Und Am Ende Österreich

So as we neared the end of our trip, we headed to what our leader and guide referred to as the promised land: Austria. We had our last breakfast in the Balkans and then headed towards the border.

Our hotel, the Best Western in Piramida, Slovenia had a great breakfast and a lovely selection of jams and jellies.

 

The staff wore these cute little berets!

 

The rooms were elegant ...

and we had a nice view ofthe city out of our window.

The weather for departure was lovely - unflortunately it didn't remain that way, but we gloried in the nice weather while we had it.

  

  

The Steiermark has lovely wooded roads and a great wine-growing region.

The sign above tells us that we are in a Nature Park in the South Styrian wine country.

We stopped at a local vintner to try their wares. Here we all are preparing for the experience.

Talk about people who live in glass houses! You can't really see it in the top photo, but the windows are also filled with hundreds of bottles waiting to be filled with winey goodness.

 

 

The tasting room was cheerful with vibrant wine-themed murals!

 

Those of us that opted to taste gathered in the room and got a great education in the different kinds of Austrian wine.

  

Below is a picture of our host and Sommelier.

 

We examined the nose and legs of the wine.

And came out  much happier than we entered if not necessarily more knowledgeable.

Our next stop was Gasthaus Polz for a splendid lunch and some more specialty wines.

 

The gardens were lovely. This one is a traditional herb garden next to the main building.

 

Across from the house you could see the fields for the Weinbau.

The entrance was festive even though the sky had decided to cloud over.

Someone was a glass artist and had decorated the outdoor garden with his/her work.

On a sunny day, it would have been magnificent to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine.

But the inside was equally attractive. Decorated in the Volktradition, there were wooden tables and chairs.

We quite filled the room and were served lovely wines and big platters of cold cuts.

Along with the platters came good, solid peasant bread - the best bread in the world!

 

Outside the farm animals waited for the tourists who would inevitable want to feed them.

There was no question that we were now in Austria with the smart, cleanly kept buildings and dark evergreen trees. 

All too soon it was time once again to get into the bus and head towards our next destination.

The landscapes were stunning and the clouds made them even more dramatic.

 

Towards evening we reached our final destination  the Monastery in Melk.