Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
about 1300 occur in Thayatal. The landscape consists of a deep canyon cut by the Thaya
river (the Dyje in Czech), numerous rock formations and steep slopes. Walking is by far
the most popular activity in the park, with trails sometimes crossing from one country in-
to the next.
The
Nationalparkhaus
( 02949-7005-0;
www.np-thayatal.at
; exhibition adult/child €4/2.50; 9am-6pm
mid-Mar-Sep, 10am-4pm Oct)
, near Hardegg, has loads of information and also has an exhibi-
tion on the park's ecology. Hardegg is the natural jump-off point for the park, and is not
easy to get to without your own transport; it's best approached by train from Vienna to
Retz (€15.80, one hour), from where you take a bus to Pleising, then another to Hardegg.
TOP OF CHAPTER
St Pölten
02742 / POP 51,900
A destination few may notice as they scream through on their way from Vienna to
Salzburg, St Pölten may be Lower Austria's capital but it retains a very drowsy atmo-
sphere. Though no beauty, it has a quaint-ish Altstadt contrasted by the new, oh-so-21st-
century Landhausviertel (Landhaus Quarter).
History
The borders of Lower Austria were drawn by the Babenberg rulers in the 13th century,
but in 1278 the region and empire-to-be fell to the Habsburgs. In a strange twist of fate -
an ailing economy in the 1920s stalled the decision to give Lower Austria its own capital,
and later the Nazis favoured making Krems the capital - St Pölten became capital of
Lower Austria only in 1986, ending a long-running situation in which Lower Austria was
administered geographically from Vienna, but was in fact a separate province. Ironically,
it happens to have the oldest known municipal charter - granted in 1159. The Altstadt is
noted for its baroque buildings: baroque master Jakob Prandtauer lived and died in the
city.
