There's a new long-distance hiking trail around my hometown Krems, the Kremstal-Donau long-distance hiking trail, a circular trail divided into 15 stages, that connects a total of 12 municipalities.
I have decided to walk all stages until the end of 2020 and since I don't like New Year's resolutions I started on the last day of the last year with the first two of the 15 stages.
In this post I am going to present the first stage to you which leads from Krems an der Donau to Mautern an der Donau.
Starting point is at the "Hoher Markt", next to the beer garden of Gasthaus Jell.
You walk along the medieval "Gozzoburg"…
and then through the "Margaretenstraße" towards the parish church St. Veit .
On the "Pfarrplatz" you walk left of the town hall.
Then you turn right into the "Obere Landstraße", a pedestrian zone and the main shopping street of Krems. Walk in western direction!
Then you will reach the "Steiner Tor", the only remaining of once four city gates.
After walking through the Steiner Tor you will reach the "Südtiroler Platz" with the "Landesgericht" (provincial court). Continue walking in western direction and take the street that's left of the court.
You will then see the "Stadtpark", the biggest park of Krems on the left.
After some minutes you will see "Kloster Und", a former monastery, that is now used as restaurant and event location.
Only about hundred meters later you reach the Kunstmeile which is the art district of Krems. Here's the building of the Artothek, an institution where people can rent artwork for their private homes.
The next building is the Karikaturmuseum, a caricature museum. The building was designed by Gustav Peichl and Austrian architect and caricaturist.
Then you'll see the State Gallery of Lower Austria on the left side. The museum just opened in 2019.
The building on the right side is the Kunsthalle Krems and in the middle you see the "Kremser Tor", the eastern city gate of Stein. Stein used to be an independent town but was merged with the municipality of Krems in 1938.
After walking through the Kremser Tor you continue your walk in the "Steiner Landstraße". You will see that Stein is not that crowded as Krems and you will find a lot of small galleries and craft stores in the old houses.
At the other end of Stein you will walk through the "Linzer Tor", the western city gate of Stein.
You will then use the "Mauterner Brücke" to get over the Danube river.
From the bridge you'll have a beautiful view on Stein.
Mautern is a very old town. Already the Ancient Romans settled there and founded a Castell "Favianis". In 1938 also Mautern was merged with Krems to one big municipality. But after World War II, Mautern regained independence.
In Mautern you just walk straight ahead.
At the end of the street you have to turn left and walk in eastern direction.
Then you will reach the destination of the first stage: The town hall ("Rathaus") of Mautern.
This stage of the hiking trail is only about 4 kilometers long and you'll need approximately 50 minutes. But: there is really a lot to see. My photos show only some of the many beautiful churches, town houses and museums that you will see along the way. If you visit all of them you'll probably need some days!
But if you already know Krems, you'll still have enough energy to continue with the second stage immediately.
A detailled German description of this stage - including a map - can be found on my weblog schmatz.blog.
The "official" description is available on donau.com. GPS data can also be obtained from bergfex!
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