rather surprised to see a large elephant next to the store.  It turned out to be with a travelling circus and it looked as pleased as I did to be getting soaked in the rain.  Although our shop was just for basic things we also stocked up on some Hungarian wine which has been rather tasty.

We crossed the border with no formalities at all at Furstenfeld. In fact there was no one there so I just waved our passports at the empty kiosk.  Neither were there any queues of lorries which had met us at other border crossings perhaps there still remains a bit of Austro-Hungary which is why no-one bothers to check anything. We had our Austrian vignette so were set to go.

Our first stop in Austria was at Graz. It was still raining when we arrived late afternoon but we needed to stretch our legs so we put on waterproofs and set off.  Graz is Austria’s second largest city. It was a real mixture of Baroque and modern designs. This was typified by the Kunsthaus Graz which is a contemporary art space.  It has been described as a submarine and as a slug. I prefer the slug view.  

We walked through the City centre with its commercial streets and up the wooded path to the Schlossberg which had once contained the city’s fortress. This was razed to the ground by Napoleon but the medieval clock tower still remains and was duely photographed. From here we walked back down a winding staircase to the very fast flowing river Mur where we could see the Murinsel. 

 This is an artificial island cum bridge made of glass concrete and steel and was designed by the New York artist Vito Acconci. We made our way back to the van and decided we would stay in Graz for the night but we moved a little further out from the centre but still on the banks of the River Mur.

Tuesday 25^th June Graz to Worthensee

We were pleased to see that the rain had stopped although the weather was not as warm as we had been used to.  After breakfast we headed off to Klagenfurt and then to Worthensee.  The drive was lovely – so typical of Austria where even the fields appear to be well groomed.

As the weather was not brilliant we decided it would be great day for a cycle. There is a 50km cycle path around the lake we decided to tackle that aware that it would take most of the rest of the day.  We found a good car parking spot at Krumperdorf just a few miles outside of Klagenfurt and adjacent to the lake. We packed a lunch and some water along with our waterproofs and set off  along the R4.  We made good time at were at the end of the lake at Velden by 2pm. I wanted to stop then for lunch but Mike wanted to keep going so we agreed another half an hour. However somehow we lost the R4 and found ourselves on the R1 which goes out to another lake south of Worthensee on the road to St. Jakob im Rosental. We stopped just pass Rosegg realised we weren’t going to pick our route up without back tracking and had some food. It was now 3pm!  As we headed back to the R4 the heavens opened and we got soaked. We realised that we had picked up the R4 but were now going back in the direction we had started off in. As we were now thoroughly wet we decided to just get back to the van asap and we were back there by 4.30pm – 3.5 hours after we had started. We were both a little disappointed that we hadn’t made it right around the lake but we had cycled quite hard and must have covered at least 40km. 

Typically once back at the van the rain stopped and the sun shone for the rest of the evening. After a cup of tea and a bit of a rest we had a gentle walk to admire the lake further before heading back to the van for spaghetti bolognaise. It’s the first time I have made something other than salad for supper for a good few days and we both enjoyed the meal.