AMONG RIVERS AND GRAPEVINES

A GREAT ADVENTURE WITH THE Route 69  BAR AS ICONIC POINT OF RESTORATION

Riding across the borders of Italy, Austria and Slovenia in a 380 miles roadtrip 

 AN AUTUMN ROADTRIP OF 381 MILES (=614 KM) IN TOTAL
(HERE DEPICTED ONLY FROM AND TO MY PERSONAL HUB CIT:  TARVISIO)

East Northern Italy - Carinthia and Styria (Austria) - West Northern Slovenia

[Counties of Udine (Italy) + Carinthia and Styria (Austria) + Koroska and Podravska (Slovenia)]

22.09.2019

Here we are, starting our road trip in the very early hours of a Sunday morning: we’re in the heart of Europe, it’s officially the last day of Summer, but the weather forecasts are signalling very pleasant temperatures.

Our group is composed of 8 bikers (3 women and 5 men), the planned route is about 330 miles long and includes the crossing of the borders between Italy and Austria (for me only, in order to join the pack) and then (for the entire pack) between Austria and Slovenia, twice.

BREAKFAST AT DAWIT'S IN TARVISIO

For me personally the journey begins in San Daniele del Friuli (my home) with a first stop in Tarvisio - NorthEastern Italy at 6am at the Dawit coffee shop, but the meeting point is set in Austria, with KSU around 7am at the Mc Cafè in Villach.

THE SUN RISES, JUST AFTER I PASS THE BORDERLINE 

Mc Café's in VILLACH

STOPPING AT A GASOLINE STATION

In this season the fog just after the dawn can surprise you and tarnish your visor or shades if you’re not prepared (like me!) but during the central hours of the day the shining sun warms you up so much that makes you forget every initial difficulty.

We ride from Villach to Klagenfurt in the region called Carinthia through the Highway A2, then, after a short stop in Volkermarkt, we cross the border and enter Slovenia.

The beauty of the landscape there is overwhelming: following the course of the Drau river (440 miles of length, it’s a tributary of the Danube), we pass through some quaint villages of this remote area and we take a break in a town called Gradiska near the city of Maribor.

HE DRAVA RIVER

In a parking lot we ask a gentleman with a little funny white dog to take us a picture
 (with his dog in it!), then we drink some coffee before restarting our trip.

Finally we re-enter Southern Austria and keep on going: we find us now in a unique panorama because we’re covering the rich hills of the region called Styria with its vineyards and woods, just in the period of the grape and chestnuts harvesting. The road L613 is full of colourful taverns and the people is walking by to join outdoors feasts...we can smell delicious aromas while we ride along the continuous up and downs in a funny run.

VINEYARD IN STYRIA.

We then cross the bridge over the river Mur and since it’s time to go to lunch we try to reach our goal: it’s a bizarre place with a complicated name in the town of Ratschendorf: it is called Pechmann’s alte Ölmühle/ Mostschenke im Gewölbe but do not be discouraged by the search of it: it’s really worthy seeing!

OUTSIDE...

...AND INSIDE THE PECHMANN'S MILL

It’s an ancient oil-mill with a renowned restaurant, but it’s also a dromedary farm (wait a minute, dromedaries in Austria? ...yes!), at the same time it’s an unusual amusement park for children and a permanent exhibition of old-timer collectors’ items, but above all it’s a well known meeting point for bikers!!! Unfortunately, we had made no reservation and the place is so full that, even if at the end we are able to find a table for the 8 of us, we realise that we should wait too long before having something in our stomachs and at that point we are really hungry!!! So we decide to leave and go to eat somewhere else.

We jump on our bikes again and we take the very enjoyable road 69 till we arrive at the Route 69 which is a bar, motel and biker camping with more than 20 years of history. We park our bikes and we sit down: we can finally have our delicious meal! The food here is excellent and the atmosphere is perfect!

It's a really inspiring oasis for bikers where many cool meetings and festivals are organised all summer long and beyond: the last event of the season will take place next October 19th, it translates something like “the last run” and it will be a sort of motorcycle parade closing the year in this region where the Fall and Winter are too rigid for the two wheels lovers.

With our appetites satisfied, we start our way home, direction Villach, but for our return we choose an alterative route: we keep the same road 69 which in its final leg transforms itself in a breathtaking racetrack on the mountains: a never-ending number of bends surrounded by a spectacular forest is waiting for you here: take the the town of Soboth as a point of reference and don’t miss it for no reason!!!

ROAD 69 NEARBY SOBOTH

Racers Cafe in VILLACH

We come back to Carinthia passing by the Wörthersee (lake Wörth) and our finish line is in Villach, just at our KSU point of the morning, but it’s evening now and we prefer to drink something at the nearby Racers Cafe.


We have ridden 381 miles for about 12 hours (including the stops) and this is really the cherry on the cake! Check it out!

SO PROUD OF THIS TRIP!