"I'll be back" – yes, we will certainly be back in Thal, Arnie's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) home parish. However, on this beautiful tour to the west of Graz, you should definitely plan a bit of "free" time for one or two leisurely breaks in a orchard or a vineyard, for sightseeing and above all for delicious snack stops in excellent wine taverns.
I wonder if the Terminator was travelling by bike too? We don't know, but in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum in Thal you will definitely find out everything about his life, for example that he was baptised in the Jakobuskirche in Thal. However, it looked quite different at the time. Ernst Fuchs redesigned it in the 90s and turned it into a glittering colourful work of art.
On the tour from Thal to the west of Graz, we pass Eben, the Steinberg observatory and Rohrbach, where Vinzenz Stern produces award-winning cheeses such as Aichstern, Liebochthaler and Camembert at the Aichsternhof and sells them in his own farm shop.
The R56 Liebochtal cycle path leads past extensive orchards and vineyards and many popular wine taverns (Dorner, Reicher, Lärchegg-Schmölzer and others) – it would be a real shame to just "ride past" here. And hopefully you have a bit of room in your bag, basket or rucksack, because they press excellent seed oil at Birnstingl in Reiteregg. In St. Bartholomä, the neo-Gothic church invites you to pause and reflect for a moment.
The following stage to Stiwoll is a particularly attractive part of this circular tour, as it offers unique views over the extensive Gleinalm and the Koralpen region to the Styrian-Slovenian border. We continue via Schirning in the direction of Gratwein Straßengel, where a jump into the cool water (15,000 m² water surface) in the Bad Weihermühle is the perfect way to cool off. Refreshed, you are now ready for the next discovery: the pilgrimage church of Maria Straßengel is one of the most important High Gothic sacred buildings in Austria. From Graz Gösting, where you could take a "climb" (on foot only) to the ruins of Gösting, the Thaler cycle path takes us to Thalersee lake and back to the starting point.
What the weather will be like
Thal (459m)
Light rain until the early afternoon, then slowly becoming dry.
Partly sunny in the morning, gradually becoming cloudy in the afternoon.
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