Grand Media Congress Hotel Villach

Receiving Mail

by aliante1981

Everybody (well, almost!) likes receiving letters - I certainly do, though there are other, more modern and efficient means of communication - e-mail, phone, and such like. However, if you simply like getting letters or if you need, say, the originals or paper copies of some documents sent to you while you are on the move, you can use the poste restante service. Your best bet is to use the American Express service, which is available for free to clients - you should hold either their card or travellers cheques. They are reliable and present in all major cities.

Hochosterwitz

by globetrott

Burg Hochosterwitz is one of the most spectacular and most scenic castles in Austria and it is owned by the same family since 1570 and their name is "von Kevenhueller".
There used to be a castle at this place already in the year 860, but the castle that you see there nowadays dates back to the year 1570, when the Landeshauptmann ( similar to the president of a county) Georg Freiherr von Khevenhueller bought the castle and had it rebuilt step by step. Hochosterwitz castle was ment as a place to flee to for the whole family, who owned several castles. Hochosterwitz was special, because there was just a small path around the mountain and that path, leading you smoothly uphill was fortified by 14 seperate gates, that were built between 1570 and 1586.
Georg Freiherr von Khevenhueller stated in 1576 that this castle should never be sold - you may read this also at one of the inscriptions on a marble-plate - and so this castle is still in the posession of the same family and no enemies ever were able to get inside that castle.
Hochosterwitz is just like a small village on a mountain with gardens and small squares, with a church and several buildings for the soldiers and a total of 14 gates that you have to walk through in order to get to the final main court of the castle.
It certainly is the best and most comfortable way to explore Hochosterwitz, that you take the lift uphill (the fee for that lift is 4 euros uphill an frre of charge downhill) and walk down through all the gates, that is an easy walk of 20 minutes and you see a lot of great places and excellent views of the landscape below !
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Hochosterwitz is about 17km north of Klagenfurt and its best to go there by car or by public bus,
the postal-adress is : A - 9314 Launsdorf - Burg Hochosterwitz
their webpage : www.burg-hochosterwitz.or.at/

Landskron Castle

by Manara

The remains of the big, old fortress of Landskron are on the top of a hill, 676 m high. A great part of the castle was destroyed by a fire in the 19th century, but some parts are still there and a few halls can be visited.
There is also a restaurant, and every Tuesday evening there is a special "medieval" dinner served by waiters dressed in period costumes
The view from the castle is wonderful. From here you can see Villach and the valley of the river Drau with its lakes, and the Slovenian Alps on the other side of the valley.

Villach at the Drau river

by desert_princess

You know you arrived in Villach when you see the piramid summit - an aztec piramid with a cut tip - it is very characteristic . Its name is Zwolfer - meaning twelver ( I assume that is where the sun is when it is noon)

Car-museum Villach: cars that we had in our family

by globetrott

Of course we had the VW and not the Porsche !! ;-(((

One of my brothers had such an 2CV Akadiane with a bed in the backpart, very comfortable !

I also had once such a Velosolex

And finally my all-time-dreamcar: Steyr Puch Haflinger !
Only 2,8 meters long, top-speed around 70km/h and it climbs up lots of hills and mountains, where Hummer & Co have given up already.
This type of car still holds the world-record of driving up to a hight of 5860m since 1961 !