Secret historic places around Vienna

We used a weekend to go and discover some strange places in the north of Austria, an area called Waldviertel. The quarter of Lower Austria which is famous for its forest = Wald.

First we visited some friends in Eggenburg, a nice little town famous for its annual medival festival in September. We spent the night there on a parking close to the fire station.
The next day we drove to Maria Dreieichen, a basilica and church of pilgrimage.

Basilica of Maria Dreieichen

Some souvenir shops might have had better days.

But Maria Dreieichen is also famous for a legend called Räuberhauptmann Grasel. A kind of Robin Hood who used a cave in the proximity as his headquarter.
In the village Mörtersdorf nearby he was finally caught. At the restaurant “Zur Grasel Wirtin” you can eat very well and will find him in his prision cell in the cellar when going to the loo.

We drove past the beautiful renaissance castle Rosenburg. In winter it is closed but in summer it is a place you shouldn’t miss. Its position and the flight demonstration of the historical falconry make it a great experience.

Our next stop was at another renaissance castle of Greillenstein which was first mentioned in 1313 and was astonishingly spared from destruction during the 30 year war and the first and second world war. Therefor all the structure is truly historic.

Greillenstein

I wonder what’s the story befind this funny men next to the entrance is.

Greillenstein

The next destination was the Ottenstein Lake. The road let past the military training area of Allentsteig and later the dam behind which the lake begins. You can walk along the shore and will see the remains of a castle on the other side. We would have liked to stay there, but it started to snow and as we STILL have no winter tires we decided to head for a lower area.

So we finally ended the day at Krems, where we parked at the Danube near the dock for the cruise boats.
Here the famous wine area of the Wachau starts. It’s one of the best wine areas for white wine.
Not far from Krems you can visit Dürnstein, where King Richard the Lionhart was imprisoned in 1193.

At the Danube

The next morning the weather was better and we walked into the city. The pedestrian area behind the Steiner Tor leads through the centre of town with restaurants, pastry shops and cafes.