Day 7 – A Visit To Sillian Austria

Feb 11, 2023

Today’s Adventure

Today was Stuart’s birthday. The skies were overcast and the forecast called for a chance of showers so it definitely wasn’t going to be a good day for a marquee hike. We were both tired after a series of fairly big outings so we decided to just take it easy and basically wing it.

We started out by walking east out of Innichen on a smooth paved trail that followed the River Drava on a slight downhill course all the way into Austria. The headwaters of the Drava are between Dobbiaco and Innichen so it’s not a big river at this point, but it definitely gains momentum further downstream as it flows through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary before merging with the mighty Danube. It’s a curiosity that because of the topography in this part of Italy the Drava ends in the Black Sea, not in the Mediterranean like every other river in the country.

The trail took us to Versciaco, a small town at the base of Mt. Elmo and the Drei Zinnen Dolomites ski area. In spite of the low snow cover the resort seemed to be quite busy, at least based on the rather full parking lot. After looking at our map and the threatening weather forecast we opted to hop on a train at Versciaco for the balance of our trip across the Austrian border to Sillian. Sillian is a small market town of around 2,000 people located midway between the border and the small city of Lienz. Sillian is mostly about tourism with access to skiing in the winter and hiking or biking in the summer.

Based on Cindy’s research we decided to have lunch at the Casale Ristorante & Pizzeria. This was easier said than done as the GPS mapping on Stuart’s phone was more than a little flaky as we walked around the town streets with our current position regularly hopping one and sometimes two blocks in random directions. We finally managed to find the restaurant, which rather surprisingly was in a modern glass building with some other commercial tenants.

When we asked for English menus we became somewhat instant celebrities as not many Americans find their way to this small Austrian town. The restaurant’s owner was rather talkative and explained that he and his family recently emigrated from Naples for better employment opportunities. THat explained why the restaurant felt far more Italian than many we visited in Südtirol!

An amusing highlight of our visit was when one of the staff, who obviously didn’t speak a lick of English, delivered our beers and said “Virginia is for lovers, yes?”. Speaking of beers, we ordered an Austrian favorite called Stiegl, brewed in Salzberg. For our lunch we ordered a curious creation called the Pac Man that was one half Margherita pizza and one half focaccia. A quick look at the photo for this rather unusual dish will explain the name!

After lunch we walked further east along the Drava River trail to Heinfels where we spotted an elegant castle set on a strategic knoll overlooking the valley (and peasants) below. The aptly-named Burg Heinfels was built ca. 1200 and is typically open for tours but was closed during our visit to the area so we had to simply admire it from afar. After passing the castle we spotted the equally impressive but much newer Loacker factory, our destination for the afternoon.

Loacker is locally famous for their production of wafer cookies filled and/or covered with chocolate and other tasty ingredients – think high end Kit Kats with a European flair. The company was founded in Bolzano back in 1925 and is obviously still going strong with an almost cult-like following in the region. Their modern facility in Heinfels features a rather flashy visitor center with gift shop and restaurant featuring many Loacker products fresh from factory. We ordered a pair of cappuccinos and split a berry and Quadratini platter with vanilla crème.

After finishing our sweet treat we walked back along the Drava River to Sillian where we caught a train for the ride back to Innichen. Because this trip started in Austria we knew that our Südtirolmobil passes weren’t going to be accepted for the fare and that we’d have to buy tickets – a real rarity for our trips in this region. Fortunately there was an automated kiosk in the Sillian Bahnhof where I was able to use ApplePay to quickly and easily buy what we needed.

Even though this was supposed to be a light, relaxing day we ended up walking 6.6 miles in just over two hours total. There was very little elevation gain as we were following the river bed for most of the day plus the walk was broken up with various stops so it was a very easy day in spite of the distance.

For Innichen’s main page click here.

For Castelrotto’s main page click here.

For the entire trip’s main page click here.