Cruising the Blue Danube, Which is Not So Blue Afterall.

LOCATION:

Melk and Krems, Austria

 

In doing a little trip research we found a lot of recommendations for the nearby Austrian towns of Melk and Krems, located on the Danube river. We took a train to Melk and first checked out the incredible Stift Melk ("stift" means donation - the building was given to the benedictines hundreds of years ago). It is a working Benedictine monastery, home to about thirty monks. It has also been through a number of renovations over the years depending on the main family responsible for the property, so it was cool to see the contrast of newer and old construction.

The front, the newer facade and the older tower on the right.

Beautiful views from the hilltop location!

 

The monastery also had an impressive - and very modern - museum, which we took a guided tour of. Up until now I have been eagerly seeking out war history lessons, but the museum (and our amazing guide!) inspired a new topic of interest - art history. I did take a few art history classes in college and vaguely remember the different periods, but the few things I learned in just this one hour tour raised more questions.

 

Look at those facial expressions! It never occurred to me that before people could read, paintings were the way stories were told.

Jesus is depicted smiling, with no crown of thorns or blood. He is depicted differently depending on the era - later He is presented as a suffering Jesus rather than calm and angelic.

 

After the monastery tour, we boarded a boat to cruise down the Danube to the town of Krems. We were easily the youngest people on the boat, which is kind of fun. The scenery was incredible, seeing castle ruins and other ports along the journey. We had purchased a bottle of Pinot from the monastery, so the two hour ride unexpectedly turned into a fun little booze cruise for us.

Views from the boat.

Blue church, and castle ruins on the hilltop!

 

Keeping it classy - wine from a beer glass. At least it was blessed by monks.

Sneaking a picture with the unsuspecting captain!

 

The monochromatic lady behind me was my favorite person on the boat - it takes a lot of effort to match everything!

 

Krems is known for its wine production, and although this wine wasn't made by monks, we decided to sample some of the local varieties. I love dessert wine - it's so sweet and delicious! So in addition to a dry Krems Riesling (not my fave) we tried a moscato and an Eiswein (ice wine) and weren't disappointed.

So good!

 

Two final highlights of the trip were seeing the awesome statues outside of the caricature museum (at least we think that's what it was!) and Erin finally fulfilling her life-long craving for Smurf gelato. Smurfs, apparently, taste like bubblegum. Blue-ish green Danube day trip success!

Isn't this lady amazing?

 

Gelato dreams come true in Krems!

 

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