The laundry line Gundi and I share. This is our laundry on one half of the very long line that goes uphill!
Well perhaps we won’t climb every mountain in Austria, but we did have fun exploring the mountain our home sits on! Thursday, 21 February we headed up the mountain path behind our house to go and see St. Johann und Paul Kirche. This is the same church Liam and Seamus explored a few days ago.
Seamus was our guide up the mountain path because sadly Liam wasn’t feeling well and had a low-grade temp, so he stayed home. It was a beautiful day as Seamus took us along the various winding streets and then onto the leaf covered paths. I will say it was quite an incline up some of the forest paths strewn with rocks and crunchy leaves, but the paths were well marked and other than being straight uphill the paths were well maintained. We passed folks walking their dogs and others out for a leisurely stroll. Including older people who use ski poles to steady themselves on the climb up or downhill! We’ve noticed even in town that the elderly use one or two poles as walking sticks!
The last quarter of the hike was by far the worst. Seamus and Liam fondly named it the “hell hill” and well he was correct. The hill was quite steep, but manageable. It was worth the climb! At the top of the hill we were met with beautiful vistas of Graz in the valley below. We could also see down the other side of the mountain and to the snow capped mountains beyond!
As you can see the hill disappears into a black hole. The hill was around a 50-55 degree angle.
Right below the church sits a little bier-garten and café. We had a nice refreshing drink before mounting the last path up to the church itself. St. Johann und Paul was built in 1589 and since 1996 has been kept by the Historical Trust in Graz.
There is just a hint of another village in the valley. That is Thal. where Arnold Schwarzenegger was born.
If you look just above Faywen’s head you can see the Schlossberg and the Uhrturm. The line is the funicular up the hill. We are much higher than the Schlossberg we climbed a last week.
There are several hiking and biking paths that converge at the top of the mountain. We found a slightly different path to make our descent. It took us past an area that belongs to anAustrian military base. We have seen several military helicopters and people in uniform in Graz. Now we know why! The newer path eventually linked into part of the original path we took up the mountain. We passed some lovely homes just above our own house.
All in all we were goneover 3 hours and returned to find that Liam was feeling a bit better. I’m happyto report that the following morning his temp was gone and he was fine!
Camellia's Travel Blog 