FOREST, STONE & WATER RICH

The Waldviertel to the north of the Danube, to which the UNESCO World Heritage Site Wachau belongs, is a remnant of a mountain range that was formed 350 million years ago and reached heights of 5,000 to 7,000 meters. Today, large forest areas with embedded granite blocks rounded by weathering form the typical image of the Waldviertel.

Finds of around 50,000 year old tools and other legacies below the ruins of Hartenstein in the Kremstal are traces of the Neanderthals. Numerous

Evidence of the Ice Age man is only available again for the time of the younger Paleolithic. These are 20,000 to 30,000 years old. Rest and settlement areas were located in the southern edge of the Waldviertel, in the Wachau and in adjacent areas. The Venus von Willendorf found near Willendorf in the Wachau, which is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, achieved world fame.

LANDSCAPE, CULTURE AND WINE

The farm as a haven of peace to relax from everyday life is an excellent starting point for the many beauties of the Waldviertel. Of course you can just put your foot in front of the door to run, cycle or hike. Or you drive a few kilometers and walk the Kamptal near Uttissenbach or even drive along the river past palaces, castles and the Kampstauseen in the lower Kamptal with the largest wine town of Austria Langenlois to end the day with a Heuriger. Excursions to the Wachau to visit some of the world's cultural assets are also recommended. The unique Wachau region comprises only 36 km of a total of 2800 km of the entire Danube route. Three reasons were decisive for the designation of this landscape as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the free-flowing Danube, the various stone terraces of viticulture, the important cultural monument of Göttweig Abbey and the Melk Abbey at the western end of the Wachau. The collegiate church was created by artists such as Jakob Prandtauer, Johann Michael Rottmayr, Paul Troger, Antonio Beduzzi and many others as a total work of art for the glorification of God, which is considered a prime example of the Baroque. True to the Benedictine motto: "Ut In Omnibus Glorificetur Deus - So that God may be glorified in everything". On the way back from Melk to Krems, Schönbühel Castle rises on the right bank of the Danube. The most famous monument in this section of the Wachau is the Aggstein ruin. It served as the seat of the robber baron Jörg Scheck vom Wald. In his time, all ships that went up the Danube were subject to tolls. The ruins of Dürnstein, in which the English King Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned from 1193 to 1194, are enthroned on a rock above the town of Dürnstein.