Jakobsweg Mostviertel: 1st stage: from Maria Taferl to Neustadtl

From Maria Taferl, the route goes downhill through beautiful deciduous forests to the shore of the Danube in Marbach. Upon reaching the town center, we make a detour to the baroque parish church of St. Martin, located at the foot of the Calvary hill, and then continue our path along the Danube shore. After some time, we see the Säusenstein Abbey on the left and already the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Gottsdorf on the right. From Gottsdorf, the path leads past the cemetery over meadows and fields into the town center of Persenbeug. Here are the late Gothic Florian Chapel and Persenbeug Castle, a multi-winged building situated on a high rock with a west-facing chapel. If you want and still have energy, you can visit the town municipality of Ybbs on the opposite side of the Danube, which houses among others the parish church of St. Lorenz, built in 1521, in its pretty town center. Now begins the "mountain stage" of this pilgrimage route with the ascent towards Marienhöhe, covering about 300 meters of elevation initially mostly on forest paths, later over meadows and fields, until reaching the highest point of this stage, the Hengstberg. From Hengstberg, the route proceeds via the Lueger Chapel to Berghof and over the hills of the Mostviertel to the town of Neustadtl an der Donau, located on a high plateau of the Bohemian Massif. In Neustadtl, there is a special thematic trail for the pilgrims of the Jakobsweg ("The way is the goal...Pilgrimage on the Jakobsweg in Neustadtl"), which provides information about pilgrimage with 13 different stations. The starting point for this thematic trail is the Jakob church in Neustadtl, a simple late Gothic hall church from the beginning of the 16th century.