Durstein and Melk - 7th July

Kuenringer Castle

Today we docked in the picturesque town of Durstein (dry stone), a quaint medieval village on the banks of the Danube in the beautiful Wachau Valley. It's main claim to fame is the ruins of Castle Kuenringer that sits on a hill above the town. King Richard I (the Lionhearted) was imprisoned here by Duke Leopold V of Austria from 1192 to 1193 on his return from the 3rd Crusade. Legend has it that Blondel, a favourite court minstrel of King Richard's, searched through Europe for months for the king, and was singing a song that they had both written together, when he heard it being repeated from the Kuenringer Castle and had him rescued from his imprisonment.

Durstein main street

Durstein Abbey

The town itself is picture postcard perfect with narrow cobblestone streets and many gorgeous buildings, such as the blue Durstein Abbey.

Ros and I spent two hours walking around this quaint town before returning to our ship.






There are many, many cruise ships on the Danube, we pass them and they pass us all the time. In fact, there are so many that the ships have to double and sometime triple dock and we have to walk through the other ships to get to shore, as displayed below. Our Cruise Director, Patrick, says "We built many, many boats but we did not build enough rivers".

Triple docked

After that we sailed for the town of Melk, famous for it beautiful and imposing abbey set upon a rock promenade above the town. We toured it for over an hour but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside, so I only have this view of the main courtyard to show you.

Melk Abbey

It has been a Benedictine monastery since the 11th century and has a colourful and varied history, including a fire in the 13th century that destroyed most of the building, including the library with its priceless books and scrolls. The current library is full from the floor to the ceiling of books dating back 7 centuries, all bound in leather and written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The church is just incredible to behold and I don't have words or pictures to describe it, but it takes your breath away. Gold inlay, soaring roofs and columns, frescoes on ceiling and everything just incredibly ornate.

Sundowner

Whilst cruising the river, just about every bend reveals another castle, either in ruins or still actively being used. I'll not bore you with pictures of all of them because after seeing one castle, you've just about seen them all. After finishing at Melk Abbey, we were bussed to the ruins of another castle, Burgruine Aggstein Castle, for a sundowner. I bravely climbed up to the parapets to record the incredible view displayed below. After that, both very tired by a full day touring, we returned to the ship for tea and early to bed as tomorrow we have to be up early for our day trip to Salzburg.

View from Burgruine Aggstein castle