On an imperial charter from the year 996, the word Ostarrichi appears for the first time. This name, which would become Österreich and then Austria, is linked to a specific estate: Neuhofen, today a peaceful market town in the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria. It is this document that leads the town to welcome passengers on Danube river cruises: visitors come here to see for themselves a country's birth certificate. Ships moor on the nearby bank of the Danube, and motorcoaches make the short trip through the hills of the Mostviertel in just a few minutes.

Cider country

The road leading to the town crosses a landscape of rolling meadows dotted with solitary pear trees, planted in open fields like sentinels. The Mostviertel, literally the "most quarter," takes its name from the pear cider that farms have produced for generations. The large square farmsteads with inner courtyards, typical of the region, appear around the bends. It is a discreet rural world, far from the concert halls of Vienna, and this contrast is precisely what makes the stop worthwhile.

Ostarrichi, a word that became a country

In the centre of the village, the Ostarrichi memorial and its cultural space tell how a simple mention on a parchment became the symbol of a national identity. The document of 996, by which Emperor Otto III granted land to the Bishopric of Freising, describes the estate as located in the region called Ostarrichi. The exhibition then unrolls a thousand years of Austrian history, from the medieval margraves to joining the European Union, by way of the dark hours of the 20th century, addressed without evasion. The original parchment is kept in the state archives in Munich; here you will find a carefully made facsimile, surrounded by clear explanations. The whole visit takes about an hour and provides a valuable thread for the rest of the Danube itinerary. Austria celebrated its millennium in 1996, and the town naturally found itself at the centre of the celebrations.

The village itself

The town is then best discovered on foot, without hurrying. The parish church dominates the square with its slender steeple; low houses with pastel façades line up around it, and conversations are exchanged in front of the bakery. There are no spectacular monuments to tick off here, and that is all the better: the stop is worth it for the atmosphere of a resolutely everyday Austrian town, where visitors remain guests rather than an audience.

Flavours of the Mostviertel

Depending on the excursions offered, the visit sometimes continues at a nearby cider farm. There you taste most, dry or sweet, accompanied by country bread, bacon and farmhouse cheeses, served at long wooden tables where conversations spring up naturally between passengers and hosts. Producers are happy to explain the local pride: here, the pear plays the role that the grape holds elsewhere in Austria, and the traditional high-stem orchards are as much a part of the landscape heritage as the churches. In spring, the blossoms turn entire hillsides white; in autumn, the presses perfume the farmyards.

Heading back down to the Danube

On the way back, the river reappears between the hills, with the ship moored below. Neuhofen an der Ybbs will take up only half a day of the cruise and does not try to compete with Vienna or Melk. The village offers something else: the singular opportunity to have seen the very place where a country received its name, and to have travelled, for an afternoon, through a countryside that has lived at its own pace for a thousand years.