Durnstein and Melk

Sun 29th April Durstein & Melk
The weather today was exceptional the local guide Franchesca who guided us through the village of Durnstein said that they had not had weather this warm at this time of the year for a very long time .
Durnstein has a story to tell about when Richard the lionhearted was captured by the Austrian king and held captive for over a year in the castle of Durnstein .
This castle is a ruin that an be accessed by a 25 min very steep uphill climb we didn't go up there!!
The rest of the village is delightful with small cobbled streets and houses that abut the street with windows right next to the footpath , it climbs steeply from the river bank and there is an obligatory church but this one is different in that it's blue and white in color, the main item for the souvenir shops is "Apricot " products , they sell schnapps, liqueur , jam we did avail ourselves of a few items before heading back to the boat for lunch.

While having our lunch the boat proceeded up stream toward Melk this journey takes us through the Wachau valley This is a "Unesco world heritage site " and was a pleasure to experience with glorious scenery and lots of grape vines on narrow terraces clinging to the side of the steep hills.

The town of Melk is dominated by the Abbey on the hill looking over the valley Crackers stayed on board while Lyn Val and I did a tour of the Abbey we had one of the best guides that we have encountered and he made the tour very interesting .After the tour we made our way back to the boat on foot via the small township.

This evening a rep from the area gave a talk on wine growing in the valley and we were able to sample some of the local wines before going to dinner which was again top notch .
Crackers will report on our trip to Salzburg tomorrow .