UNESCO World Heritage Site #5 on this tour
Wachau is so lovely that I can't decide where to start, for this picturesque stretch of the Danube represents such a multiplicity of sights and activities -- vineyards, heurigers, legendary castles ruins, charming medieval towns and churches, and of course the glorious Stift Melk. Linking all these together on a river cruise on a fine sunny day would be the perfect day-trip from Vienna. Except it wasn't a fine sunny day, oh well.
The Sights:
Wachau generally refers to a short stretch of the Danube upstream of Vienna, between the towns of Melk and Krems. Most tourists would take the train to either town, then take a river cruise or a bike trip along the river to the opposite end. We did the river cruise from Melk to Durnstein, which was lovely even on a dark, drizzling day.
Our first stop was Melk, a quiet little town that would seem typical of Austria, except for the towering Stift Melk looming behind the narrow medieval town square. It's got this magical rustic charm that my wife even looked at the property asking prices when we passed by a real estate agency.
The Stift Melk is a visually striking Baroque monastery, but it's most famous for having Napolean as a former occupant.
The monastery now houses a museum that displays relics of historical significance as well as evangelizes the Catholic faith. Napolean himself used to unwind and chill out on the spacious balcony overlooking the Danube, though I'm not sure if the beautiful and immense library of religious tomes added to his reading pleasure. It certainly added to my viewing pleasure to see the beautiful frescos and wood carvings.
There are two narrow staircases of superb aesthetical quality. I believe I've seen a photo of these staircases by some famous photographer, so famous that the monastery has since roped off the area and placed a mirror on the ground to let tourists enjoy the view without touching and ruining it. So I also placed my point-and-shoot camera on the ground to emulate that photo...hah!
And then, there's the best moment of the tour, the entry into the chapel. My only word to describe it is...
Gold. Golden altars. Golden statues. Golden reliefs. Golden pillars and railings and window sills. Virtually everything was either covered in gold leaves or carved out of red marble. You have to see that opulence to believe it.
From Melk we boarded a DDSG boat and cruised down the Danube. The weather turned even gloomier and colder and we didn't bring enough clothing (it was close to 30 degrees Celcius in Vienna the previous day). For most of the cruise we stayed inside the cabin to hide from the wind and light rain, while rushing back to the deck everytime a photo-worthy village or castle or church drew near. Yes, crazy but fun.
It was the landscape of fairytales, with charming little villages encroaching on the waterfront and narrow cascading terraces full of vineyards behind them, complete with romantic castle ruins on the hilltop in the background. Even a rainy day couldn't hide its beauty.
We chose to forego the last 20 minutes of the cruise and alighted at Dürnstein, the second last stop. Its slender blue Baroque church is THE quintessential Wachau representation -- we could hardly go into a souvenir store and not see a picture of it.
The small town of Dürnstein has only a few winding cobblestone streets with funny-looking houses and is even less commercialized than Melk. That whole rustic charm thing keeps getting better and better...maybe we should just move here and learn to speak German.
Dürnstein is also famous for its castle ruin, where England's King Richard the Lionhearted was once imprisoned on his way back from the Crusades. It was raining lightly but my wife said don't be a wuss! and so we hiked a good 20 minutes uphill to the ruin. Turned out we weren't the only ones as we ran into a small group of Americans on the way down. For all the trouble of huddling under a small umbrella and watching out for the slippery cobblestone stairs, the view was worth ten times it.
The Food:
Stockingerhof
Dürnstein 240
http://www.stockingerhof.com
Cold, slightly soaked and hungry after clambering down from the castle, we walked to the edge of the small town towards the vineyards with one sole purpose. It was our last day in Austria and we wouldn't leave without experiencing the 200-year-old Austrian tradition of the heuriger.
The heuriger, or wine tavern, is an Austrian institution initiated by an old edict from the emperor, where citizens were permitted to grow and sell their own wines. Vintners can open heurigers and sell their new wines (ie. less than a year old) at a much reduced tax rate, with the condition that full restaurant meals cannot be served. Nowadays heurigers are generally concentrated in wine-producing regions such as Grinzing, Krems, Dürnstein etc, often situating right beside the vineyards where a patron can see grapes producing the same wine he is enjoying.
Stockingerhof is one such typical heuriger located a two-minute-walk south of the Dürnstein-Oberloiben train station. The simple village house multifunctions as a heuriger, a cellar, and a small bed-and-breakfast operation, accompanied by its own vineyard stretching all the way to the riverside. We quickly ducked into the warm cellar and ordered their house Steinfeder and Federspiel. Too bad I'm not knowledgeble enough to appreciate the subtle qualities of a supposedly world-renown white, but I did enjoy the good wine at a discounted price.
For food we ordered their jause (snack) plate, which was certainly not snack-sized. It was a platter of tasty home cured ham, bacon, headcheese, tongue sausage, eggs, cheese and other cured meats I've never tasted before. Didn't look very filling on first glance, but with all the wine and cheese and tasty bread rolls, it was enough for a light dinner for two.
We wanted to order more wine and asked Peter the owner about the various wines on his menu, and he would just casually smile and point at some of the items and say, "oh, this is a wine I made myself." We ended up ordering more wine and spritzer, plus a poppyseed roll for dessert. At the end we walked out with full stomachs, but woozy heads.
Cafe Rathaus
Rathausplatz 4, Melk
We had lunch at Melk prior to boarding the cruise. The restaurant was right in front of the fountain at the centre of the medieval town square, and aptly named Rathaus Restaurant after the town hall. A chalk board at the door showed the set 3-course lunch of the day and the price -- a measly 6.5 Euros.
My wife had the set lunch, which was a clear broth with dumplings, a thin steak in hollandaise, and a dessert I've forgotten. I had a dish of ham shavings and dumplings baked in a cheese sauce, which also cost around 6.5 Euros and was quite good and filling.
Transportation:
For years, ÖBB and the two major ship companies (DDSG and Brandner) operating in Wachau have combined to promote a "Schiff-Bahn-Kombiticket" which offers return train tickets from Vienna to Melk or Krems, a one-way cruise between Melk and Krems in either direction, and admission to one of four museum attractions (eg. Stift Melk) in the region. It's not cheap though, selling for 42.5 Euros during our visit, and offers only a slight saving.
But at the time of writing, ÖBB is offering a special "Einfach-Raus Ticket" for a total of 28 Euros which allows a group of 2 to 5 travellers to travel together for one entire day (09:00-24:00 for weekdays, or 00:00-24:00 on weekends). We bought one of these, plus two tickets for the DDSG cruise (17.5 Euros each), plus two admission tickets to the Stift Melk (7 Euros each). The total price of 77 Euros for two people is still 8 Euros cheaper than two Schiff-Bahn-Kombitickets. For 5 people travelling together, the price would drop to 30.1 Euros per person. Plus, this way we could travel from Dürnstein to Krems in this small one-car train, instead of having to arrive at Krems by boat and then walk 20 minutes to the train station.
River cruises from Krems to Melk and vice versa run three times a day, and the two cruise companies have competing, almost identical schedules. The ships also stop at Spitz and Dürnstein in the middle, so it's quite possible to get off at either town and do a three hour excursion, then catch the next ship to the final destination with the same ticket. The trip downstream takes 1 hour 50 minutes, while going upstream takes about 3 hours.
There are also scheduled ships going downstream to Vienna, or upstream to Linz and even Passau at the German border. Check DDSG's site for details.
Accommodation:
We didn't stay there. But if we did, we would probably have chosen Stockingerhof in Dürnstein, just because Peter was friendly and spending the night atop a heuriger would probably be a memorable experience. Melk is bigger and offers more choices, and walking around the town we saw at least a couple of small hotels and pensions. For links, see the links section below.
Miscellaneous Comments:
We should have brought warmer clothes, as we were unpleasantly surprised by the temperature difference from one day to the next. From close to 30 degrees celcius in Vienna the previous day, it dropped to about 10 while we shivered outside the locked waiting room at the Dürnstein station waiting for our train to Krems. We huddled and slept almost all the way back to Vienna.
Links to Transportation and Sights:
ÖBB (Austrian Rail) - http://www.oebb.at
DDSG (cruise company) - http://www.ddsg-blue-danube.at
Brandner (cruise company) - http://www.brandner.at
Donau Schiffahrt (another smaller cruise company) - http://www.donauschiffahrt.com
Stift Melk - http://www.stiftmelk.at
Town of Dürnstein - http://www.duernstein.at/
Stift Dürnstein - http://stiftduernstein.nmd1.at/
Heuriger Stockingerhof - http://www.stockingerhof.com/
Heuriger Alter Klosterkeller - http://alter-klosterkeller.at/
Cheap Accommodation Links:
(Double Room with Private Bathroom)
http://www.stockingerhof.com
http://www.schloss.at
http://www.pension-weisses-lamm-melk.at/
http://www.sternmelk.at
http://www.bedandbreakfastaustria.at
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