Friesach

Friesach is documented from 860 and is the oldest town in Carinthia, and it kept something almost nothing else in Austria has: a moat still filled with water running round a substantial length of the town wall, with towers along it. Three castles stand on the hills above - the Petersberg with its keep and museum, Geiersberg and Virgilienberg - and the town below has a Romanesque and Gothic church, a Dominican priory and a long market square. Since 2009 a project has been building a castle from nothing on a site outside the town using only techniques, tools and materials available around 1200 - no power, no modern machinery, everything hand-cut and hand-hauled - which is expected to take decades and can be visited as a working site with craftsmen at their trades.

What you actually see

• A water-filled town moat - still running round a long stretch of the wall.
• Three castle hills - Petersberg, Geiersberg and Virgilienberg above the town.
• A castle built by hand - the medieval-methods construction project outside the town.
• Carinthia's oldest town - documented from 860, with Romanesque churches.

When to go

April to October; the building site works in the warm months. A day.

Honest expectations

The castle project is a slow working site, not a finished building - visitors see foundations and craft work. Museums have seasonal hours. The town is quiet outside its summer festival.

Nearby

Sankt Veit an der Glan is south; Hüttenberg and the Görtschitz valley are east.