Maria Saal, a small town perched on a fortified hill 10km north of Klagenfurt, is worth the 10-minute bus journey to see its early-15th-century pilgrimage church. It was built from volcanic stone, some of it filched from a nearby Roman ruin. Although originally Gothic, it has Romanesque and baroque modifications.
The exterior south wall is embedded with relief panels and ancient gravestones; look for the Roman mail wagon carved into one of the stones and the weird frescoes of people growing out of bulbous flowers on the church ceiling (they represent the genealogy of Christ). Regional trains also run to Maria Saal hourly.
