After leaving Linz, we traveled through the night to the town of Melk, with it’s magnificent monastery. When I was there in 1974 you could take all the pictures you wanted. But now pictures are forbidden in the actual monastery. You can still take plenty of pictures outside. That’s unfortunate, as the monastery is truly beautiful.
Stift Melk - the Melk Abbey in the morning mist. The monastery is on the site of a fortress that was in existence by 800. The town of Melk was settled by the Romans much earlier. It was also the main seat of the Babenbergs in Austria.
The entrance to Stift Melk.
There are multiple courtyards inside. This is the first one.
The main courtyard. The monastery is also a school. The open windows on the upper right are schoolrooms.
Kristin going up the Imperial Staircase.
The town of Melk and the canal, from the top of the monastery.
The abbey church.
The Garden Pavilion and the abbey gardens.
There are some interesting art works in the garden.
Some more very striking art.
Inside the Garden Pavilion.
In the abbey gardens.
In the town of Melk, with a view of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The Stift Melk - a view from the canal.
After leaving Melk, we floated through the Wachau Valley.
One of the many small villages along the Danube in the Wachau Valley. The Wachau is one of the main wine regions in Austria.
In the Wachau Valley, with the Aggstein Castle on the hill.
Aggstein Castle.
Close up of Aggstein Castle.
Aggstein Castle from the back side.
Wehrkirche St. Michael in Mosignhof. With hillside vineyards in the background.
Looking forward (east) along the Danube.
Looking back (west) along the Danube.
Burg Hinterhaus, near Spitz.
Parish Church St. Michael in Weissenkirchen.
Hillside vineyards.
We ended our day at the town of Durnstein, where we visited a winery. It was a lovely day to float on the river – high in the upper 70s and sunny. It was that way for most of our trip – perfect weather!
Burgruine Durnstein - the abandoned fortress on the hill above Durnstein.
Stift Durnstein - the Durnstein Abbey, founded in the mid 1700s.
In the cellars of the Nikolaihof Winery. The winery is almost 2000 years old. The cellars (seen here) are the original Roman cellars.
The original wooden hand press - used only for special occasions. The wooden beam weighs over two tons.
A close up of the press. There were grapes being pressed at the time we were there.
Then end of the press with the hand crank.
We had our wine tasting under an over 100 year old linden tree. It was beautiful. And the wine was very good too!