The Joy of Summer Travel Magazine 2012

1 3 5 2 3798 m Großglockner Lienz ALPS-ADRIATIC TRAIL Carinthia Magazine 14 Stone cairns mark the hiking trail on the Gerlitzen Alpe. Carinthian alpine food at the Lammersdorfer lodge with a glorious all-round view of the Millstätter Alpe for dessert. Heiligenblut Großkirchheim Mallnitz Innerfragant Obervellach Kolbnitz Oberdrauburg Greifenburg Kötschach Mauthen Gemona del Friuli Udine I Mühldorf Spittal Hermagor Cividale del Friuli Cormons Gradisca d‘Isonzo Grado Bovec Gmünd Kobarid Millstatt Bad Kleinkirchheim Radenthein Dobrovo Gorizia Arnoldstein Tarvisio Duino Arriach Villach Trenta Tolmin Nova Gorizia 4 Landskron Gerlitzen Kranjska Gora Prosecco Triest Muggia Ossiach Velden Rosegg Faak am See SLO Lipica Feldkirchen Feistritz im Rosental Sankt Veit Klagenfurt Ferlach Kranj Friesach A Ljubljana The 500 year old candelabra spruce in Arriach. A pause for breath on the shore of Lake Ossiacher See, nestling between the Gerlitzen Alpe to the north and the Ossiacher Tauern to the south. Bad Eisenkapel Bad Sankt Leonhard Völkermarkt Wolfsberg Griffen St.Paul Bleiburg Lavamünd 6 7 Velden by night with the legendary castle by Lake Wörthersee. The historical Apriach mill close to the almost 400-year-old “Mentlhof” farm. The stretch by Lake Nassbodensee, the small mountain lake in the Nockberge National Park. The trail consists of countless paths and hiking routes between the Grossglockner and the town of Muggia, south of Trieste. It follows the water in its various forms, from the perpetual ice of the Glockner, via rivers and lakes, down to the sea. In fact the paths have always been there, but they had never been recorded in their totality in map form, let alone marketed. Until now! An ambitious undertaking, because it spans different countries. 170 km in the air = 550 km on the ground. And yet the trail has become reality. Tourism specialists, hiking experts and cartographers walked the route, then drew, calculated, packaged and pictured it. The trail has been divided into 32 stages, each of them covering a distance of 17 kilometres. Which makes 550 km in total, with a difference in altitude of 26,000 metres on the way up and 26,000 metres on the way down! “Hiking in the Garden of Eden.” But enough of figures! Because the real purpose behind the Alps-Adriatic Trail is not to stomp along the entire length in as few one-day marches as possible. No, the various stages are intended as an invitation to hikers, and it is up to them to choose whether they complete one or more, or spread them over several holidays. The path itself is the goal, not conquering the summit! When the trail’s “inventors” coined the term “hiking in the Garden of Eden”, they probably had the heavenly views, glorious spectacles of nature, glimmering swimming lakes and majestic peaks in mind. A lovely image which fits perfectly, as the following low-altitude flight over the Alps-Adriatic Trail will prove. Historical mills. One of the first stages leads from Heiligenblut to Grosskirchheim, and is 12 km long, 507 metres uphill and 802 metres downhill. During this stage you pass the group of mills in Apriach which tell the story of the life full of privations that was led by the local farming population from the 17 th century until last century. In those days cereal was still cultivated 1,400 m above sea level, and milled in these very mills. It is incredible to think how people managed to build mills of this kind in such steep terrain to make the best use of the naturally falling water. The local name for the mills, “Stockmühlen”, comes from the wooden drive shaft of the millstone, which was known in the local vernacular as a “Stock”. Garnet or fried bacon. One of the most beautiful hiking regions in Carinthia is the Millstätter Alpe. This is due firstly to its gentle curves – it still forms part of the rounded Nockberge Mountains – and secondly to the wonderful view down onto Lake Millstätter See, the third largest swimming lake in Carinthia. With a bit of luck you might even find a garnet, a semi-precious stone that takes on a dark red colour when it has been polished. And if you don’t manage to get rich quick, then the landlords of the Alexanderhütte, the Lammersdorferhütte and the Erlacher Haus will offer you comfort and serve you products from their own alpine dairy. Or perhaps a “Hüttenpfandl”, a hearty dish made from eggs, bacon and bread. Thus refreshed you will quickly forget all about the garnet and set off again towards the valley, where the surface water of Lake Millstätter See sparkles in the sunlight like a great hoard of diamonds. Central point and candelabra spruce. Arriach’s claim to fame is that it is the geographical centre – no, not of the universe, but at least of Carinthia. And it is the starting point for the section of the trail that leads up to the Gerlitzen Alpe at 1,911 m above sea level. Not far from this calculated geographical centre point stands the so-called “candelabra spruce”, an enormous 500-yearold tree whose trunk divides several times some two metres above the ground, giving it the appearance of a seven-armed lamp. Indisputably a place of power, where every hiker is happy to linger for a while before tackling the ascent to the Gerlitzen Alpe. There is a 1,200 metres difference in altitude to be conquered but you can follow the path at an unhurried pace, > Carinthia Magazine 15

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