Wachau Valley:Melk & Durnstein

Wachau Valley

My second last day was spent in the wonderful Wachau Valley which has been given UNESCO World Heritage status. Bought a 57EU Wachau ticket and boarded a train to Melk. The town of Melk greeted us with a gorgeous view of the Melk Abbey from the double decker train. Even though there were quite a few tourists, all of us had a problem locating the abbey, but we eventually got there just to find out a huge cruise ship had just landed, so the abbey was packed with people. Nevertheless, everything about the abbey was impressive,all the rooms and the church too.

The Melk market was interesting, with a lot of dried and cured meat and rye bread for sale. I had a few cakes at the famous bakery(from where the stairs to the abbey begin), must say they were amongst the best in the entire trip. The abbey looked great from everywhere, I walked around the town, the train station side as well as the dock side trying to get good shots of the abbey.

I boarded the 1.50 PM ferry. The journey was brilliant, the villages, forests, castles(small ones), the cruise ships all added a wonderful dimension to the river. Things got even better as we approached Durnstein. The forests were kind of replaced by vast vineyards and the view of the Durnstein town and the medieval castle behind was captivating ( I was like, yes, this is exactly what I wanted to see in Europe).

Took a stroll through the village, which despite it’s touristiness was charming. The small hike up the castle was rewarding, the views of the meandering river, vineyards, cruise ships was more than picture perfect. And now the late afternoon sun had come out with all it’s strength making all the vegetation glow. Took a long walk around the village passing several vineyards, I wished I had stayed here for atleast another day. Got a 6 PM bus to Krems, and a train back to Vienna.

Had dinner at an Italian place on the Graben Road, can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s about 3-4 minutes from St.Stephan’s. The day concluded with a not-so-pleasant noisy,touristy concert near the Stadt Park, nothing to really write about, but no regrets since I managed to get a ticket for just 20 EU at the St.Stephans from one of the females advertising it(rather she managed to sell me a ticket when I didn’t really want one).