From Krems to Vienna

From Krems an der Donau we ride on the Danube Cycle Path over the Mauterner Bridge, the forerunner of which was the second bridge built in Austria in 1463 over the Danube after Vienna. from the ssteel truss bridge from you can see back to Stein an der Donau with the dominating Frauenberg church.

Stein an der Donau seen from the Mauterner Bridge
Stein an der Donau seen from the Mauterner Bridge

Mautern on the Danube

Before we continue our journey along the Danube Cycle Path through Mautern, we make a small detour to the former Roman fort Favianis, which was part of the safety systems of the Roman Limes Noricus. Significant remains of the late antique fort have been preserved, especially on the western section of the medieval fortifications. The horseshoe tower with its up to 2 m wide tower walls probably dates from the 4th or 5th century. Rectangular joist holes mark the location of the support joists for the wooden false ceiling.

Roman Tower in Mautern on the Danube
The horseshoe tower of the Roman fort Favianis in Mautern on the Danube with two arched windows on the upper floor

The Danube Cycle Path runs from Mautern to Traismauer and from Traismauer to Tulln. Before reaching Tulln, we pass a nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf with a training reactor, where maintenance, repair and dismantling work can be trained.

Zwentendorf

The boiling water reactor of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant was completed but not put into operation but converted to a training reactor.
The boiling water reactor of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant was completed, but not put into operation, but converted to a training reactor.

Zwentendorf is a street village with a row of banks that follows the former course of the Danube to the west. There was a Roman auxiliary fort in Zwentendorf, which is one of the best-researched Limes forts in Austria. In the east of the town there is a 2-storey, late baroque castle with a mighty hipped roof and a representative baroque driveway from the Danube bank.

Althann Castle in Zwentendorf
Althann Castle in Zwentendorf is a 2-storey, late Baroque castle with a mighty hipped roof

After Zwentendorf we come to the historically significant town of Tulln on the Danube cycle path, in which the former Roman camp Comagena, a 1000-man cavalry force, is integrated. 1108 Margrave Leopold III receives Emperor Heinrich V in Tulln. Since 1270, Tulln had had a weekly market and had city rights from King Ottokar II Przemysl. The imperial immediacy of Tulln was confirmed in 1276 by King Rudolf von Habsburg. This means that Tulln was an imperial city that was directly and immediately subordinate to the emperor, which was associated with a number of freedoms and privileges.

Tulln

The marina in Tulln
The marina in Tulln used to be a base for the Roman Danube fleet.

Before we continue on the Danube Cycle Path from the historically important city of Tulln to Vienna, we pay a visit to the birthplace of Egon Schiele in Tulln train station. Egon Schiele, who only gained fame in the USA after the war, is one of the most important artists of Viennese Modernism. Viennese Modernism describes cultural life in the Austrian capital around the turn of the century (from around 1890 to 1910) and developed as a counter-current to naturalism.

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele has turned away from the beauty cult of the Viennese Secession of the fin de siècle and brings out the deepest inner self in his works.

Egon Schiele's birthplace at the train station in Tulln
Egon Schiele's birthplace at the train station in Tulln

Where can you see Schiele in Vienna?

The Leopold Museum in Vienna houses a large collection of Schiele works and also in the Upper Belvedere see masterpieces by Schiele, such as
Portrait of the artist's wife, Edith Schiele or death and girls.

From Tulln, Schiele's birthplace, we cycle along the Danube Cycle Path through the Tullner Feld to the Wiener Pforte. The breakthrough of the Danube into the Vienna Basin is called the Wiener Pforte. The Vienna Gate was created by the erosion of the Danube along a fault line through the north-eastern foothills of the main Alpine ridge with the Leopoldsberg on the right and the Bisamberg on the left bank of the Danube.

The Vienna Gate

Greifenstein Castle sits enthroned high on a rock in the Vienna Woods above the Danube. Burg Greifenstein, it served to monitor the Danube bend at the Vienna Gate. Burg Greifenstein was probably built in the 11th century by the bishopric of Passau.
Greifenstein Castle, built in the 11th century by the Passau bishopric on a rock in the Vienna Woods above the Danube, was used to monitor the bend in the Danube at the Vienna Gate.

At the end of our journey through the Tullner Feld we come to the old arm of the Danube near Greifenstein, which is towered over by the Greifenstein Castle of the same name. Greifenstein Castle with its mighty square, 3-storey keep in the southeast and polygonal, 3-storey palace in the west is enthroned high on a rock in the Vienna Woods on the Danube above the town of Greifenstein. The hilltop castle above the southern steep bank originally directly at the Danube Narrows of the Vienna Gate on a towering rocky outcrop served to monitor the Danube bend at the Vienna Gate. The castle was probably built around 1100 by the bishopric of Passau, which owned the area, on the site of a Roman observation tower. From around 1600, the castle served primarily as a prison for the church courts, where clergymen and laypeople had to serve their sentences in the tower dungeon. Greifenstein Castle belonged to the bishops of Passau until it passed to the Cameral rulers in 1803 in the course of secularization by Emperor Joseph II.

Klosterneuburg

From Greifenstein we ride along the Danube Cycle Path, where the Danube makes a 90 degree bend to the southeast before it flows through the actual bottleneck between Bisamberg in the north and Leopoldsberg in the south. When the Babenberg Margrave Leopold III. and his wife Agnes von Waiblingen Anno 1106 were standing on the balcony of their castle on the Leopoldsberg, the bridal veil of the wife, a fine fabric from Byzantium, was caught by a gust of wind and carried into the dark forest near the Danube. Nine years later, Margrave Leopold III. the white veil of his wife unharmed on a white blossoming elder bush. So he decided to found a monastery on this spot. To this day, the veil is a sign of lottery of the donated church and can be viewed in the treasury of Klosterneuburg Abbey.

Saddlery Tower and Imperial Wing of Klosterneuburg Monastery The Babenberg Margrave Leopold III. Founded at the beginning of the 12th century, Klosterneuburg Abbey lies on a terrace that slopes steeply down to the Danube, immediately north-west of Vienna. In the 18th century, the Habsburg Emperor Karl VI. expand the monastery in the Baroque style. In addition to its gardens, Klosterneuburg Abbey has the Imperial Rooms, the Marble Hall, the Abbey Library, the Abbey Church, the Abbey Museum with its late Gothic panel paintings, a treasury with the Austrian Archduke's Hat, the Leopold Chapel with the Verduner Altar and the baroque cellar ensemble of the Abbey Winery.
The Babenberger Margrave Leopold III. Founded at the beginning of the 12th century, Klosterneuburg Abbey lies on a terrace that slopes steeply down to the Danube, immediately north-west of Vienna.

To visit the Augustinian Monastery in Klosterneuburg, you need to make a small detour from the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna before continuing on to Vienna on a dam that separates the Kuchelau harbor from the Danube bed. The port of Kuchelau was intended as an outer and waiting port for the ships to be smuggled into the Danube Canal.

Kuchelauer Hafen is separated from the Danube bed by a dam. It served as a waiting port for the ships to be smuggled into the Danube Canal.
Donauradweg Passau Wien on the stairway at the foot of the dam that separates the Kuchelau harbor from the Danube bed

In the Middle Ages, the course of today's Danube Canal was the main branch of the Danube. The Danube used to have frequent floods that changed the bed again and again. The city developed on a flood-proof terrace on its south-west bank. The main flow of the Danube shifted again and again. Around 1700, the branch of the Danube close to the city was called the "Danube Canal", since the main stream now flowed far to the east. The Danube Canal branches off from the new main stream near Nussdorf just before the Nussdorf locks. Here we leave the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna and continue on the Danube Canal Cycle Path in the direction of the city center.

The Danube Cycle Path in Nußdorf just before the junction of the Danube Canal Cycle Path
The Danube Cycle Path in Nußdorf just before the junction of the Danube Canal Cycle Path

Before the Salztor Bridge we leave the Danube Cycle Path and drive up the ramp to the Salztor Bridge. From the Salztorbrücke we ride on the Ring-Rund-Radweg to Schwedenplatz, where we turn right into Rotenturmstraße and slightly uphill to Stephansplatz, the destination of our tour.

The south side of the nave of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna
The south side of the Gothic nave of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, which is decorated with rich tracery forms, and the west facade with the giant gate