11 Friday Oct 2024
Posted in Austria, castles in Austria
On the evening of my arrival I was late to be admitted further into the castle but what I saw that evening was enough for me to want to come back the following day. Who wouldn’t? Although I wasn’t sure I could see anything better, here are a few of the photos I took the following day.
Hope your interest has not been raised.
By P.S.
05 Saturday Oct 2024
Posted in Austria, castles in Austria
St. Pölten has only been the capital of the Niederösterreich, the largest province (or state) and second most populous one of Austria, since 1986, although it may be the smallest of the provincial capitals with its 57 thousand heads. Although it is among the oldest inhabited towns in Austria, it is probably one of the lesser-known cities but it is a really nice place with several beautiful old buildings, churches, so very well-worth visiting.
Its main square is relatively well-known, not without a reason.
When I visited there, the famous Rathaus (City Hall) was difficult to see behind the tents of the market. It was a very busy day for the locals and visitors.
The Franziskanerkloster (monastery) and the Franziskanerkirsche are among the most valuable sights in town.
Unfortunately, I missed the Dommuseum, but saw a few other beautiful places instead on my short visit.
The reason why I was in a hurry was this beautiful castle nearby, for which I was late the previous evening but didn’t want to miss it altogether.
This was the castle of Schallaburg, where I was able to peek around and record the end of an event the previous evening – see below – but will show you more of, as I found it the following day, in my following post soon.
by P.S.
22 Sunday Sep 2024
Posted in Austria, castles in Austria, Nieder-Österreich, River Thaya
This beautiful place was a great surprise on my way – I never imagined I would find such a great point to stop.
The town didn’t feel very interesting first but it was nice and it also has a couple of pretty churches to visit. But the castle, standing on a rock outcrop by the river and going back to the 11th century, was a unique experience.
At this point a solitary woman informed me that the castle was not open in spite of the flyer on the gate declaring otherwise, which I pointed out to her. And which also meant that I shouldn’t have entered but, with my curiosity, I did – without an entrance fee at that.
The castle proved to be near empty, save for a group of policemen, which I could have guessed from the presence of the two or three police cars parked outside. They seemed to be taken on a round tour – of what kind, for what reason, I neglected to find out: I just kept walking around, up, down, around again, to avoid them. What I found was a place without a semblance to a museum but with lots of signs of having been inhabited shortly before: by children. Lists of names could be found on most doors of what seemed to be dormitories. Good luck to me!
Other than this adventure, I found the whole complex quite interesting with a pleasant atmosphere outside as well.
The view was also great, with the river and the Thaya.
A bit further on the rocky outcrop, I found an old church that seemed to be worth looking. It turned out to be the Pfarrkirche “Zu Maria Himmelfahrt auf dem Berge”, meaning the Parish church ‘To Mary’s Assumption on the Mountain’.
It goes back to possibly the 11th century (the level of the German courses from three different languages I’ve finished on Duolingo didn’t give me enough German to understand this decisively) with some gothic elements and late-romantic elements and an altar picture donated by Queen Marie Therese.
Interestingly, it has the oldest clock in Austria with a numeral face dating back to 1343.
On the way back I stopped shortly at the triangular Hauptplatz – it would be misleading to call it the Main Square but, functionally, that’s what it is -, a nice place
but, looking back, the castle is the absolutely best reason to visit this little town.
By P.S.
Learning and teaching languages in the Netherlands - and taking photos in the process 