Perry Road: It’s all about pears
A great place for wining and dining: The typical beverages, perries and apple ciders, are perfectly suitable to a homemade farmer’s snack.
How could it be otherwise: In the Mostviertel, everything revolves around the pears. It already starts with the name of the region meaning “perry district”. Gourmands taste the variety of Mostviertel pears in pure fruits, sweet juices and fine spirits.
Fermented pear cider (Most) is the namesake for the whole area “Mostviertel” and, in particular, for the Perry Road (Moststraße). Along this 200-kilometres-long theme road, the region reveals its scenic and cultural highlights. Perry Road leads up from the low-lying plains near the Danube to elegant plateaus of the Mostviertel Prealps. In its midst, one finds a rolling countryside with lots of slopes and hills. On their tops, majestic four-sided farmsteads throne over a lovely calm scenery.
Mosty experiences
There is always time for making a rest: Most heuriger taverns, farm shops, public inns and restaurants offer home-made rustic food. Gourmands get indulged with the refreshments of perries and apple ciders, fruit juices, liqueurs and fine brandies. The top addresses for getting a look behind the scenes of perry production are the MostBirnHaus (House of the Most Pears) in Stift Ardagger and Mostelleria – the Mysterious World of the Perry Pear in Oed-Öhling. Like other fruits, also the pear needs worthy representatives: The Perry Barons (Mostbarone) provide you with entertaining expert information about the real perry culture of the Mostviertel.
Celebrating perry from spring to autumn
Some 300,000 pear trees mark the landscape along Perry Road: The orchards do not only provide the area with sufficient perries and apple ciders throughout the year, but also combine to a scenic highlight in spring: During pear blossom time in April, the whole countryside seems to be walking on air. Obviously, this spectacle has to be honoured in the Spring Perry Festival (Mostfrühling). During the “Mostherbst”-celebrations in autumn, the fruits are harvested and the pear juice starts to ferment in the barrels.
Recommendation: The most authentic way of discovering orchards and avenues along Perry Road is to go on a cycling tour.