Austria 2006

Back to Austria after 18 years. Leaving from Rome, we stop at Mestre at the hotel Venezia: very convenient and elegant, with an internal car park and right in front of the bus stop that takes us to Venice in 15 minutes. The next day, Saturday the 8th, we set off for Austria: destination Villach. We booked an apartment at the Familien Residenz in Warmbad, the spa locality on the outskirts of Villach, just past the Tarvisio border. The second centre of Carinthia after the capital Klagenfurt, Villach is a delightful little town along the river Drau. A starting point for interesting trips: besides the Wörther, Ossiacher and Faak lakes, also the beautiful Salzburg (about 180 km), not forgetting a visit to the interesting salt mine at Hallein.

About an hour away, a lovely trip by cable car and little train at Reisseckbahn: at 2,300 m you travel 5 km on the highest narrow-gauge railway in Europe. In Klagenfurt, interesting is the visit to Minimundus, with miniature reproductions of the most important monuments in the world. In Warmbad you can spend a relaxing day at the thermal pool, inside which is Europe's largest indoor slide. Also in Villach, worth visiting is the castle with an interesting, paid exhibition of birds of prey: falcons, eagles etc.