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Wednesday 23rd April 2014
We woke up to a lovely warm sunny morning again, we have been just so lucky with the weather.
We arrived in Melk early this morning while we were eating breakfast, this town has been an important spiritual and cultural centre for over 1000 years. Melk Abbey dominates the town being high on the hill and seen at every turn, where monks have lived and worked continuously for over 900 hundred years. The abbey has been destroyed several times, the current one built 1701 to 1726 by Jakob Prandtauer a young Tyrolian master builder in the baroque style.
We were taken by coach to the Abbey walking around the gardens then to have a quick look inside the Abbey before walking down the steep hill into the small quaint town of Melk. We might have thought other towns had tiny streets, these are even narrower but the town is very pretty and the people very friendly. We were lucky enough to visit on market day, with stalls being set up in the main street square, it only happens on Wednesday and Saturday's.
We chose to do the half hour walk back to the boat for lunch and chat with others for a while. This afternoon we are sailing through the Wachau Valley reputed to be one of the most beautiful and famous regions in Austria - and yes it certainly is. High tree covered hills, pretty villages, ancient grape vines covering the lower slopes.
We rounded a bend in the river to see the magnificent blue and white tower of the monastic Baroque styled church that Durnstein is so proud of, it dates back to 1721 when it commenced being built and was completed by 1725. We did a walking tour of this truly beautiful small town with its many ancient buildings dating back over a 1000 years. High on the hill overlooking the River Danube are the ruins of Durnstein Castle that Richard the Lion-Heart of England was held prisoner in 1193 by Leopold V, the Babenberg duke ruling the country at that time.
While walking around the town we had a short shower, but had seen the dark clouds, so had prepared, 5 minutes later it was back to sunshine. We sampled some of the locally grown wines before returning to the ship and dinner.
The picture is of the Baroque Tower of the monastic church with the Durnstein Castle ruins high on the hill in the background.
So ends yet another lovely day.
Chat again soon.
- comments
Sharon & Colin Ah, you will be sorry to see the cruise end - just like we were. So glad weather has been kind to you and allowed you to thoroughly enjoy the magnificent sights. See you soon.