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Published: August 13th 2015
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We got away at around 8.30 and biked directly to Melk, 10kms down the trail. We had read that this was a very beautiful town so wanted to spend time there. The town is lovely, so after parking our bikes we did a street tour using a map describing the many lovely buildings before making our way up the hill to the monastery. The monastery up on the hill is huge and beautiful and I couldn't help but wonder on the fall of Catholicism from it's former glory when these institutions would have hummed with activity. The monastery is supposed to house the largest library of it's kind in the world. We opted not to do a tour as it would take us too far into the day and the accompanying heat. Instead we walked the monastery gardens which were mainly made up of structure, trees and shrubs.
We collected our bikes and puffed our way to the top of the hill to get the path to the bridge back over the Danube. It was quite a convoluted way to get back on the path after we zoomed our way back down to the river on the other
side.
I should mention that this is the Wachau Region of Austria and it is known for it's beauty of orchards and vineyards climbing up the slopes with pretty villages through the valley. There are several keeps, castles and ruins to see as well as very old quaint towns.
Our next encounter was with the St Michael church sitting by itself above the river where it served as a church to the villages of the Wachau as well as a watch tower from marauders. The main part was 500 years old with a much older tower section and chapel below the surface piled with skulls on an alter. I wonder what that was all about. Outside we met our first Kiwis since leaving NZ and they were cruising and biking with E-bikes. They commented on how unfriendly non English speaking people were on the boat. We had heard this before from others who had done the trip. We are biking with Kiwi flags on our carriers and today was the first time we got comments. Once from an old man who had been to the N Is on a cruise, then an English lady
St Joseph's church above the Donau
The main building is 500 years old with a much older tower and chapel behind the church (on the right). The tower looked out for marauders coming up the valley biking with her kids who had been to N 20 years ago, and then the NZ'ers. Nice. We are finding that there are very few English speakers on the trail which is not what we really expected.
At Joching we had vouchers for a free bottle of Austrian wine which took some hunting down but we eventually found the place and claimed our wine. Further along a Gurnstein we were to have done some schnapps tasting which we also had vouchers for. That was the last thing we wanted on a hot day so flagged that one.
The day was moving on and the temperature going steadily up to it's usual level and we still weren't close to Kremms. We endevoured to have a stop for lunch but walked away from one place because of the delays and rude waitress. We instead opted for iced tea and an icecream at a smoked fish place (strange but we were getting desperate). That kept us sustained until we had to find our way into the city and locate the hotel. As always, this is the most difficult part w hen there are many streets, people and
The things that some people do to keep cool
Karilyn cooling her feet in a drinking fountain in Kremms. Needs must when it's 32 degrees at 8.30pm cars to navigate but we got there thoroughly exhausted and our usual hot and sweaty selves dying for a lie down and a cold shower.
Kremms is another lovely city with ancient buildings. We biked through the main street and later after dinner walked around some of the streets. There is never enough time to explore after biking and usually we're too knackered to be bothered - not because of distance but because of the weather which continues on very hot. Another 35+ day.
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