Traversing the wonders of Austria’s Lake Wörthersee and the hunt for Jewish history

The Falkensteiner Schlosshotel Velden, on the doorstep of Lake Wörthersee in Carinthia[Missing Credit]Take a boat trip across Lake Wörthersee and soak up the Alpine views[Missing Credit]

Today, the five-star Falkensteiner Schlosshotel Velden, complete with four pentagonal towers at each corner, is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World group, with 104 rooms and suites. Staying in its midst, glancing out at the crisp palace gardens, you feel satisfyingly caught between modern comfort and 16th-century history, with whispers of Carinthian nobility emanating from every crevice in the cavernous chateau. But these spirits are no less magical than the hotel’s distinctly 21st century offering in terms of its culinary experimentation, wellness centre and water sports.

At the castle, you can pamper like you have never been pampered before at its 3,600 sq m ‘Acquapura Lake Spa’, offering panoramic views of the mountains. Switch between the pools – two outdoor, one indoor – and the wide array of saunas – Finnish, organic herb or perhaps a Nordic Aufguss ritual in the garden sweat room – before enjoying a deep-tissue massage and a lounge at the beach club sipping locally-produced wine hand-picked by resident sommelier Markus Gladitsch (cabanas can be reserved for €250 per day.)

The hotel does not just want you to feel good: it wants to constantly delight and excite your taste buds with its gastric vision. There is the traditional breakfast buffet in the ballsaal, fit with balcony views, and a choice of two restaurants for dinner. Led by head chef Thomas Gruber, the Seespitz restaurant directly on the lakeside is no-doubt the epicentre of life at the castle, with a locally sourced menu featuring the delights of the Alpe-Adria region, executed with a Japanese twist. Elegant and trendy, the award-winning eatery specialises in “slow-food”. Enjoy classics like silky Kärntner Kasnudeln, as well as black miso cod.

But what does one who in Velden, Carinthia’s humble market-down, to pass the time? A highlight of my trip was hiring a Bärenbike and cycling to the breathtakingly peaceful Portschach, where the alpine views along the lake promenade are fit for a postcard. Those who love to walk should brave the 58.5-kilometre hike around the lake to be truly immersed in the rolling hills and verdant forest. And it would be ridiculous not to take a boat ride to experience the true scale of the pond while the wind blows in your hair. Make sure to stop off for lunch at Südsee by Kirstin and Hubert Wallner for the best fish in the region, where the yellow-fin tuna sashimi will not only look beautiful but melt in your mouth. (Bärenbikes can be rented from the hotel for €59 per day, €40 for half-day, for self-guided exploring.)

Klagenfurt, Carinthia’s capital (where Stansted offers flights twice weekly), is a feat of architectural beauty. A fire all but destroyed the city in 1514, and Emperor Maximilian I, unwilling to rebuild the wreckage, gifted it to the Carinthian Provincial Estates in 1518. The Estates did not hold back, and the devastated town was subsequently re-built according to the Renaissance ideal of a ‘perfect city’. Walking through the Old Town, you will stumble across the most pleasing Baroque, Rococo and Art Nouveau façades, and one simply must sample the traditional Austrian cuisine at the Landhaushof – the exquisite building that houses the Carinthian State Parliament.

But it was during a wonder through the Carinthian Museum of Modern Art that, as a Jewish tourist, I felt the weight of the country’s dark history. The museum is housed in the “castle” at the centre of the Klagenfurt – which was used as the Gestapo headquarters during the Second World War. The basement served as a detention centre, where Jews were imprisoned before being deportated to death camps. In the gallery, you will find portraits from the key representatives of the Austrian painting pantheon of the 20th century, including Herbert Boeckl, Werner Berg and Arnold Clementschitsch – who produced an oil sketch of Adolf Hitler during his visit to Klagenfurt in May 1938.

This painting was not on display at the gallery when I visited – but one somewhat wishes it was, to make visible an important part of the country’s troubled history. Approximately 65,000 Austrian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, and in 1938, 99.7 per cent of the population voted in a plebiscite to join the German Reich. But for decades after the war, the national feeling was that Austria, because of an “unwanted Anschluss” (annexation), had been Hitler’s first victim – a consensus that delayed the nation’s acceptance of its complicity in the Nazi regime.

But traces of the Holocaust can be seen in Carinthia, if you care to look. Once a month, you can book a tour of Klagenfurt’s Stolpersteine - small, brass memorial stones bearing the names of persecuted Jews, installed in front of the homes where they last lived voluntarily before deportation. In front of one of the houses you will find four Stolpersteine engraved names of the distinguished Preis family – three of whom were murdered in Auschwitz, one in Theresienstadt.

On your wanders, you will also spy the former Klagenfurt synagogue, which was burnt on Kristallnacht in 1938 and had its Torah scrolls ransacked and set alight in the street. It was not until 1988 that a Holocaust monument was erected on the sidewalk in front of the shul. A must-visit is also the capital’s Jewish cemetery, where you will spy three rows of military gravestones commemorating Jewish soldiers who died in the First World War, as well as a Jewish military nurse girl, who worked in the hospital of the Austro-Hungarian army.

There is no doubt a contrast between the innocent beauty of the Carinthian mountains and the dark shadows that lurk everywhere, in this devastatingly beautiful Austrian state. But there is some sense of power in purposefully, and unapologetically, bearing witness to the scant traces of a now largely non-existent Jewish life in this province. During my weekend stay, when I was not entranced by the majestic alpine views of Velden, I enjoyed strolling through Klagenfurt’s humble alleyways and imagining the ancient Jewish quarter they once led to – as a way of paying homage to the lost Jewish spirit of Carinthia.

Book your stay at the 5 star Falkensteiner Schlosshotel Velden for €525 per night, based on two adults sharing (€360 in the low season). There are various offers throughout the year with discounts of up to €30 per room/night and packages which include hiking, cycling, spa, yoga, golf and Wim Hof training here.