Students:Day 3

Today, after a very long night (for some) we left our hostel at 9 o´clock. Our first stop was the medieval castle of Riegersburg in a region called ,,The Styrian Vulkanland“. It was the most important border fortress of Eastern Styria from the 12th century. The Riegersburg castle is situated on a basalt hill and its peak is 482 metres above sea level. The castle is owned by the Liechtenstein family. The castle is extremely well-preserved and is a fine example of how the built landscape in Austria and Styria in particular has been superbly maintained and hence helps to sustain the cultural capital of the region and strengthen human ties to the land. While at the castle, Marlene and Mario provided an introduction to the rebranding of the region as the Vulkanland, which was undertaken as a way of reviving what had become a economically backward part of Austria as a result of the Cold War and to create a greater of sense of identity and community within the local population. The Vulkanland is nowadays much more economically vibrant and thrives on a number of regionally established 'cottage' industries and locally-manufactured products.

The Zotter chocolate manufactory was our second stop, and each of us had been looking forward to it. The founder of this manufactory is Josef Zotter. Each chocolate produced by Zotter is based on the biological diversity of cocoa beans. Zotter uses cocoa beans from all over the world and personally enters into contracts with the cocoa bean growers themselves to ensure they understand what their beans are used for and hence are more motivated to maintain high quality standards. If the resulting beans are of a high standard, Zotter will pay up to three times to minimum fair trade price recommended by the United Nations. The company has been involved in fair trade since 2004 and one year later converted to organic. Something like a hundred different kinds of chocolate are manufactured by Zotter and most of these are available for tasting during tours of the factory. In fact, the factory complex is unique in being designed to accommodate tourists in order to view the chocolate manufacturing process every step of the way. The outdoor space around the manufactory is to be found an "Edible ZOO". This means that visitors can see animals and plants that are commonly used as food so that they (especially children) can see where their daily food comes from.

Next came a visit to the nearby Gölles vinegar and schnapps producer where we were taken to see the large range of vinegar barrels stored there and where the vinegar and balsamic manufacturing process was explained to us. We were able to taste the various types of vinegars made there, including their 20-year-old balsamic costing a mere 65 EUR per 100ml. Finally, we were shown the distillary where a diverse range of schnapps is produced from locally produced fruit and where the fruit stones are dried and used as heating fuel during the winter months. We also tasted a number of schnapps before returning to the hostel in the late afternoon.

More images: Day Three Photos