Conrad Stein

On the Way of St. James through Bohemia, the Austrian Mühlvi

<p>Although this book begins with the introduction of the äMühlviertel Way of St. Jamesô, the start of the route and therefore of the book is not in Austria, but in the Czech Republic, more precisely in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Cesky Krumlov (formerly known as Krumlov in Mühlviertel). From this venerable town, the Mühlviertel Way of St. James first travels around 40 km over gently undulating hills and through lengthy forest landscapes - these are the most magnificent and pristine (primeval) forests in Central Europe - until it reaches Austrian territory, the (present-day) Mühlviertel, at St. Oswald. This too is hilly and undulating. However, the forests are no longer so wild, so wooded, nor so vast - here, farmers have always worked without ceasing. The Mühlviertel is a beautiful combination of well-tended nature and equally well-tended culture, grain meets conifers. The hilly landscape continues until Passau - now you are already on the south-east Bavarian Way of St. James. After the city of three rivers, it becomes flat, flat as the famous cake plate, and developed, highly developed. Forests are rare, fields are often crossed, as are meadows, villages and flower gardens with cheerful people. After about 300 km in Bavaria, the trail storms back into Austria and into the Alps at Erl, Kufstein, Breitenbach am Inn. This is also where the Southeast Bavarian Way of St. James ends - but not the book, because in Breitenbach this Way of St. James joins the main Austrian Way of St. James, which continues west through the Inn Valley, then crosses the Arlberg and leads through the magnificent Appenzell countryside to feudal Einsiedeln. The book only ends here at the start of the Swiss Way of St. James - the Via Jacobi - after a total of almost 900 km of exact directions.</p> <p