Having recovered from my action-packed day yesterday which included a photo safari of my home town, some extreme hiking and subsequent culinary feasting (to counteract any potential weight loss), my final day in Austria had arrived and it was also going to be an exciting one My brother Ewald and my sister-in-law Anneliese had planned an outing to one of Styria’s true medieval treasures

We were planning to see the other exhibition: “Legendary Riegersburg – Legendary Women” Two very colourful female characters are associated with the history of this fortress

After just a gorgeous day on the Alpine peaks at the Austrian / Italian / Slovenian border, the weather gods were not as kind yesterday It rained and drizzled pretty much the whole day and I spent a relaxing day in my home town, visiting with friends and doing errands

At 9:30 am I went to visit Klaudia, one of my best friends from high school, at her parent’s house Our other school mate Doris was already there and it was great to see both of them again, more than 23 years after we graduated from high school

I continued my drive into the centre of Graz and parked my vehicle in the underground garage next to the Graz Opera – at more than 20 Euros not exactly an inexpensive way to see the city, but affordable parking is difficult to find in downtown Graz My first stop was the Graz Opera House, a neo-baroque building that was opened in 1899 and damaged during an air strike in World War II

After yesterday’s exciting outing to Graz we were planning an even bigger outing today: an excursion to the so-called “Drei-Länderecke”, an area where Austria, Italy and Slovenia come together So we left early in the morning to drive from my home province of Styria along the A2 Highway to the Austrian province of Carinthia

Finally, after the rather rainy day yesterday I opened my curtains to an absolutely gorgeous day today The lush green Alpine foothills and mountains surrounding Weiz were competing with the brilliant blue sky to catch my attention and naturally I had to get out on the road and explore

After a lovely lunch at my friend Andrea’s place, her whole family and I embarked on another adventure: a guided tour of the “Katerloch”, a limestone cave that features the largest number of dripstones in all of Austria Following a beautiful 15 minute drive through serene rolling hills surrounding the hamlet of Dürntal we arrived at the entrance of the cave

Inspired from my cave adventure yesterday, I met my friends Andrea and Herbert early this morning to go on a hike through the Raabklamm (Raab River Gorge), which is surrounded by limestone mountains that hold more than 700 caves, including the famous Katerloch and the Grasshöhle, two publicly accessible caves and major tourist attractions in the Weiz area

On a beautiful warm summer day and after a nice filling breakfast we got going early yesterday to embark on our Sunday excursion to the south-western part of Styria I wasn’t particularly well-rested after a full day yesterday that included a hike, a local driving tour and a birthday party, but I was keen to explore the area west of Leibnitz, Styria’s foremost winegrowing region together with my brother Ewald, his wife Anneliese and our friends Luis and Isabella