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Vienna, Austria

EuroTrip Day 26: "The Wachau-Danube Valley"

I say goodbye to Aleksandra and Zophia, who are leaving on an overnight bus to Krakow later in the day, before I head to the train station to go on a day trip to the Wachau-Danube Valley, which is west of Vienna, and known for being a great region for wine. While on the train to Melk, which is home to a massive Catholic abbey, I meet Erika from San Francisco, who says that she is a law student. As we're heading to the same destinations for the day, we end up hanging out all day.

   
The Melk Abbey

We head up the hillside and get admission to get into the Abbey... quite cool inside, lots of huge rooms with amazing frescos, and great views overlooking the river valley.

   
Left: Melk Abbey's UNESCO Marker    Right: Entrance to the Abbey

   
Left: One of the many artifacts    Right: A grand passageway

   
Left: View of Melk    Right: View of the river valley

The grand library and chapel within the abbey are very impressive...

   
Left: Entrance to the cathedral    Right: Library before the cathedral

   
Left: The cathedral    Right: A staircase

We later head back into the town, where there's street stalls selling roast chicken, sausages, fries, and Austian wine, which we have for lunch

   
Left: San Francisco Erika and myself enjoying street roast chicken      Right: Village of Melk

We take a ferry on the Danube River that heads down to Durnstein. It is a nice view of the river valley, and some of the vineyards that run along the river.

   
At the Melk Ferry Station

   
Left: View looking back towards Melk Abbey   Right: Enjoying the view at the rear of the boat

     
Left: Riverside vineyards   Right: Looking down the Danube River Valley
 
After about an hour and a half on the ferry, we finally reach Durnstein, most famous for being the location that Richard Lionheart (of the Robin Hood story) was imprisoned.

   
View of Durnstein coming in on the ferry


   
Left: View up to the ruins of where Richard Lionheart was imprisoned    Right: Church tower in Durnstein

From the ferry docks area, I have to head through the city walls via a long tunnel to get into the village... almost right away, you see how this place gets all their tourist dollars from being part of the Richard Lionheart legend.

   
Left: Tunnel to get to the village   Right: Hotel-Restaurant named after you know who

Me and Erika decide to make the hike up to the ruins where Richard Lionheart was buried. It was fairly steep, and it was a hot and humid afternoon, so by the time we made it all the way up, we were pretty beat. However, we were rewarded with some really great views of the entire river valley...

     
Heading on the path up towards the ruins....


     
Making our way up closer to the ruins


     
Left: Resting after making my way to the top
Right: The "cell" where Lionheart was supposedly imprisoned (I don't think those bars were there at the time)


     
Amazing views of the river valley and Durnstein from the top

We made our way back down to the village, and later caught the ferry again on a short trip to Krems. By this point it was pretty late in the afternoon, so we just took a long walk across the town to the train station and went back to Vienna.


Yes, I was in Krems briefly...

Erika heads back to our own hostel, and I grab a mushroom pizza on the way back to Wombat's. At the hostel that evening, I have some pints with some Californians, as well as John (Harry Potter) from England, and Finnish Mikael. I'm pretty tired from the day of walking and hiking, so I go to sleep early.