Mountains

As a person who grew up having a panorama of at least three parts of the Alps (the Karavanke, the Julian Alps, and the Carnian Alps as an everyday view I'm keen to go into the mountains at least once a year, just for the views, the quietude, the smell of those little flowers. This year, there was just half a day left, so we had to find the mountain with the shortest distance to my home-village.

We choose the Oisternig (2050 m). It's part of the Carnic Alps set between the Dolomites and the Julian Alps. Geologically, the Carnic Alps were a central part in the ages when the Alps were formed initially. Also, they were the scene for battles between the Austro-Hungarian and the Italian troops in World War I.

You can find still trenches, barracks built into the rocks, collapsed forts and more.

There's an interesting report about those times, referring also to John Steinbecks book "Once there was a War", from his time as a war correspondent.

The car took us as high up as 1700 m, then we had to walk. The ascent was relatively steep, but relatively short, just one hour. We crossed the border to Italy several times, as it runs along the ridge. The view from the peak is just awesome!! And all those smells!