River cruise... Wauchau Valley & Melk Abbey

Day 5 of the river cruise. This morning after breakfast, we cruised through the Wauchau Valley, with lovely small towns, terraced farms and vineyards, and castle ruins. Our cruise director gave a commentary of the history of the area, and of many of the castles. One thing I found fascinating was that many of the knights of the Crusades came here.

An hour west of Vienna, the Danube River winds its way through the Wauchau Valley

Low bridge

And...  we fit!

The town of Durnstein, with its blue-towered abbey.
The ruins of Durnstein Castle are on the hill above.

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Weissenkirchen

Hinterhaus Castle, near the town of Spitz.

In the afternoon we toured Melk Abbey. Perched high on a hill overlooking the Wachau Valley, Melk Abbey is easy to spot because of its position and its sunny yellow facade. The abbey has been home to Benedictine monks for more than 900 years.

The abbey is hard to miss from the river

It was hot again today, and I'm just getting over a nasty cold, so it wasn't the best day to spend inside a hot building, or outside in the blazing sun. But I toughed it out. It so hot in fact, that I really didn't enjoy the tour. All I wanted was to get outside, anywhere there was a breeze.

DW, walking to Melk Abbey

Ready for the tour

No photography of any kind was allowed inside the building, so I put my camera away and listened. It was a thorough tour, but getting outside, finally, let me breathe.

The Melk Abbey church

We walked around the spectacular terraces between the buildings and the drop to the countryside beyond, and enjoyed the great views.

Then we walked through the gardens, and checked out the garden building, and found a geocache. Then we met up with the rest of our little group for a cold beverage, which was very welcome!

A pretty special bit of garden art!

Lots of white-faced monkeys in the gardens!

There are lots of interior photographs on the internet, if you'd care to explore. I especially loved the library and the church. You'll see photographs of the spectacular winding staircase that joins the library and the church; we didn't see this on our tour. I've always wanted to lie on the floor under such a staircase and take pictures. Here's a particularly good shot:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melk_Abbey#/media/File:070526_Stift_Melk_09.jpg

. . .

While we walked through Melk Abbey, our ship continued on. We will meet up with it in Passau.