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From Radstadt, the Bundesstrasse 99 (served by local buses) and the A10 autobahn follow roughly parallel routes across the Radstadter Tauern range towards the Upper Mur Valley, principal vale of the Lungau , an isolated corner of the Salzburger Land where archaic folk traditions have survived. The most spectacular of these is the Samsonumzug , or Samson procession, which takes place in TAMSWEG , 50km south of Radstadt, on several summer feast days, notably Corpus Christi ( Fronleichnam , in late May), the last weekend in July and the first Sunday in August. An effigy of Samson, accompanied by two dwarfs and the town band, is paraded through the streets. One theory links the Samson effigy to giant figures constructed by sixteenth-century locals in order to frighten off the Turks, but the procession is more likely the Christianized version of some indecipherable pagan ritual. The town of Tamsweg itself has a pleasant Marktplatz and a pilgrimage church above to the south. There's a tourist office (Mon-Fri 9-noon & 2-5pm, Sat 9am-1pm; tel 06474/416, www.tamsweg.at ) in the Rathaus, on the Marktplatz, which will find you a private room or hotel from among the limited options available, but be warned that things can get booked up during festival time. Tamsweg is at the westernmost end of the Murtalbahn, the railway that provides public transport downstream to Murau in Styria and the main Vienna-Klagenfurt line beyond.
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