Ed’s Magnificent Europe – Part 3

Austria

Vienna – The City of Music!  We opted for a tour today called the Culturally Curious Hidden Vienna tour.  The tour included a motorcoach tour of some of the many sights to see in Vienna, particularly around Ring Strasse.  Wow, the architectural is amazing with many beautiful buildings, statues and parks!  My biggest regret is not having the ability to stop the bus, get out and walk around some of these areas.  However, this was followed by a stop at St Stephen’s Cathedral where we had a chance to learn about its history and could both walk around it and enter the church…it never ceases to amaze me how spectacular these churches are.

There was an option to take a horse drawn carriage around the area but instead, Karen decided that we should go shopping instead.  Ladies, the prices on clothes was not bad and in the end, it cost me less to go shopping than have the carriage ride 🙂

The Hidden Vienna tour was OK with some interesting sights but truly I would rather have gone to see some of the other main tourist sites.  It did cause me to want to come back to Vienna for a longer visit though.  Some pictures of the sites are shown below.

In the evening we attended a Mozart and Strauss concert in the Hofburg Palace presented by the Hofburg Orchestra.  This was a beautiful venue and the concert was extremely good.  I was very pleased to hear the Blue Danube Waltz played in Vienna in this magnificent facility.  This was an optional tour at a cost of 59 Euro each which is a bit pricey, but if you like classical music at all and want to experience it in the City of Music, it is well worth the price of admission.  Bonus…we got a free CD!

Leaving the big cities behind, we entered the picturesque countryside of Austria with our first stop in Durnstein.  We had a fabulous walking tour…and this is what I really like about river cruising because you simply walk off the ship and you are in the town.  Durnstein is known for the ruins of a castle in which Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned for a time, but more importantly, this is very much a fairytale type of town with charming streets and lovely buildings including the beautiful blue facade of the monastic church.

The guide here was fantastic, both very knowledge and very engaging.  This is a town that we could spend a couple of days at purely for it’s charm and beauty.  The tour ended with a wonderful wine tasting of local wines… Gruner Veltliner, Reisling and Zweigelt…yum!

The afternoon was spent cruising the Danube River through the Wachau Valley, one of the most beautiful and famous regions in Austria.  The weather was spectacular and they served us some traditional Austrian pastry and wine spritzer as we lazily enjoyed all the sights in the valley.

Schonbuhel Castle

Weissenkirchen

Spitz

We arrived in Melk about 4 PM and were whisked away to see the Melk Benedictine Abbey.  This is one of Europe’s largest and most revered Baroque monasteries.  Originally founded in the 11^th century is a must see attraction in the area with an amazing church and a very impressive library.