after arriving late the day before – we are greeted with beautiful weather today.

every year we rent the same house for my extended austrian family. this ensures that we meet at least once a year in southern styria which is about the same distance for everyone except us coming from switzerland.

i feel very at home here. my kids and wife have come to share my love for this beautiful part of our planet – in this post i will try to convey some impressions, but, alas, there will be no substitute for you, dear reader, other than come to southern styria and see for yourself!

first of all, the place we stay is part of a larger winery which makes very drinkable white wine and serves delicious food in their own ‘buschenschank‘. this means for us that we truly don’t have to go far to get all we need to survive some days here 🙂

no need to drive! :)
no need to drive! 🙂

the TWIKE gets a premium parking spot – directly below the wine tanks holding the wine we’re going to be drinking later that day!

since there is heavy machinery involved in processing wine, my charging infrastructure offers more than i could ever expect: in that single room i could pull 5x3x16A, 1x3x32A plus 6x13A via standard schuko-plugs.

plug heaven
plug heaven

a whole fleet of ev’s could stop here and charge!

when we’re in styria, there are not too many things we want to accomplish:

  • get together and speak about what has happened during the last year
  • drink white wine / sturm / fresh peach juice
  • go on extended walks on various hills to see the beautiful styrian landscape
  • visit at least one special attraction
  • eat local food from a few of the many buschenschank
  • buy pumpkin seed oil (to savour it’s unique nutty taste and dark green color all year round)
  • buy wine (lots of it!) and peach juice

repeat the above until the alotted time for the visit is over…

easy enough recipe for some good time, right? 🙂

well, here we go!

 

here a few impressions of what the landscape looks like – no single flat stretch here!

beautiful views ever few kilometers
beautiful views ever few kilometers
(click to enlarge)

driving here with the TWIKE is a real treat: no big roads, just wine farms, buschenschank’s and places begging for a stop because the view is just stunning.

more wine - especially beautiful in autumn with yellow leaves
more wine – especially beautiful in autumn with yellow leaves
another stunning vista
another stunning vista
hills with wine, the basis for styria's white wine wonders
hills with wine, the basis for styria’s white wine wonders

this is the twike driving back to our house. look at how far you can see during the first few seconds!

we then head out to see gsellmann’s weltmaschine. very quirky, very interesting…

Die Weltmaschine (source: nrhz.de)
Die Weltmaschine
(source: nrhz.de)

see the english entry in the atlas obscura or in german on wikipedia for more explanation… or check out the video below.

then we head out to try and then eventually buy our white wine stock for the next year. we usually go directly to the various wineries and buy direct. here some pictures from one of the wineries we have been buying from for the last few years.

wine purchasing with the TWIKE
wine purchasing with the TWIKE
(click to enlarge)

we even got electricity here 🙂

wine tasting doesn't get any better than this
wine tasting doesn’t get any better than this

sun, wine and my family – plus styria – this very, very close to 100%!

part of the family says hello
part of the family says hello
every beautiful day ends...
every beautiful day ends…
(click to enlarge)

then, obviously i need to show you a sample of what you can eat. all food is made on the farm and the wine *must* be from the same farm. all served with a generous amount of local pride. you will get back home and just count the days until you can go back!

very tasty southern styrian food
very tasty southern styrian food

we repeat the above until sunday…

during the afternoon we visit another few wineries and TW560 gets another few nice kms here.

hills as far as you can see (slovenia in the background)
hills as far as you can see (slovenia in the background)

then, invariably, it’s time to leave…

a last glass of styrian white wine...
a last glass of styrian white wine…

we head back to graz main station to load the TWIKE onto the train taking it back to feldkirch.

last charge 10 meters from the train
last charge 10 meters from the train

as last year, to ensure i make it back home from feldkirch in one charge, i ask the person at the train station checking the tickets if i could charge until they finally close the train. 10 metres from the train i charge until the last minute before boarding the train as the last vehicle.

i settle in and soon sleep whilst the train is making its way back to feldkirch.

the next morning we are greeted with grey clouds and fog. it is quite cold and the battery has cooled down to 4°C > which will have an impact on my range.

lower rhine valley, leaving the fog behind us
lower rhine valley, leaving the fog behind us

whilst driving towards canton appenzell, suddenly, we leave the fog behind us and then, climbing up a very small single lane road, we are greeted by a view so glorious it could not be missed by my camera!

lower rhine valley - on my way back home
lower rhine valley – on my way back home

…and yes, TW560 and i make it back home in one charge!

looking forward to seeing you again, southern styria (and all of austria, for that matter!)

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