Wachau Valley

In the morning we visit Melk Abbey. We visited the abbey and sailed through the Wachau Valley in 2019 on a Vienna to Amsterdam river cruise.

Arrived around 7 am. The abbey is on a cliff overlooking a tributary of the Danube river. The tour company provided buses, but it’s about a 20-25 minute walk across a small island and through the town and up some stairs. We walked with a few others, it had rained and was a little muddy in spots.

There are no photos allowed inside the abbey. It’s richly decorated. This mural is on the ceiling of the entrance arch.

The tour starts in the rooms the Hapsburg royals used when visiting the abbey that have been stripped of all furnishings and converted to museum rooms with display cases. They contained old bibles, the 11th century Swanhilda portable altar which is ringed with ivory carvings. The Banquet hall is next.

The tour goes out on the patio overlooking the cliff and river. You are allowed to take photos here.

Then back into the old library. There are two rooms, most all books have been digitized now. The last tour stop is the church. There is lots of marble and gold.

Last time we were here, we didn’t have much time to see the gardens. We had a little more time on this visit and the upper garden was open this time, it was closed for renovations during our previous visit. The pavilion in the gardens has a small café.

There are statues of crows wearing glasses in the gardens.

Walked back down through the town for 12:15 departure.

There is a sculpture showing river high-water marks over the years. The top marker is from the year 1501.

After lunch on the ship, we cruise through the Wachau Valley which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was sunny, but the wind was chilly, you definitely wanted a jacket to sit on top of the ship to watch the scenery go by. You can see the colorful leaves in the photos. The area is known for wine grapes, you can see vineyards in some photos.

There are a number of castles along the Danube river in this area, Schönbühel Caastle, Aggstein and Hinterhaus Castle.

Small villages with big churches.

The ship arrived in the small village of Durnstein in the early afternoon. There were a few hours to get off and walk around the village on your own. The village has a sign near the dock with a few proposed walks, we chose their #1 walk along the shoreline and back through the town’s main road.

At 5 pm there was a reception on the ship for Inner Circle members. There are 69 inner circle members on the trip. One couple has taken 39 trips, three couples with 22 trips, one with 21 trips.