Cruising through Austria and Germany

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Our cruise continues amid the possibility of either being restricted or cancelled due to the “unprecented” drought in Europe and low river levels. Before we left home we knew that we would be changing boats after day 7 with the possibility of spending the last two nights in hotels. Well we have the best possible outcome. We are changing boats after our visit to Regensburg and again after Miltenberg. Strangely the boat that we will be boarding in Dusseldorf will be the Scenic Pearl which should have been our original boat but as it was upstream it could not get to Budapest so we board the Scenic Jewel. When we left Budapest we sailed over a section where there was only 40 centimetres of water underneath us. We are now on the Opal. The logistics behind all of this is amazing.

Durnstein to Melk

This morning we are docked in Durnstein and we could walk into town for a wander around to look at this small village. Overlooking the village is the remnants of a castle where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned but we didn’t climb up. We returned to the boat and watched the cyclists head off for their ride into Melk. Our boat left 45 minutes late as we were blocked in by other boats. We set sail down the Danube through the beautiful Wachau Valley, a major wine growing region.Lots of terraced vineyards. We docked in Melk and visited the 18th century Benedictine Abbey which dominates the landscape above the town. It contains the remains of several of the house of Babenberg, Austrias first ruling dynasty. It was founded in 1089 and a monastic school was established in the 12th century. The current Abbey was built in 1702-36 and is renowned for its manuscript collections housed in 12 libraries. Magnificent inside and out.





Salzburg

Today we were on a coach to Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart. There were many references to the Sound of Music as lots of filming was done in Salzburg. Our guide told us the true and false aspects of the movie including the falsified ending. They did not flee but toured Europe performing in many cities before settling in the US. We continued on our tour of this lovely but very busy city. We were intrigued by the signs outside some shops, some of which were over 400 years old, that indicated the goods sold in the shop. They began as most people were illiterate so pictorial signs were best. It is against the law to remove them but they can be adapted to indicate the current occupant. I have included a picture of the Golden Arches. After our visit to the city we drove to a restaurant overlooking the city where we had lunch and a musical performance dedicated to the Sound of Music, Strauss and Bavarian music and instruments. The children who performed were delightful and funny.

Sailed that afternoon to Passau.



Regensburg

As we could not dock in Regensburg due to the river levels we were on the bus again. We actually drove past the part of the Danube that is the low point preventing boats to continue up or down. They need one more lock to regulate the flow but local politics has stopped it so far. We had an early lunch at a Brewhouse and then met our guide for a walking tour of the city starting at the Roman Wall. We continued to the Iron Bridge which covers the river. Close to the bridge is a sausage kitchen which opened in 1135 to feed the workers building the bridge. it is still open today selling the famous Regensburg sausages. The old town area is UNESCO protected. The city square is dominated by the St Peters Cathedral which took 250 years to complete and is currently under renovation.



Nuremberg

Today we moved to our new boat, the Scenic Opal. It was a long 3 hour bus trip with a fair bit of traffic. We have a different room number and so are on the other side of the boat. A quick lunch then on the bus for our trip into Nuremberg and a city tour culminating in a tasting of their sausages in a roll and beer. The different cities all have a slightly different recipe for their sausages and all have the “best”. 9 out of 10 houses were destroyed here during WWII. It was the site of many of the Nazi rallies and the war crimes tribunals after the war. We visited the cafe which is the home of Lebkuchen, a distinctive gingerbread made with nuts instead of flour.



Bamberg

Rain!!not enough to help anything yet. It stopped when we got into the city. We had chosen to do the city tour with a beer and pretzel tasting. There is a theme here in Germany and it is going straight to the hips!!
This is another beautiful city of medieval buildings. It was fortunately not bombed during the war. The history of the town is in its architecture and the highlight is the medieval town hall on the canal. It is known as the Little Venice of Bavaria.

There are 10 breweries in the town producing the unique Bamberg smoked beer (Rachbier). It has a smoky smell but is very tasty even though it looks dark. The pretzel was delicious.

We sailed from lunchtime and relaxed with an afternoon catch-up. We we’re then given a talk on the MDK canal which was opened in 1992. It was first recommended by Charlemagne and by many others over the years. It was opened and closed in various formats due to several wars etc. There are 100 locks and is built like a giant staircase. The highest point is 406 metres. 1 barge on the river is equivalent to taking 110 trucks off the roads. We took photos of the canal as it flows over the roads. A fascinating engineering feat.



Wurzburg and Rothenburg

We docked early today in Wurzburg and were able to walk into town and look at the bridges over the river. Lovely architecture again.

Back to the boat and taking the tour along the Romantic Rhine road to Rothenberg. The city is completely within a wall.Their history includes a 30 years war between Catholics and Protestants which was decided by a drinking contest. The town hall building celebrates this with figures raining their glasses on the hour. We did a group tasting of their sausages with some canny tourists lining up in our group for their share. Worth a try as 2 of the 3 got some before our guide noticed. We also tried Scneeball (Snowballs), a local specialty made of shortcrust pastry, deep fired and rolled in icing sugar. There is also plum schnapps somewhere in the recipe as well.

We walked down to the gardens where we got a great view over the city. The town also boasted many Xmas decoration shops with many of our group getting on the bus carrying similar bags.



We are sailing to Frankfurt, then Düsseldorf ( where we will get on the Scenic Pearl - ironically the boat we should have started on in Budapest) . We then sail to Amsterdam to complete our cruise. Not sure if I will catch up with the blogs. These relaxing river cruise are exhausting..

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Photos

Bischofspafalz
Bamberg

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Amazing Architecture
Beautiful.