EV13 Stage 4: Drosendorf - Hardegg

From Drosendorf you will go to Oberthürnau and straight across the border to Vratěnín, a listed village with a former Augustinian monastery and an interesting Baroque building which once housed a post office. On the way to Uherčice you will see not only stone crosses but also small concrete bunkers in the field, which were built before World War II. Along the way, you can visit a Renaissance-era château with arcades and a Baroque garden. After Uherčice you will go downhill through the forest to the deep valley of the Thaya River and back up to the picturesque village of Stálky. A large number of tombstones in Šafov show how important the local Jewish community was; the cemetery is one of the oldest in South Moravia. On hot summer days, you will certainly enjoy a cooling off in the Bergwerksee Langau natural swimming pool. Then the route continues to Hardegg, passes around Riegersburg, one of Austria’s most impressive Baroque castles, and further on to Felling. In Felling one will find the only museum of pearl oysters in Austria. Following the village, you will enter into the dense forests of the Thayatal National Park and descend sharply to the bottom of the Thaya Valley, where Hardegg with its magnificent castle will appear before you. This is the smallest Austrian town on the border between Austria and South Moravia!