Is this perhaps the eastest part of western Europe?
In May 2024, we took a long-weekend road trip into northern Burgenland, bopping around the coasts of the Neusiedlersee. It was a nice, smooth, sunny drive getting there on a Saturday. It took about 5 hours of driving time.
We stayed 3 overnights at Nachtquartier zur Dankbarkeit. We reserved a table at the Gasthaus well in advance, which was smart, because it was entirely booked out on the night of our arrival, even during the off-season. The cream of asparagus soup and the daily special – braised pork cheeks with an asparagus polenta strudel – were excellent.
Purbach am Neusiedlersee
We didn’t have much of a plan upon arrival in the region, so we consulted the Burgenland Card which came with our stay at the Nachtquartier. Our first outing was to the town of Purbach, where we visited the Kellergasse for a spontaneous delicious lunch outdoors at one of the wine cellars. This reminded us a lot of Colico in Cantina (holy smokes, a DECADE ago), except the food and drink were primarily outside the cellars, and they were purpose-built wine cellars apart from residences, and … OK, not really all the similar.
This was when we noticed that the Austrians are just as nutty about asparagus as the Germans, except they offer a lot more green.
Gols and Illmitz
We tried to buy some wine in Gols, but the whole town appeared to be in hibernation. Don’t let those signs advertising wineries mislead you; you better call and talk to someone if you want a tasting. NOTHING we stumbled upon was open, except for “Jackys Mühle”. We stopped in there for coffee out of desperation. It was much better than the tacky logo and location (buried in a residential section of town) would have suggested. A nice Wiener Melange really takes the edge off of walking around fruitlessly.
We decided to try our luck in Illmitz for lunch and it was similarly D-E-D dead. But Antonios Hof was open for business and we were very happy with the lunch menu and the Esterházy Schnitt we split for dessert.
The Biggest Windmill in Austria
Our Burgenland Card got us a free guided tour of Austria’s biggest last surviving windmill, right there in Podersdorf am See. We were the only ones who showed up for it, but the guide nonetheless was very enthusiastic.
Auf Wiedersehen Seewinkel!
We’d go back to the region again for sure. It had kind of the feel of one of those little towns in Rhineland-Pfalz you mostly visit for their winefests, but a lot more…Central European. We were never far from the border with Hungary, and this part of the world has changed hands many times. That was evident in the language and food in very pleasant ways.