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Published: November 3rd 2013
Budapest to Salzburg
Pretty countryside en route (through the rain on the bus window)When you're embarking on 580 km to your destination in a bus, I guess you'd think the weather wouldn't matter much. However, this part of our journey involved some of the most beautiful scenery of any of our days of travel on this tour, so it was a shame that we had rain for most of the day. Passing from Budapest to well into Austria, it was pretty much flat farmland and reading a book helped to while away the first few hours. We then entered Austria's Wachau Valley, picture-postcard villages and vineyards along a lovely stretch of the Danube, edged along one side by mountains. Even in the rain, in this area you could see why the Danube is referred to as "blue".
At lunchtime, we stopped at Melk Abbey, a Benedictine abbey listed as UNESCO World Heritage and among the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river adjoining the Wachau valley. We had some warming soup in the Monastery restaurant then headed for a quick tour of the Abbey itself. It was a shame we had a time limit there as it was the
Melk Abbey
Impressive entrance sort of place in which you could spend the whole day! We examined the many treasures housed there, then the amazingly beautiful library and overly ornate but jaw-dropping church. We purchased some postcards of the Library as it was forbidden to take photos in there.
On the last leg to Salzburg, we had an unexpected stop for Kaiser Kaffee Melange at a restaurant with a great view of the Danube and Alps even in the rain. After you drink the black coffee with cream and chocolate, you get to take the fancy mug home...our suitcases are very likely to be overweight on the way back!
After checking in to the Ramada Hotel in Salzburg we had a pleasant walk for about half an hour to the Old Town. The rain had stopped and the sky had cleared so tomorrow is looking good for a further inspection of this area.
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