August 2020 – Expat Wanderluster

Austria has an obsession with meat. Not just your everyday cuts either but all parts of the animal. Particularly liver. There is a lot of liver. Beef liver ball soup being the specialty (see main photo). They’re bread fans too, and dumplings. Well, at least this is what Google translate gave me as a translation for them. I had in mind the asian variety, a pasta stuffed with meat, or maybe the Russian pelmeni version. But no. Turns out a dumpling is a big fat meatball. Usually made of liver or sweetbreads and of course padded out with bread. Goes very well with an Austrian red blaufranksich.

One thing Austrian food is not is light. But it is very tasty if not a bit same-y. Basically you eat meat and potatoes with sauerkraut and dumpling. Or spetzle which is kind of like skinny gnocchi (it was translated as egg noodle. It’s not.). I thought I might just have a light omelette one night after all the stodge I’d eaten that week. So I chose the cheese omelette with spetzle (egg noodles). It was more cheesy skinny gnocchi with a dash of egg. But yummy. Poor waistline.

Then there were the Munich white sausages which you apparently just have to try. You don’t by the way. They don’t have much taste but are definitely a good meaty sausage. The best was the truffled cauliflower soup – finally something relatively light.

It’s probably best to visit Austria in winter where you will appreciate the warm heavy comfort food. You probably only need to eat once a day! Although you won’t be able to get enough of the apfelstrudel or tochenstrudel – a cottage cheese filled pastry that is divine.

Austria doesn’t seem to be affected by climate change. At all. Long may it stay that way. This was the first time I had graced Austria and it was particularly exciting given that it was also the first time I had been out of France in four months.

Germany was just starting to reintroduce border controls and Covid testing given they’d had an increase in cases. Fortunately after a hair-rising drive down the autobahn at 170km/h (another first for me) we didn’t get stopped at the border and crossed into Austria which did not appear to have heard of Covid – no masks, nothing except the odd hand sanitiser bottle in shops.

First stop was Kufstein, a small mountain village at the base of the Alps. I discovered that the Riedel glass factory was based here together with an outlet store. So I treated myself to a handmade venetian crystal red wine glass.

But of course it is the mountains and landscape that make Austria, with stunning vistas, clear water and cows with bells. I caught the chairlift up to the top of the Alps where I discovered the cows (how they got up there I have no idea but the farmer clearly didn’t want to lose them because they all had loud cow bells on, tinkling away. Took two and a half hours to walk back down through the forest where I discovered the good ol’ fern hanging out in the undergrowth !

Also managed to find a lake near Kufstein in a place called Thiersee near the German border. Into the deliciously refreshing water I swam and decided to come back the next day for an afternoon there. You had to pay to sit on the lakeside (weird) but it was worth it. Particularly as there was a not bad little italian restaurant right on the lakeside which made great pina coladas and had loads of the local drink almdudler. Almdudler is a sparkling herbal drink that tastes a bit like tea. Drank them dry during the week.

But what of the culture? I found the locals quite friendly and only too happy to speak english when my poor German and pointing didn’t quite cut it. There is a somewhat quirky dress sense with men in lederhosen and women in dirndls. They actually wear these day to day too. Dirndls range from the less eye-watering price of 100 euros through to the exquisitely-made beautiful 1000 euro sets. I was tempted but then couldn’t think where I would really wear it outside of Austria and Oktoberfest. Maybe next time I’ll at least pick up a shirt.

No trip would be complete without trying the local “cuisine”. It made for quite some entertainment when ordering given that the menu was all in german. Check out the food tab for a selection of their “delicacies.”

Then it was off for a day’s shopping in Innsbruck, another beautiful mountain town with brightly coloured houses, including the famous gold-roofed house. Mozart apparently spent some time here too.

No trip to Austria is complete of course without visiting Salzburg, home of Mozart and most of the filming locations to Sound of Music. Of course, I had to be touristy and act all the scenes, but hey the locals are used to it. Stayed in a little village just out of Salzburg town called Anif. They had some magnificent pubs and restaurants hidden away, for which my waistline is not truly grateful at all.

I’ll definitely be back.