‘Mountains are silent masters and make silent disciples’ (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

This wonderful quote by Goethe should be looked at more closely. Hiking these days is characterised by mostly getting to the destination quickly, getting to the top, posting photos, lingering briefly and heading back. Which is justified – it’s a wonderful feeling standing at the top, or the end point, being rewarded for your efforts by a wonderful view. Topped off by a well-deserved snack and maybe even a summit schnapps.

It was through this observation of common walking practice that we launched nawu strolls (‘nawu-schlendern’) at nawu a few years ago. The success was overwhelming. What are these nawu strolls? What is Goethe trying to say with his motto? Fittingly, another quote from the German philosopher Andreas Tenzer:

‘Wherever we wander, miracles beckon.’

This statement fits perfectly with nawu-apartments. After all, nawu stands for ‘Naturwunder’ which means ‘natural wonder’. What is meant by this is walking, allowing walking to become the goal, the destination. Mindfully looking all around you. That old gnarled tree that was struck by lightning. Animal tracks. The variety of stones. Original rock formations. Abstractly shaped roots. Animals, butterflies, ant hills and birds. The twisted streams. The rare flowers and herbs. Pausing and listening. Standing still to see. So interesting are the sounds, voices and whims of nature. ‘Take time to have time’ is also an apt nawu guiding principle.

Perhaps you’ll take these lines as an opportunity to plan this kind of hike for your next hiking holiday. The Gailtal is perfect for this. Here you can walk on the folded-up seabed. You are in the most sparsely populated area of Austria. You can hike everywhere. Rarely, however, in our man-made cultural landscape will you find such lonely and secluded paths and lost places as here in the Carnic Alps. Of course, there are also themed hiking trails and populated hiking trails and via ferratas of all levels of difficulty. But this border region also has these unique, inanimate areas made for nawu strolls. We’ll tell you where you can find them.

If you have read this and found it inspiring, please add the following to your enquiry or booking: ‘I found your blog ‘Hiking – carefree walking through the natural universe’ great’ and you will get a high-quality backpack as a gift on arrival. These blogs may also be interesting to you: ‘Rain’, ‘Forest’ and ‘Barefoot’.

See you at nawu 😍