Castles

It was a rather 'slow' morning for some of us.  I 'll leave the reason for that to everyone's imagination!

We spent the morning sitting on the sundeck on top of the boat.  It was 'stinking' cold.  We had every piece of clothing on that we have with us and were still chilly.  It never hit double digit temperatures until after 10:30.  So why would we do that to ourselves?  To see castles of course as we travelled through the Wachau Valley.  To say that it was picturesque is an understatement. But crap it was cold!  And unfortunately the pictures as per usual did not do it justice.

This afternoon we were dropped off in Melk.  Melk is a small Austrian town with a massive and opulent Abbey.  It is still an active Benedictine Monastery.  There is evidence that it was founded in the 900's but the existing buildings are from the period of the early 1500's.  But that may not be totally true either as fire destroyed most of it at some point and then it was rebuilt in the 1700's.  Two highlights, at least for us.  #1 was the library.  It was 8 floors of which we saw one. It held 9300 books alone.  Our guide told us how many books are in the library but my memory is not that good, especially after the last couple of night's antics.  #2 was the church itself.  Unfortunately no pictures could be taken inside the Abbey.  You will just have to trust us that it was big.  For example, one hallway was 160 meters long.

For anyone who was wondering why I said we were dropped off at the dock in Melk I can explain.  The boat continued on without us while we visited the Abbey.  We were bused to catch it at Ybbs, 21 km upstream.

It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day.

Durnstein Castle

Fortified Church in Weibenkirken

This Valley is a wine producing region.

Spitz Castle

Wachau Valley

Aukstein Castle

The Danube

Our Drop off in Melk

The Library - Melk Abbey

The Church - Melk Abbey