STEYR, AUSTRIA

---

Took us six hours to drive up to Steyr, such a beautiful drive through all the mountains and countryside, arrived Steyr around 2.30p.m. and found our hotel, the Mader, such a beautiful hotel, built in 1694, in the middle of the old town of Steyr, the biggest suite we have every had and it overlooked the whole of the square in Steyr! Waiting to meet Mark's brother Pete, who had flown to Norway to meet a mate and they both rode motorbikes, Pete had bought an old BMW,and rode it threw through Scandinavia, Poland, Germany etc to meet up with us in Steyr, they limped in around 3.30p.m. after a long days ride, beers and chats all round! Pete and Mark's friends have all lived in Steyr their whole life, so it was so lovely to meet all of them, had dinner at the hotel we were staying in and then the following day Rainer organised a walking tour with Wolfgang, it was fabulous, gave us such a good overview of Steyr, where it is now and where it has been! Rainer has a huge push bike shop in Steyr and sells his bikes all over Europe, some of these bikes are $11,000, he has built a very good business. Steyr is just the most beautiful place, with two rivers meeting in the middle of town, and man were they rivers, thats all you could hear when you walked around! A lot of Steyr was bombed in the World Wars, but they still have a lot of original buildings there which are stunning! They have the clearest and cleanest water you have every seen. While Mark and Pete caught up with old friends, we had a long walk out in the bush along the rail track to the Christkindl Church and beside that on the edge of the cliff was an old pub Mark's Dad used to frequent...had our farwell dinner here...great food and wine and a fabulous night had by all! Food is kind of bland though, they love snitzels etc! Though the potato salad is to die for! Breakfast with the boys as they headed elsewhere in Austria and we heading back to Italy overnighting in Trento.

---

Photos

STEYR
Town Hall, view from our hotel room

STEYR
The square

RAINER's BIKE SHOP
thousands and thousands $$$$ of bikes here!

STEYR
Boys catching up!

MADER HOTEL
On the next table to us, cute but don't know about the fleas!

STEYR
Walkway to the palace, gorgeous old friezes

STEYR RIVER
In the middle of town

STEYR
Walking tour

MOUNTAIN GOAT
Having a rest

STEYR
Beautiful monuments, Steyr made all sorts of guns during the wars

WALKING TOUR
Break for an icecream

CHRISTKINDL CHURCH
Old church perched high on a cliff

CHRISTKINDL
The box for Xmas mail to Santa

BEERS ALL ROUND
Well deserved beer after long and steep walk to Christkindl

STEYR
Magnificent gardens