Bizau Revisited

Every year since we've known each other (10 1/2 years now), my husband and I have been going away together in May and September, mostly staying in hotels that offer organic food and have their own spa, somewhere in the mountains where we love to hike. This year is no exception, and on Wednesday we have returned from such a holiday in Austria.

Before I start my introduction to where we've been staying, let me point you to my review of the 15th book I have read this year. The author of that book emailed me after she had come across my review, and her message was a lovely surprise - it's great hearing from an author, and although it has happened before through my blog, it's been a few years since the last direct contact with someone whose book I've enjoyed and blogged about. Please click here for my post from the end of May and scroll down to the addendum.

Right - back to Bizau - literally! In September 2023, we had spent our hiking holiday in this village of roughly 1,200 inhabitants, at the same hotel (the "Schwanen", meaning The Swan). We really liked it there and always thought of returning. Of course, I blogged about our 2023 stay, starting with this post.

O.K. drove us there on Sunday, August 30. Just like three years ago, it took us about 3 1/2 hours to reach Bizau and the Schwanen. The hotel's website is here; the link takes you to the English version but please be aware that almost all of the text is still in German, only the headlines have been translated.

It was just before 5:00 pm when we arrived; check-in was quick, unpacking took a little longer, and then it was time for dinner. The food was as delicious and the service as friendly as we remembered it.

A sunset walk around the village followed. It was not only nice to see what had changed in the last 3 years and what was still the same, it was also amazing (and had been for good part of the drive) to see so much GREEN when back home everything was yellow and brown from the draught and heat.

Here are a few pictures to show you our room, the view from there, the hotel from the outside and how it is situated in the heart of the village.

The hotel from the front:

And from the back. I have marked our balcony with a blue circle. You can see how close the church is, and the large building in front of the hotel is the elementary school with sports hall, often functioning as the village hall:

The lounge - the only place with WiFi in the hotel:

Our room:

View from our balcony; the building to the left is the school/sports hall/village hall again, and the high mountain range is the Kanisfluh, which has featured in my 2023 posts as well:

Apart from mountains, green pastures and woodland, from our balcony we had a view of several farms and houses at the outskirts of the village:

The Kanisfluh lit up from setting sun, as seen during our sunset walk on that first evening:

The village must have almost as many cats as it has people. This was one of them:

And here is another one, with his or her own staircase to the top floor:

Very fittingly, this sign is at one corner of the main road through the village. It says: "Caution! Cats! Please drive slowly".

We knew we were going to really enjoy our time here, and we did - as you will see over the next days. You'll probably soon have enough of pictures showing mountains and trees and views, but even though many will look similar, no two hikes or places were the same.