Today we are going to Melk by train so we can enjoy a cruise on the Danube from Melk to Krems. Then we will catch the train back to Vienna. By now we are very use to going places on the metro so getting to the train station was no problem. Finding the ticket office was another issue but we accomplished that. We picked up our reservation for Munich (tomorrow’s trip) and discovered that we are going on a regional train so need no reservation or ticket, just jump onto the train.
We headed back to the ticket office and picked up tickets without a hitch. We actually got a 20% discount because we have eurail passes. We climbed aboard and immediately headed to the top deck to find seats. With the sunny weather we are enjoying we wanted to have the best views possible. The air is still a bit chilly, but we had no problem. This is the first week of trips for the season (they started on the 16th of April) and everything on the ship looked fresh and clean. We certainly have not complaints about the seating, the views and the cruise. We left the dock on schedule by backing out of the tributary where the dock is into the Danube River and swinging around to head down river towards Krems. This cruise ship is very long and narrow and I was amazed at how they could almost spin it around rather than turn it around.
A little further alone we could see the ruins of Aggstein which are the remnants of a castle on the right bank of the Danube whose origins go back to the 12th century. This castle has a long history which includes nobles living there as well as looters and a robber baron. It is believed that the castle was never overrun but conquered by starvation.
Regardless we had the opportunity to notice and photograph many other ruins, abbeys and small towns along the Danube. I think the pictures are the best way to share those views and please do not ask for historical details of some of the following ruins. Here is all that I was able to gather.
Krems is the 5th largest city in Austria and is at the confluence of the Krems and Danube Rivers. This marked the end of the cruise trip on the Danube. As we dock we realize that the cruise is about 20 minutes late. (3:50 rather than 3:30) Our train back to Vienna is to leave at 4 and the walk is about 15 minutes (10 if you walk briskly). We had the option of trying to catch this train or waiting until 5. Needless to say we both decided to try to catch the 4 pm train and literally jogged the distance. It did not help that we were not sure where the station was but had a ‘general’ idea. We arrived to the station, discovered the train and literally walked in the door and sat down with about 10 seconds before the train started to move. We had our exercise for today.
Regardless, we are still having a wonderful time and we are starting to appreciate the efforts travel agents make creating travel plans for clients.
Blue is train out, Red is cruise route, Black is train back
We arrived at Melk around 11:30 and the cruise does not go until 2 so we decided to find the cruise ticket station, get our ticket and then walk up to the Abbey for a tour. We found the ticket office, but it did not open until 12:30. If we waited for it to open (30 minutes at least) then we would not have time to do a tour of the Abbey. Our alternative was to trust that the tickets will not sell out if we did not buy before 1:30 and go do a tour. We opted to do a tour of the Abbey. This town is incredible clean and all the buildings look freshly painted – including the Abbey which sits on top of the hill overlooking the city and the river.
The Melk Abbey is an Austrian Benedictine Abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley. The abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A monastic school, the Stiftsgymnasium Melk, was founded in the 12th century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection. Today's impressive Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 to designs by Jakob Prandtauer. Particularly noteworthy is the abbey church with frescos by Johann Michael Rottmayr and the impressive library with countless medieval manuscripts (and approx. 16,000 identically bound books), including a famed collection of musical manuscripts and frescos by Paul Troger.
The abbey museum in the former Imperial Rooms contains the exhibition “The Path from Yesterday to Today” which makes use of art treasures and multi-media to tell the monastery’s 900-years history. The crowning point of the visit was to visit the abbey church which is considered to be one of the most beautiful baroque churches in the world. Certainly with the ornate alters huge pipe organ and massive icons and statues it is well worth the visit.
The first sight after leaving the port was the Schönbühel castle which stands in a commanding position on a rocky promontory on the banks of the Danube overlooking the market town of Schönbühel. The building dates from the 12th century but has been remodelled many times. Next to the main entrance there is an 11th century church which was in use until 1667. The fortunes of the castle declined until, by 1819, only the towers, church and main entrance were intact. In 1821, the existing features were incorporated into the castle as we see it today.
A little further alone we could see the ruins of Aggstein which are the remnants of a castle on the right bank of the Danube whose origins go back to the 12th century. This castle has a long history which includes nobles living there as well as looters and a robber baron. It is believed that the castle was never overrun but conquered by starvation.
Spitz an der Donau is a market town in the district of Krems-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, further down from Willendorf on the left bank of the Danube. Occupied since Celtic times, it was first mentioned in 830. A hill "Tausendeimerberg" (the "Hill of a Thousand Buckets") is so named because of the many grapes that grow there, for the Wachau valley, for which Spitz is in, is famous for them. The Late Gothic church to St. Maurice is famous for its Apostles (1380) and an altarpiece by Kremser Schmidt. To the south of Spitz is the famous fortress of Hinterhaus.
Further alone the Danube we turned a corner to find the small town of Durnstein. There were two noticeable features, a ruin and a beautiful church. The town gained its name from the medieval castle which overlooked it. The castle was called "Duerrstein" or "Dürrstein", from the German duerr/dürr meaning "dry" and Stein, "stone". The castle was dry because it was situated on a rocky hill, high above the damp conditions of the Danube at the base of the hill, and it was built of stone. Today there is not much left of the castle but it is reported to be one of the most visited sites in this area.
The second noticeable feature is the abbey. The Dürnstein Abbey was established in 1410 and from 1710 rebuilt in a Baroque style according to plans. The monastery was dissolved by order of Emperor Joseph II in 1788 and fell to the Herzogenburg Priory. Today the bright blue tower with the white statutes can not be missed as you sail down the Danube.
We continued on the Danube with more views of villages and agriculture. We could see the Gottweig Abbey but was not close enough to visit it. The Göttweig Abbey was founded as a monastery of canons regular by Blessed Altmann, Bishop of Passau. The high altar of the church was dedicated in 1072, but the monastery itself not until 1083: the foundation charter, dated 9 September 1083, is still preserved in the abbey archives.
Krems is the 5th largest city in Austria and is at the confluence of the Krems and Danube Rivers. This marked the end of the cruise trip on the Danube. As we dock we realize that the cruise is about 20 minutes late. (3:50 rather than 3:30) Our train back to Vienna is to leave at 4 and the walk is about 15 minutes (10 if you walk briskly). We had the option of trying to catch this train or waiting until 5. Needless to say we both decided to try to catch the 4 pm train and literally jogged the distance. It did not help that we were not sure where the station was but had a ‘general’ idea. We arrived to the station, discovered the train and literally walked in the door and sat down with about 10 seconds before the train started to move. We had our exercise for today.
The ride back was not that eventful other than trying to decide which station to get off. The train takes us to the other railway station in Vienna and Wes was thinking to stay on to the last stop. But when I looked at the map it seemed to me that if we got off on the 2nd to last stop, we could go down a flight of stairs and get on the metro train. It looked like we would have to walk a block if we stayed to the last station. I am not sure if that was correct or not since we got off where I suggested. We would have been fine either way, but it was fun speculating.
This evening we spent a lot of time, and frustrating minutes, working on our itinerary for the next 10 days since we are trying to figure out the best ideas for accommodations. We had thought that since Switzerland is so small we should find a furnished apartment and travel by train to the areas we want to visit. But after a lot of frustration we learned that rental apartments for 1 week are not easily available in Switzerland. So finally we changed our plans to using hotels again. THEN we discovered that the weekend we wanted to be in Switzerland is Easter weekend and everything is very expensive. So we had to rethink a bit about how long we want to be in Switzerland when we discovered that costs there are almost double what we have been paying. We will still go but have changed some of our expectations and dates. It will still be much more expensive but we really want to see some of this area too.Regardless, we are still having a wonderful time and we are starting to appreciate the efforts travel agents make creating travel plans for clients.
No comments:
Post a Comment