Deinstag 31 Mai: “The Danube Valley”

Today was an early departure from the hostel at 7:15! This was quite possibly one of the most exciting days of the trip for me as we were heading out oof the city for a day trip to Stadt Melk and a cruise through the Danube River Valley before returning to Vienna in time to attend a concert that event at the Musikverein. A busy day, but it was well worth it!

We left the hostel headed to the Hofban station in Vienna that I used when I took my trip to Semmering. A mistake was made somewhere along the line, because we were supposed to leave on an 8:20 train, but we ended up being on a train that left at 8:30. The earlier train was a direct route to Melk, but the second train forced us to change trains at St. Pölten before arriving at the station in Melk. The train ride to Melk once again went through groves of vineyards. Austria is highly known for its wine, but it’s rare we find an Austrian wine in the US. The area around Vienna and the Danube Valley are both prized for their wines.

Melk is one of my favorite places in Austria because it overlooks the Melk and Danube rivers. The Abbey is still today a functioning Benedictine order and is famous for a series of reforms through the Catholic World called the Melk Reforms. The Current Melk Abbey is an excellent example of Baroque architecture and was a pet project of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Melk was an excellent opportunity for Charles’ pet project as it was a day’s carriage ride out of Vienna and provided the Hapsburgs and their attendants ample room while traveling. In fact, the main wing that is open to the public was built specifically for this purpose.

A tour at Melk Abbey takes the participant through a self-guided tour of the gardens and allows you access to the inside of the Abbey that is open to the public. The tour begins with the history of the Benedictine order and St. Benedictine’s book of rules, which can be distilled into three main principles: Listen, Read, Pray. The Benedictine Order was known as the more educated order of Monks who often ran universities and amassed collections of books of all types. The tour goes through rooms dedicated to specific historical periods of the Benedictines and Melk Abbey, even some holy relics are on display and can be seen.

It is also worth a note that the Abbey is still a functioning Benedictine order to this day, though they number around 20-30 members. Today’s monks spend equal amounts of their life in work, prayer, and reading. The gift shop of the Abbey sells products created from the apricots in the Wachau Valley including apricot jam, apricot schnapps, apricot juice, honey, and other assorted things.

After our tour of Melk Abbey and the gardens, we went into the town of Melk to have lunch at local street cafes. The food was inexpensive compared to many places in Vienna.

The boat for the Danube River cruise back was around a 15 minute walk from the area of the town we had lunch. The cruise takes the rider through the Wachau Valley region of Austria, which is prized for the climate that is perfectly suited to growing grapes for wine and apricots. The banks of the Danube are also studded with towns and castles along the way. In the early years of travel along the river, these castles were used as checkpoints and tolls for river traffic. Most of the castles can be reached by hiking, but it would be a trio for a separate day. The cruise lasted about an hour stopping at two towns along the way before eventually ending in Krems. The train station to head back to Vienna from the boat ramp was around a 15 minute walk.