Do Not Fold

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Carinthia. Carinthia (Kärnten in German) is a province in Austria that situates just above the Italian and Slovenian border. In Belgium, everyone knows Austria, but no one knows Carinthia. For some people it’s name rings a bell, but for most of the people I know it’s totally unknown. I guess this is one of the reasons why I got this opportunity, to check it out and spread the word about this place.

Annelies, a bunch of journalists from Belgium and the Netherlands and myself flew with a propellor plane of Austrian Airlines to the Corinthian capital, Klagenfurt. We arrived at what I would call a typical Austrian hotel, the Ferienhotel Sunshine. It’s what you can expect from an Austrian hotel: wooden ceilings, flower curtains, Sansevierias and very friendly hosts.

After checking in and supper we went out to go Eisstockschießen. A very funky sport that is somewhat similar to Curling but with a UFO-like disc with a handle/stick. You have to slide the ice stock over the ice and aim for the target. A fun way to get to know each other a bit better and a good way to end the first day in the Alps.

Carinthia offers a lot of activities for winter- and summertime. Day two of our trip was action day. We started with ski touring. Ski touring is a bit like cross-country skiing (langlauf) where your heel is not attached to the to the skis but with ski touring you can actually walk uphill. The skis have a special nylon skin underneath so you don’t slide down. Very fun but very intensive and tiring. The good thing about this sport is that you can detach the skin and ski down the hill. Aaah… sizzling snow, the cold breeze, the sun, … I love skiing.

If you’re not fond of ski touring or skiing you can opt for snow shoes and take the sled to slide downhill. Also verrrrry fun!

Day two promised to be less intensive with a visit to the Weissensee. The Weissensee is a gigantic lake which is at one point to 930 (oops, tnx Marleen) 99 meters deep! Despite it’s depth it can get to 24°C in the summer and freezes completely in winter. Because it is certain that this lake completely freezes every year the Dutch organise their yearly Alternatieve Elfstedentocht on it. For a couple of weeks everything is Dutch. 44% of the yearly Corinthian tourist income comes from this event with about 35000 hotel stays. We had the chance to see the finals and have a talk with the organiser and the master of the ice, the Eismeister. He makes sure the ice keeps it’s strength. It’s about 60 cm thick but requires a lot of professional handling.

After dinner we stepped into ice skates our self. Yes, the ‘profi’ ones where your heel isn’t attached to the skate. Not very difficult but I wouldn’t be able to skate at 40km/h, which is an average speed for professional ice skaters. If they try harder they get speeds to 70 km/h! Amazing. Especially if you know that the ice has a lot of natural cracks and grooves.

We skated towards a fishers house: Fischereibetrieb Martin Müller. The living proof that Austria doesn’t need to be classical and typical. It’s a very trendy place where you can eat raw or cooked fresh fish and drink a fine glass of white wine. Definitely worth doing! The day ended -again- with an amazing sunset.

On the last day of our trip we went to the woods to try some archery at bogenparcours Steinfeld. Luckily not on real live animals, but on stuffed animals, hidden in the woods. Very fun indeed.

The name “Carinthia” comes from a Celtic origin: “carant“, meaning “friend” or “relation” – giving it the meaning Land of Friends. Nice thought and very true because what I’ll remember most of this trip is the pure, wealthy nature and the su-per-friendly people.

If these two are your ‘thing’, go check it out and visit Carinthia… Back to nature!

This was the second time I’ve visited Austria. I don’t remember much of the first time because I was like 12 or something but this time I probably won’t forget. I had a great time, with a great bunch of fun people and I would like to thank everyone involved, especially Julia, Suzanna, Eva and the people from Hotel Sunshine. Vielen Dank! Mit tiefer Dankbarkeit!

Check here for Annelies her post (Dutch only) or click here for the rest of the pictures.