Visiting the Green Lizard and enjoying great views

This is a description of a very beautiful circular hike in Rossatz, a small municipality located at the danube, opposite of the famous old town of Dürnstein.

The hike starts in Rossatzbach at the winery and Heurigen of the family Rehrl-Fischer.

There you follow the signpost "Smaragdeidechse".

Then you walk up the vineyards.

You have to walk through a vineyard, then you have to turn right and continue following the signpost "Smaragdeidechse".

Now you have already a great view of Dürnstein.

Some minutes later you see a small water reservoir on the left side of the street, up the hill.

Follow the signpost "Rossatzer Panoramaweg" (meaning "panorama trail").

Here you have to walk up the hill and walk a little bit through the wood, then you have to turn right and cross a vineyard.

When you come back to a street turn left and follow the street.

Now you can already see the first destination of the hike:

The "Smaragdeidechse" (German "green lizard"). The green lizard is a reptile that can be seen in the vineyards of this area quite often. But this green lizard is made of artificial stone and murano glass. It has been created by the internationally reknown sculptor Erich Pummer.

By the way: Don't be afraid of real green lizards. They are only 15 cm (6 inches) long and do not bite. But you have to be careful and quiet when you want to take photos of them because they are very shy.

After enjoying the view of Dürnstein, continue your way. After some minutes you'll see the village of Rossatz. Walk down to the village.

Follow the main street in western direction until you come to the church of Rossatz. Now cross the market place and turn right into a narrow street called "In der Tölling".

Follow this street until you come to a parking space. From there you can follow the "Welterbesteig" signposts.

The path then goes first zig-zag and then parallel to the Danube river - through orchards and vineyards.

After about one more kilometers you reach the beach of Rossatzbach - one of the few sandy beaches in this area. From here you have again a wonderful view of Dürnstein.

From the beach it is just some minutes back to the start of this hike.

Depending on how long you enjoy the great views you'll need around one and a half hour for this hike.

This hike can also be combined with a hike to the "Toter Berg". You can read a description of that hike on TravelFeed and on Steemit.

A detailled German story of the hike to the "Green Lizard" can be found on my weblog schmatz.blog. This story also includes a 360° panoramic image, a detailled map and even more images!

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