Full Day Private Tour for St Martin Day in the Wachau Valley

2 hours

In Austria a tradition on St. Martin's Day is to share a roasted goose for dinner. Tradition has it that out of humility, St. Martin hid in a barn full of geese to avoid being ordained a bishop, only to have his whereabouts revealed by the gaggle’s squawks. To commemorate St. Martin, children walk in processions carrying lanterns singing Martin songs, the new wine is blessed and tasted and people come together to have roasted goose.

Weissenkirchen in Der Wachau

1 hour

The parish church of Weißenkirchen in the Wachau valley is a Roman Catholic church consecrated on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The church dominates the village with its mighty west tower visible from afar. The church is surrounded by an important fortification from the 16th century with 3 round corner towers and embrasures, breech embrasures and key embrasures as well as spy holes at the height of the battlements. On St. Martin’s Day at 6:00 p.m. a holy mass is celebrated with the blessing of the new wine that is brought by local people and placed in front of the altar.

Teisenhoferhof Wachaumuseum

2 hours

Following the blessing of the new wine in the Weißenkirchen parish church on St. Martin's Day a ceremony with tasting of the new wine follows in the Teisenhoferhof. The Teisenhoferhof is an extensive, castle-like four-winged complex around a wide, irregular courtyard with two-storey arcades with a monopitch roof. On the ground floor there are deep round-arched niches on massive console pillars, on the upper floor a circumferential arcade with round-arched openings.
The Teisenhoferhof was built by Heinrich Teisenhofer in the middle of the 15th century. It is located at the western foot of the church plateau with a massive, fortress-like west front which consists of a crenellated blind wall towering over two storeys high. The Teisenhoferhof houses the Wachau Museum, where you can see exhibits of traditional Wachau costume. However, during the festivities on St. Martin’s Day one can see local people wearing their traditional Wachau costumes with the stone feathered hats most outstanding.