There could not have been a greater juxtaposition between hot, crowded Venice and the beautiful rolling green hills and open air of Villach, Austria.
With Lake Bled, Slovenia in our future sites, we had picked the Austrian border town of Villach (pronounced "villa") to chop up the long train journey and get a little Austria into the trip.
Not being a particularly big tourist destination, there weren't a lot of hostels available on hostelworld.com (my go to place for all our accommodations outside of Croatia), but I was able to find a private room available at the "Blue Mountain Hotel and Hostel" which sounded like it was pretty close to the main part of town. (Ha!)
We arrived to a desolate train station in Villach at 7pm Saturday night. Though situated in a beautiful bed of lush green mountains, the area of town surrounding the train station looked akin to Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and I think Tarrah and I both began to wonder if we should just hop back on the train and take it all the way to Slovenia. Our fight or flight musings were quickly interrupted when a random driver by stopped to ask us in broken English if we were "staying here on holiday." When we nodded and he instantly broke into hysterical laughter, we began having regrets about our (my) decision to stay here.
The hostel website had mentioned the need to take a bus and then arrange additional transport from the bus so we headed to check things out on the bus schedule. Everything was in German, but we concluded the bus would probably arrive in about an hour. It was starting to get dark and the area looked sketch as all hell, so we opted to ask a nearby taxi driver to give us a quote.
Squinting at the address, he looked at us and explained the bus would require us to walk up a mountain and that it would be 50 euros. It seemed pretty steep, but between that or walking up a mountain/potentially getting "taken" in the Austrian Oak Park - we opted for the ride. 30 minutes into our ride as we cascaded the side of the Alps on a one lane road, we realized the fee was worth it.
Our drivers English was limited (as in when Tarrah asked him where the good restaurants are he replied "yes I like to eat"), but during our ride we did learn that Villach is well know for hosting the worlds largest annual motorcycle gathering and that our hostel was actually a biker hotel and bar (Not sure how I missed that in my booking, but Tarrah was visibly pumped)
(The Blue Mountain Hotel)
After 45 minutes of the most scenically beautiful and expensive cab ride ever, we arrived at the very top of the mountain where the hotel was located. We were greeted by a little Santa Claus Gnome riding a motorcycle and the stares of all 8 people residing/working there (I'm not sure if they'd never seen Americans before or if we just really looked that out of place.)
Paul, the Dutch owner of the motorcycle bar, and his wife warmly checked us (though their faces seemed riddled with confusion).
"You are far from home." said Paul. (I could tell he didn't quite know what to make of us).
(Little did he know, this was the closest we'd feel to home the entire trip)
Blue Mountain had a full restaurant (I guess that's important when you're located on the top of a deserted mountain) with many of the items being "biker themed" (not surprising since there literally was paintings of motorcycles above every bedroom headboard). We told Paul we were looking for the "authentic Austrian experience" and ordered 2 big house beers, a chef schnitzel, and the "cheese noddles" (which were kind of like a potato and cheese filled potsticker meets ravioli type deal of pure deliciousness) - all of which we consumed while giggling on the outside terrace overlooking the Austrian clouds and mountain tops (not a bad life eh?)
Halfway through our "big beers" and all the way through our special schnitzel (which Tarrah and I both later agreed was our best meal of the entire trip- sorry Mea Culpa/Mary's brown bread you were close!), Paul came out with complimentary shots of something brown ("for the altitude sicknes" he said). It was jäger and it was admittedly just as gross in Austria as it was back in college, but I took it as a sign our host was starting to like us so we did our best not to flinch as we threw back our Austrian version of an olive branch.
(Jäger tea...to be had after jäger shots)
The Dutch are well known for their brutal honesty and we quickly learned that Paul did not usually like Americans (not a fan of our "poorly made cars", except Teslas which he admitted were nice) but still definitely preferred us to the Chinese - (apparently they aren't fans of the schnitzel which hurts his feelings). We talked to Paul of our love for Amsterdam and told him of our future plans. (When Paul told us Slovenia was "boring", I didn't have the heart to mention that his hotel
was literally located on a deserted mountain)
From Paul we also learned more about the large motorcycle gathering which would be happening on September 6th - an annual event which brings in thousands of Harley drivers to the little town of Villach, Austria every year. Tarrah admitted that not only would she like to return to the blue mountain hostel on the back of a Harley, but that she'd like to rent out the entire hotel for her wedding. Paul and his wife seemed skeptical and I couldn't be sure if it was that we would actually return to rent out the hotel for a wedding, or that we were capable of finding men that would agree to marrying us in the first place.
That night we went to bed with bellies full, spirits warmed, and awoke to a breathtaking view of the mountaintops. After enjoying some fresh breakfast and espresso, Tarrah and I took to the mountain for a hike and in search of our "sound of music" moment.
(The view)
After a few hours of hiking up and down to the sweet sounds of "the hills are alive", Tarrah and I made our way back to blue mountain to check out and call a cab back to town.
(Hiking along the mountains)
(Drinking water straight from the stream)
Had I known we were booking a biker hotel on the deserted top of a mountain, I probably wouldn't have signed up for it and to be honest nothing too exciting actually happened in Villach - we didn't have any wild nights or hilarious situations - but it was still somehow one of the more memorable places we visited on this trip. After two and a half weeks of constant movement, drinking, and relative debauchery, Villach proved to be just what we needed.
(Proud hiker stance amongst the Austrian mountains)
I look forward to returning one day for Tarrah's special day. Until then, I will continue to dream of the greenest grass I've ever seen, the freshest air I've ever breathed, the most memorable schnitzel I've ever tasted, and that wonderful unadulterated feeling of being utterly content with right where you are- even if just for a moment.
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