The best cycling routes around Gaaden

Definitely go in if you are in the area. The staff is great. Admission is 18 Euros and definitely worth it. The boat trip is, of course, the absolute highlight. More info on opening hours etc. can be found here: http://seegrotte.at/ The parking spaces are free

A very small, but fine menu, which has an international touch and does not just contain the standard Austrian excursion inn fare. We always like to come back here.

First, you walk through a low tunnel far into the mountain, where you are finally given a detailed explanation of the working conditions in former times and what happened in the tunnel during the Second World War, including the construction of the first fighter jet. After the mine tour, you continue a bit further down to the largest underground lake in Europe, where you take a short boat trip. The lake is very clear, the air is great, and the lighting is also very beautiful to look at. We went to the Seegrotte purely by chance and were lucky enough to get a private tour, as apparently no one else wanted to visit the grotto at lunchtime. Our guide was very nice, explained everything in great detail, and in the end, we were even allowed to do two laps on the lake.

The Grotto of Mary is located on a forest clearing below ground level, the entrance is secured with posts or a small concrete wall, the interior of the grotto is largely natural. At the entrance there is a small table and a seat, a small bell can be rung by pulling a cord. On the right side of the grotto is a painted statue of the Virgin Mary, modeled after Gothic madonnas, protected above the entrance by a wooden gable roof, a carved, unframed figure of the Virgin Mary in the style of the mantle madonnas.

Construction of the Othmarkirche began on May 13, 1454, under pastor Johannes Hinderbach. An inscription above the main entrance commemorates this. Before that, six predecessor churches had already stood on the site of today's Othmarkirche. The oldest proven predecessor church was a Carolingian church in the form of a small choir square church from the 9th century.

This cafe is located in the middle of the pedestrian zone, right next to the church; it's no coincidence that the outdoor seating area is packed. Unfortunately, card payments aren't accepted, but there's an ATM a hundred meters away, and on the way there, you'll pass the Stolpersteine. https://www.stolpersteine.eu

Flowy downhill section 👍

One can approach a church as a person interested in history, as a tourist interested in art history, or as a believer. One will see a variety of things. Those interested in history will be impressed by the fact that churches have stood on this site, on the slope of the Kalenderberg (= bare land), for more than 1,000 years, and that the current building is the seventh church in an unbroken succession on this site. They will think of the destruction of the Romanesque church by the Hungarians in 1252 and the horrors of the Turkish Wars of 1529 and 1683. Tourists interested in art and art history will see the late Gothic hall church built between 1454 and 1523, the Baroque furnishings, the Neo-Gothic windows and Stations of the Cross paintings, and the examples of contemporary art in the chancel. To the believer, the Othmarkiche appears like a ship anchored halfway between plain and height to welcome people. Twelve pillars – the twelve apostles – support its vault. The floor is level. This church is not a castle – defiant, dark, and forbidding. Its bow extends into the distance. Like Noah's Ark, it offers refuge and security. It stands on this earth. It still has walls. But its higher regions are translucent, are light. The splendor of heaven can be glimpsed. Two of the windows are of particular significance: the window in the east as the window of creation and resurrection, and the window in the west as the window of sunset, the Last Judgment. The world stands between the resurrection of Jesus and his return. Every visit to church, every service, becomes a call for the congregation to treat God's creation and creatures in such a way that one need not fear his judgment. Taken from https://www.moedling.or.at/kirchen/st_othmar/st_othmar.html