We have sailed this stretch of the Danube before and it wasn’t initially scheduled for this cruise. But the low water levels and its availability led to it being added to our itinerary… Hoo Boo !!
Similarly I wrote this up before but I’m going to do it again in more detail. This valley on the Danube River stretches 22 miles from Melk to Loiben headed east. It contains a “ microclimate” which our guide says makes it warmer in winter and a great area for the growing of grapes. This attracted the Romans and Napoleon…
Melk: Starting with the Melk Abbey, a stunning monastery on a bluff above the river which is even more stunning to see up close. I have a write-up on it. Its chapel is exceedingly close to Heaven on Earth. Unfortunately today we only saw it from our deck !!
Schönbühel Castle: Considered to be the gateway to the valley. Built in the 12th century, it perches 131 feet above the Danube and has guarded the entrance for over 1000 years !!
Aggstein Castle: Sitting 984 feet above the river, this castle was built in the 12th century and was renowned for its lords attempting to levy taxes for crossing below. This led to several sieges from other lords attempting to levy their own taxes on Danube transits. You can get married in the castle’s chapel today !!
Spitz: Spitz is the first town we encountered along the river. Its church, St. Michael’s, dates back to the late 10th century and is the oldest in the valley . Spitz is also known as “1000 buckets of wine.” That is because the hillside wineries yield 1000 buckets of wine each year.
The crops are grown on the side of the hillside in terraced acreage that would make the Inca proud!! I’m not really sure how they do it, but it’s been done for hundreds of years so they have it worked out. The Wachau Valley is known as a major wine tasting destination so they must be doing it well.
These are the remains of castles that were destroyed by Napoleon as he moved through the valley. Evidently Napoleon did not want these castles at his back after he moved on.
We also passed through several other villages. Each grew and cultivated their own wines, had a church that was initially built many hundreds of years ago, and housed families for many consecutive generations. They have adapted the old ways to the new ways of accommodating tourists on day trips from Vienna.
While we have been hampered by extremely low water levels in the Danube, it was great that our crew found this day of sailing for us and allowed us to revisit this beautiful river valley again!!!
The Adventures of Barry Brink 