Ham Kings and Salami Queens

South Carinthia is full of emperors and kings. In the east, the “Ham Kaiser” is crowned in the Altes Brauhaus in Bleiburg, and in July, the “Salami Queen” in Globasnitz. The manufacturers put their whole heart into making their products according to traditional old recipes, adding a pinch of their own secrets as well. This gives locals and guests the go-ahead to enjoy themselves. Everyone squeezes up together in the rustic wine taverns and guesthouses and drinks a toast, in a good cider, to the successful salami. The Lavanttal Valley fruit growers are constantly seeking to develop the quality of their cider still further. It’s a long time since their cider was just a hotchpotch of inferior windfall fruit: only the most carefully selected apples are used for making Lavanttal Valley apple wine. One apple, in particular, stands out due to its good taste: the Lavanttaler Banane, a banana-flavoured apple from the Lavantal Valley. In this mild climate, it’s no wonder that apples get rosy cheeks and grapes absorb all the sweetness they need on the southern slopes of the Lavanttal Valley. Carinthian wine no longer need fear comparison with other wines. South-East Carinthia is an interesting corner, which thrives on contrast. This is a harmonious land, where songs hover in the air and where the local dialect already has an endearing singsong. Here, authentic customs, village fêtes, food festivals and markets are still carried on unchanged. Artists have alwaysbeen inspired by this melancholy, flat area, with Mount Petzen and Lake Klopeinersee providing a contrast: Werner Berg, Kiki Kogelnik, Rudolf Benetik, Helmut Blazej and the director Martin Kusej, to name but a few. In Neuhaus, an art-loving entrepreneur has opened his wonderful collection of contemporary art to the public in a futuristiclooking building. In the tranquil Görtschitztal Valley, you find another contrast: as if by magic, Tibetan chimes ring out at the Heinrich Harrer Museum in Hüttenberg. A region where you can taste, listen and celebrate.

Realm of Delights: Jauntal Valley Salami +43 (0)664/10 56 641

Realm of Delights: Jauntal Valley Had’n (buckwheat) +43 (0)664/62 72 865

Realm of Delights: Görtschitztal Valley Milk +43 (0)650/27 16 100

Realm of Delights: Central Carinthian Beef of Blondvieh (a cattle breed) +43 (0)4264/81 81

Realm of Delights: Lavanttal Valley Apple Wine +43 (0)4357/31 41