We are currently in the Salzburger Lungau region of Austria and staying in a small village called Tamsweg. The region is designated as “UNESCO Biosphere Reserve” for its magnificent natural landscapes which are under special protection. Tamsweg is 1000 metres above sea level and nestled amongst the Alps.

Our home for 2 1/2 weeks is very cute, about a 20-minute walk into the town which has all the amenities we need, lots of Gasthaus, places to drink and eat!

The town central square is rather cute with lovely buildings. In fact, the whole town has some beautiful historic buildings. Unfortunately, there is not much info in English, so we just have lots of photos! So far we have frequented two of the Gasthaus’ with many more to follow. Greg is enjoying the local beer, Murauer, and Rhonda is liking her Dunkel, or dark wheat beer.

We decided to do a drive up a mountain seeing it was a lovely day. We drove first to the pretty village of Katschberg, wandered round, had a coffee, and then decided to go up the chair lift to Aineck. The views were stunning. It was a little chilly but not as bad as we thought.

We were up 2220 metres above sea level and had a 360-degree view of the mountains including Chober at 2957 metres and Grober Sonnblick at 3030 metres.

We walked around the lake and had a picnic lunch before going down on the chairlift. We have to say the photos do not do the scenery justice! It was magnificent and worth the 58 euro round trip.

We have mentioned going to a few Gasthaus’. They are German style taverns with a bar and restaurant and renown for the local food. We went to one for lunch in a small village close by called St Michael which specialised in chicken. We each had half a chicken and potato salad….should have shared one…..but it was delicious anyway and we did not need dinner that night.

The pasta dishes have long gone now and now we are into sausage, sauerkraut, schnitzels and of course apple strudel. Greg has still been cooking up a storm at home and trying out all different types of sausage!.

AS well as the food we are trying different beers in different beer houses.

We have visited a local village called Mauterndorf, where there is a schloss (castle). It is a 13th century toll house castle and was the occasional summer residence of the prince archbishops of Salzburg.

The initial weather forcast for the area was pretty ordinary with low temperatures and lots of rain and thunderstorms forcast, however we have been pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed mostly sunny days in the mid 20’s with the odd thunderstorm in the late afternoon. We even had a beautiful rainbow in the bottom of our garden, couldn’t find the pot of gold though!

We took a drive to Lake Prebersee, about a 20 minute drive from home. It was a pleasant 40 minute stroll around the lake, with some reflections of Mount Preber at 2740 metres.

We took a picnic lunch with us which we had intended to have lakeside but due to the water lying around, there were quite a few mozzies and midges, so Rhonda decided to do lunch elsewhere. We pulled into a roadside stop down the way a bit and Greg found a nice spot to sit to eat!!!!

While travelling around the area we have seen quite a few maypoles in the villages. Apparently they are erected on May 1st to symbolise the coming of Spring with lots of ffestivities and dancing. The cutting down of the Maypole apparently happens around the end of July around the time of their summer festivals.

We had another lovely day trip through the mountains. We travelled across the 1738 metre high mountain pass called the Radstadter-Tavern. Rhonda was happy as it was a wide road with a line down the middle! The mountain views were stunning.

At the top of the pass is a town called Obertauern, and its claim to fame is that in 1965 The Beatles filmed part of their film Help around the area and stayed in a Hotel at the top of the pass. Today you can stay in the John, Paul, George or Ringo rooms.

At the end of the pass is a town called Radstadt, the old town was lovely with the usual very pretty and colourful buildings.

We enjoyed another great lunch at Gasthaus Klauswirt, about a 15 minute drive from home. Althouigh the host didnt speak a lot of English and our German is pretty non existant, we enjoyed a great schnitzel, beers and wine. the spuds here are delicious, apparently the area around here is renown for their great tasting spuds and we agree.

Greg has fallen in love with the local beer, its called Muraurer. It is brewed in a town about 20 kms from here so Gregory had to buy a slab. The slab consists of 20 , 50mls bottles. He is currently working his way through the slab, quite fast too!!!!!

Today we packed a picnic lunch and headed for Spittal an der Drau. We wandered through the town and decided to have a coffee with a view. By the way as we were so close to Italy the coffee was sooooo close to good Italian coffee which we have failed to find so far in Austria. The 16th Century Porcia Schloss , built in the style of an Italian Palazzo is considered to be one of the most beautiful renaissance buildings north of the Alps.

We then drove onto Millstatt am See, and drove around Lake Millstattersee. It was a very pretty drive and some of the Lake views were lovely!

We then arrived at the town of Millstatt, and walked up to the Millstatt Abbey which was established by the Benedictine Monks around 1070.

Then it was time to return home via the Turracher Hohe Pass, at a height of 1795 metres. We stopped and had a beer by Turracher Lake at the top of the Pass. It was a little chilly, but it was a great day and another great drive by Greg and Tony!

So it’s that time again, time to wander into the village and have a drink! And maybe listen to some local singers who are apparently in the square every Wednesday evening at 7pm.

BTW, did anyone find Hitler and Mussolini in the stained glass windows???????

So bye for now.

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda

xxx