Melk, another Abbey, another wine tasting
Trip Start
Oct 25, 2011
1
9
13
Trip End
Nov 09, 2011
Melk, Lower Austria, Austria
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Today was an early start to venture out for the trip up the hill to the Benedictine Melk Abbey. It is an amazing building with multiple wings branching off from the main cathedral. It is being used as a school for both boys and girls, a big change from when it was only monks who lived there. The church was magnificent. So much gold. So many statues. So much wealth.
From the Abbey we were driven down the Wachau Valley to one of the numerous wineries for more wine tasting. We are finding it rather strange to be sipping on wine or beer at 10 in the morning but there don't seem to be many abstaining. I guess if you book a "Wine" cruise you should really expect to drink wine.
Our group went to Winzer Krems where w tasted 4 different wines (3 white and 1 red). The tour included a 3D movie on the way grapes are grown and harvested. We bought a bottle of Riesling and headed out to catch up with the ship at noon in Durnstein and onward to Vienna.
We found out that the boat would be docked rather far from the Vienna city center which rather sucked and limited going into the city for the evening. We were given a larger map which was good and after a quick dinner, many on board left by bus for the special Vienna Waltz concert. They said it was really good. Tim and I set out with another couple and walked about 1.5 km towards the city center. The only interesting thing on the way was a hugh church at the waterfront.
The Short and Sweet on Melk.
- Best known for the massive Benedictine monastery named Stift Melk (Melk Abby).
- Rathaus or City Hall
The Food & Drink Experience:
They served Hungarian Goulash soup at 10:30 that night which was awesome. Dip bread into the broth and you are in heaven. I will now have to find a good recipe to recreate it as well as buying some Hungarian Paprika.
