The last two days my hometown Krems an der Donau in Lower Austria faced a lot of snowfall. Today the sun came out and I enjoyed a wonderful winter walk that I want to present to you.
Let's consider the shopping center Mariandl as starting point. In fact, I started this walk from my appartement, but the 1.3 kms from there to the shopping center are not really worth presenting to you.
From the shopping center I walked up the "Bründlgraben".
At the "Weinhauskreuz", a shrine built by the local winemakers, I turned right into the Sigleithenstraße.
I walked along the "Landwirtschaftskammer" (Chamber of Agriculture) and the "Weinkompetenzzentrum" (Wine competence center).
Then I walked through the underground passage under the B37 federal highway.
Soon I was in the vineyards of an area called "Obere Sandgrube".
At the crossroads I walked straight ahead and…
came in a cellar alley called "In der Leithen".
On the right sight I head a wonderful view on snow-covered vineyards while…
on the left side I saw beautiful wine cellars.
After the last wine cellar I came to another crossroads. Here I turned left.
Right after the crossroads, the way parted. Here I had to take the right way.
Now I walked through the so called "Marthalgraben". This ditch was first mentioned in 1150.
After around 300 meters, I reached my destination, the Marthalbründl. The chronicle of Melk Abbey reports in 1495 that a spring was found here, which is said to have proved curative during a rampant plague.
Around 20,000 people are said to have made a pilgrimage here every year, leading to a dispute between the Bishop of Passau (whose diocese Krems belonged to at the time) and Emperor Maximilian I over the revenues.
After 1525, the fountain fell into oblivion. It was only about 15 years ago that the fountain was rebuilt by committed winegrowers from the surrounding area.
Thanksgiving processions to this fountain have been held every year since 2011 (of course with the exeption of some years because of the Covid 19 pandemic).
The way back to the Weinhauskreuz then follows the same route.
The total walking distance from the shopping center to the spring and back is around 3.5 kms and you will need approximately one hour, in winter probably a little bit longer.
GPS data can be downloaded here
Please enjoy some more impressions of today's walk in this photo gallery: