Treasures of fall

Fall is definitely not my favorite season. Everything outside reminds me that summer is gone and we have to wait another year to enjoy sun, long days and warm nights. But it's hard to stay sad and nostalgic for too long time, when in each food market or street stand you see such a variety of products, which can be found only during fall.

Maybe you are going to miss cherries, strawberries and peaches, but fall also brings us an amazing explosion of colors and smells. Pumpkins, apples, pears, heathers, colorful leaves on the ground, chestnuts- all of them make us look forward to fall each year at least a bit. 

There is no better place to enjoy these beautiful aspects of fall than food markets. Last weekend I finally made it to visit the biggest food market in Linz- Südbahnhofmarkt. As Linz is rather a small city, this market is not one of this which you explore for hours- it is small, but offers wide variety of products: fruits, vegetables, flowers, fishes, cheeses and meat. The vendors of Südbahnhofmarkt in Linz very often sell home-made products and homegrown fruits and vegetables.

Austrians appreciate local products, grown or produced in Austria, and they are proud of them. They like to know that they are supporting local businesses and producers. Because of that, many brands in Austria put emphasis on local origin of the products. Although the idea of slow food and buying good quality products from local producers has lately spread all over the world, I have a feeling that this attitude has already settled in Austria long time ago.

Most of Austrian customers pay attention to the quality of products. Austrians often buy products grown in environment-friendly conditions, without unnecessary overuse of chemical substances. Such products are marked with logo BIO and they are very popular in Austria, even though their prices may be higher -sometimes significantly higher- than normally. 

Donauradweg

Donauradweg

Taking advantage of a sunny weekend we made a bike tour to Ottensheim, which is located around 10 km far from Linz. Ottensheim is a small, nice city. To get there we took the very charming Danube river route- Donauradweg, which leads along the bank of the Danube. 

I usually enjoy spending time in the garden of my parents. Especially during fall, it is full of tasty fruits like apples, grapes, raspberries or pears. Obviously, my favoirte part is to eat all of them straight from a tree. 

Since I can't be at my parent’s garden every day, I need to feed my senses some other way. That is why I enjoy food markets so much and I am happy I finally discovered the charm of the little Südbahnhofmarkt. 

I love pumpkins! Their juicy colors brighten up every grey, fall day.

Everywhere in Austria you can buy edible variety of chestnuts. Maybe I should finally try to cook something from them? 

Eating sunflowers seeds and these little garden grapes always remind me the end of summer. 

Although I like going mushrooming from time to time, I appreciate the possibility of simply buying them on the market. Maybe it does not give you a pride of a gatherer, but they taste just the same and it saves you a lot of time (especially if like for me it takes you hours to find even one mushroom in the forest). 

Heathers- proof that fall is not only very tasty, but also very pretty season. Although in Austria some people consider them cemetery flowers, for me they are beautiful and kick ass of any roses or tulips.