Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Austrian Danube Bike Tour Starts in Vienna
The first picture is the Flakturm in the Augarten park of Vienna.
There was no sign explaining this antiaircraft relic of World War II.
'Auwald' is the German word for riparian or riverine forest.
The Donau or Danube must have originally been surrounded by these low lying woods.
There is not much Auwald left in Vienna.
There are forests outside of the cities along the Danube; timber and tourism seem to be major industries.
It is possible to rent bikes in Vienna and bike along the Danube.
We went 320 km to the northwest and ended at Passau, on the border with Germany.
The four pictures below were all taken at the start of the bike tour in Vienna.
Below is a trash burning power plant, with exterior design by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Austrian Danube Sights 2
Bike path, above, leading to our destination on the German border: Passau.
Austrian Danube: Gates and Doors
Hinge on the door of Passau Cathedral, probably dating to 1407-1530.
Entrance gate to courtyard of the monastery at Melk.
One of 19 gates guarding the entrance to the Festung Hohesalzburg archbishop fortress.
Door to a small church in the town of Krems.
Entrance to Celtic grave mound.
Gate to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Hallway in the monastery at Krems.
Austrian Danube: Early History
The images below show a statue in Willendorf, where the Venus of Willendorf was found buried in silt. The actual statue is 11 cm tall limestone, whereas this reproduction is 5-6 ft. The statue is estimated to have been made 25,000 - 28,000 BC in the Upper Paleolithic.
The Donau/Danube marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire from 15 to 488 AD. There were towns, forts, towers, roads, camps and many soldiers in the three provinces of Pannonia, Noricum and Raetia (the area of present day Austria). "Limes" is the word used to describe the defensible limits of the Roman Empire.
The Nibelungenlied is an epic German poem from about 1200; in fact, it was the first recorded epic poem that has survived. There are markers in many cities that figure in the story of love, treasure, war and death. The statue below, in Tulln, shows Krumhilde of the Burgundy court meeting King Etzel (Attila the Hun). She agreed to marry Etzel in order to revenge the killing of her first husband Siegfried by her brother and his knight Hagen.
Marker below shows flags from some of the many places and cities of the Nibelungenlied:
Metz, Zanten, Worms, Passau, Eferding, Pochlarn, Melk, Tulln, Wien, Eztergom. These cities span the countries of Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and the great rivers of the Rhine and Danube.
The Donau/Danube marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire from 15 to 488 AD. There were towns, forts, towers, roads, camps and many soldiers in the three provinces of Pannonia, Noricum and Raetia (the area of present day Austria). "Limes" is the word used to describe the defensible limits of the Roman Empire.
The Nibelungenlied is an epic German poem from about 1200; in fact, it was the first recorded epic poem that has survived. There are markers in many cities that figure in the story of love, treasure, war and death. The statue below, in Tulln, shows Krumhilde of the Burgundy court meeting King Etzel (Attila the Hun). She agreed to marry Etzel in order to revenge the killing of her first husband Siegfried by her brother and his knight Hagen.
Marker below shows flags from some of the many places and cities of the Nibelungenlied:
Metz, Zanten, Worms, Passau, Eferding, Pochlarn, Melk, Tulln, Wien, Eztergom. These cities span the countries of Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and the great rivers of the Rhine and Danube.
Celtic Village Mittelnkirchen
Keltendorf Mittelnkirchen is a reconstructed Celtic village along the Danube in Austria. The Celts inhabited central Europe from about 800 at the beginning of the Iron Age, ending with Roman rule around 0. From 800 to 350 is the Hallstat period and 350 to 0 is the La Tene era. Look earlier on this blog in July 2017 to find more info on Celtic history. The village reconstruction based on archeological evidence showed similarities of Celtic life to conditions in the Middle Ages.
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