Krems - Old Town Charm in Lower Austria

Krems (2)


In a side lane we find what looks like relics of the historic town fortification:

The beauty of historic walls...

The next side lane tempts us with a true colour explosion:

I'm so fascinated by the red bush and the old door that a car nearly touches me
while I'm taking pic after pic...

This architectonic detail we call "Schwibbogen":

The lane with lovely houses leads us to a very special building...

Eduarqui said:

Seems a charming place to be, I'm loving to see descriptions and photographs, thanks for sharing

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I'm happy that you make this virtual journey with me, Eduardo.

paul62 said:

:applause:Great stuff!

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Thank you, Paul!


Krems (3)


This remarkable building from 1561 deserves more than one look.
It shows rich engravings (Sgraffito?), stuff from the bible, as I could see,
King David for instance, or the story of the lost son.

Just enjoy...

Krems (4)


Let's take a look back into this wonderful street:

At this point, a Café which exaggerates the colour of the world famous "Wachauer Marille"
near the river Krems we leave the path of the common tourist.

We get lost -
and find a "Rapunzel Tower", a romantic shed, a steep rock, modern architecture and,
nearly, the way to the village Rehberg.

I leave you now with this thrilling "cliffhanger" just to tell you that I'm offline again
for four days beginning with tomorrow. But this trip will go on as soon as possible!

Thank you so much for your nice comments, General Electric, Igor, Christos,
El Greco, Jane and skylark!
Thanks to all for liking!

@General Electric: This engravings, Sgraffito, is a technique which origins
from Renaissance Italy and also came to Austria and Germany. Krems has
more than one Sgraffito house, I found out, and there are some very well preserved
examples of such houses in other Austrian towns and villages.


Today we will continue our little Krems excursion.


Krems (5)


Let me invite you to follow me down to the banks of the River Krems.
I nearly stood in the water while taking this pic. The water of all rivers
of this region (the Gneiss and Granite Highlands) has it's red-brown colour
from iron.

Not only the so harmless looking Krems, but also the near Kamp River and
of course the near Danube cause severe floods from time to time.
If you are interested you can see here reports about floods in this region
in the years 2002 and 2013:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZEKdbAZEPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O8aHVQL8cA


From the river we can see the "Rapunzel Tower" of my childhood dreams.
It's the old Tower for Gunpowder.

Soon becomes clear that from this side there will be no easy way back to
the Old Town of Krems. :lol:

We follow a small, deserted lane with nice buildings:

You see, your adventurous tourist guide really leads you through the
deserted backside of the town.

Here it seems could be a way back to the other side, but your guide is not
so cruel to lead you through what looks like a dark tunnel through the rock.

A little later we follow the Kremstal Straße.
Any freeclimbers among us? :lol:

Here we can see the Gneiss and Granite on which Krems is situated.
On goes our adventure. I admit, that I have lost orientation, but that has
something exciting too.

On this route we have the chance to see something of the modern Krems,
and of course the beautiful flowers on the rock.

Where will this excursion end?
Will we ever see the trainstation again? :lol:

To be continued.

Krems (6)


After the Rapunzel Tower we come now to the Witche's House from "Hänsel and Gretel". :lol:

If we don't make it to the trainstation before dark, we can spend the night
in this lovely place.

I love this old shed with it's roof full of plants...


On our way we pass charming door decorations...

... and blossoming front gardens.

Another example for the modern Krems:

The estate of a little landlord

The wonderful vineyard terraces...

Still I have the hope to find a way back to the Old Town by making a sharp
curve to the left. I ask a woman at a bus station if I can reach the Old Town
this way. She sais, no, here you will come to Rehberg. :lol:
I'm sure, Rehberg is a lovely little vine village, but the day is not endless,
so I capitulate at this point and decide to go the whole way back again.

A last glance at this small neo-gothic chapel, a short prayer for happy return ,
then we make our hard pilgrimage back between street and rock.

The way back brings some surprises too, so stay tuned!
Maybe I will continue tomorrow.

gratteciel said:

Really nice place and wonderful pictures dear Silvia. kay:kay:

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Thank you so much, dear Roberto!

Eduarqui said:

The real Rapunzel Tower looks really hard to climb - exactly as I imagined when read the story, many years ago. Can it be visited today?

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Unfortunately I don't know - I have not seen all of Krems.
But during one of my next visits (yes, there are plans ) I will try to find out.

Eduarqui said:

Loved that house with moss on the roof - truly country style

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This building has a soul. It's old, but perfect in some way.

Thank you for your nice comments, and thanks to all for liking!

MyGeorge said:

charming, specially the old architecture.

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Thank you very much, MyGeorge, and welcome to my thread!

I thank you all for looking in and liking!


Krems (7)


In a free translation this means something like "Dog's Steep Path". :lol:
We don't walk there, but with a local guide this would be a highly interesting place
to see.

They have found there traces of human settlement which are between
41.000 and 27.000 years old! Wachau is old settlement ground, you all
surely have heard of the wonderful Venus of Willendorf, or of the "younger"
Fanny of Galgenberg.

Who is interested can read about the archaeological finds on Hundssteig
on this page (second part is in Englisch):

http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/3881-5

So we can say that this is a "path into the Ice Age".


Here a beautiful fragile variant of bellflowers comes out of the Krems Granite
and Gneiss rock:

On the other side of the Krems River we find interesting architecture:

After this rewarding detour we again reach the tourist zone of the Old Town
and take a nearer look at this wonderful oriel:

In a shop window I found this view of the City from about 1910:

You can see what a gem this is. This time I have only seen a little part of it,
but I will come again.


This is really famous:
The "Simandl Fountain" shows the subjection of man under woman's will.

The street behind the fountain leads us into a fascinating old part of the town.

The "Via ferrata" of Krems... :lol:

The first buildings we see up there are promising, and we go further back in time...

Krems (8)


Let's enjoy this walk into the past with not too much words.
I feel very comfortable and at home in such surroundings...

Renaissance again, and again some Sgraffito details at the house edges:

Only the cars remind us of present time...

Love this...

The old pavement...
And a look back to a white beauty:

Skopje/Скопје;134390082 said:

Lovely little town. Thanks for sharing the photos with us.

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I thank you, Skopje, for your kind words!

Eduarqui said:

Extremely lovely photographs,

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Thank you so much, Eduardo!

Eduarqui said:

and I am very very interested about that "Dog's Steep Path" (because my dogs will ask me later about it ).

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Hihi... If you tell them about the Ice Age history of that place, they probably
will dream of mammoth hunt tonight.

shik2005 said:

Really pleasant place. Thanks for sharing, Silvia!

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I thank you, Igor - your kind comments are very much appreciated!

Thanks to all for looking in and liking!


*


I did it again.
Today I spent about four hours in the Old Town of Krems.
This was one of the best days of the year so far - I am still filled with the wonderful impressions
Krems showed me today.

I'm deeply thankful for this day.
If some of you plan to visit Vienna, please visit Krems too (one hour by train) - it's incredible.

Here are some of the dreamlike impressions of today's trip.
The story will go on as usual on another day!

openlyJane said:

Jesus, and the sunflower.....

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Thank you for nice respond, Jane!
Sunflowers are some of the friendliest flowers I know.
That Jesus with angel is part of an incredible calvary on the facade of the church...
More to come later!

General Electric said:

Nice updates! I like very much the houses in the last photography. That a beautiful place very well captured.

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Thank you so much, General Electric!
That is one of my favourite places in Krems. kay:

gratteciel said:

Great pics dear Silvia; this last set is especially charming.

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Thanks a lot, dear Roberto!
I tried to do a little "Best of".

shik2005 said:

incredible architecture: http://up.picr.de/26335253aq.jpg :applause:

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Thank you so much, Igor!
The left building goes back to 1210 - an incredible place.
I touched the walls and was full of awe.

El_Greco said:

Beautiful!

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Merci beaucoup, el Greco!

Today I had the chance to spend two evening hours in Krems.
Please let me show you what Krems gave me today...


Krems (10)


Gothic and roses...

... Medieval dreams...

... Monastery Göttweig in the distance...

... a cat that followed me quite a time...

... warm colours, cozy places...

... enchanted, idyllic restaurant gardens...

... roses with intense smell...

... mild evening light...

... and Baroque joys...

Wachau is a blessed stretch of land, rich of beauty!

shik2005 said:

Lovely place. And cat

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Thank you, Igor!
And thanks to all for liking!



Krems (11) - Fels/Wagram


Today I make a little in-between. Fels is an absolutely quiet market community
with about 2.200 inhabitants near Krems. Please never go there without provisions -
it's hard to find food there. For me the quite long walk in the hot sun
from the Train Station to the church yet was interesting and rewarding.
On this whole way I did not see more than about 10 people.


Found lovely small wine cellars and houses...

Brought you a beautiful holly-hock, a typical plant in Austrian cottage gardens:

The first view towards the church - what a nice place!

The Margareta Church is situated on a hill. Erected as Gothic building, the church
was altered to Early Baroque style in 1697. In 1963 devastated and completely new built
in Baroque style.

The lonely entrance to the lonely cemetery

Love old buildings like the following:

Fels is surrounded by fields, corn (which I love)...

... and of course vineyards (under a big sky, because except of the Wagram, which is not higher than 20 metres, the area is plain):

Those wonderful blue grapes I found at a door near the postbox

Gardens near the Train Station with fruit-trees, sunflowers and a walnut-tree:

At the Train Station: Three seats in "Nowhere Land"

*


I played with two pics to create a surrealistic atmosphere

Eduarqui said:

^^

A delightful country atmosphere to feed our souls

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Thank you, Eduardo!
Fitting to the country atmosphere I plan to buy a country hat in the near future -
Western style, a kind of "Straw Stetson"...

To walk long distances - in town and country - gets a passion of me more and more...