Overview
This post covers the Austrian portion our 9 country 35-day adventure across Europe and picks up as we leave Hungary. This included a trip to Transylvania in Romania, a 23-day Viking River cruise across Europe from Bucharest to Amsterdam and then a trip that we arranged after the cruise to both Belgium and The Netherlands.
An overview of this trip can be found at A European Sojourn with links to the other segments of the trip listed below in the summary.
Day 1 – Budapest to Vienna River Cruising
We left Budapest in the previous evening and awake in the morning to find that we are going through yet another lock. We spend a good portion of the day up on the sun deck soaking in the views of small towns, occasional castles, churches and ships as they pass us on the river. At times we pass towns where we can look directly into the main center of town. At close to sunset, we reach the outskirts of Vienna where we dock. Unlike Budapest, where were docked in the heart of the city, we will need to take a bus to get to the downtown area and other sites in the city. We watch the sunset, then go have yet another great dinner on board and retire in preparation for a full day ashore tomorrow.
Day 2 – Vienna
Walking Tour of Vienna
At 8:30 the next day we catch the bus from the ship to the center of Vienna where we have a 4-hour walking tour of many monuments, ornate government buildings and the city center of Vienna. We head back to the ship around 1:00 for a quick lunch because we need to catch our second tour of the day to the Schönbrunn Palace.
Schönbrunn Palace
The afternoon focus of our Vienna visit is a palace originally built as a hunting lodge for Emperor Leopold I in the late 17th century. It was later transformed into a grand imperial summer residence by Empress Maria Theresa in the mid-18th century. The Palace features stunning Baroque architecture, with 1,441 rooms showcasing the opulence and grandeur of the Habsburg dynasty. The interiors are adorned with exquisite frescoes, ornate chandeliers, and luxurious furnishings. In addition, it is surrounded by vast gardens that include beautifully manicured lawns, a zoo (since 1752 – the oldest continuously operating zoo in the world), fountains, and statues.
We tour the stunning interior for a couple hours and then at the entrance we pay for a horse-drawn carriage to scope out its vast 460 acres of gardens. Schönbrunn Palace and its gardens have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we found this to be a great must see stop.
Day 3 – Vienna to Melk Austria Scenic Sailing through the Wachau Valley
The ship sets sail again in the evening after our palace tour and sails throughout the night. We wake and find it’s a little overcast and foggy in the morning, but it clears enough as the morning goes by that we can enjoy the scenery of the Wachau Valley area of Austria. This valley is famous for its terraced vineyards, rolling hills, and charming villages and is a popular destination for hiking, cycling, and river cruises. We even catch a glimpse of a few castles as we move through the valley. This region is one of the one of Austria’s premier wine regions. It would have nice if the weather had been a little clearer, but it was beautiful scenery none the less. This area was also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
Melk Abbey
In Melk Austria we pull in and dock for a stop at Melk Abbey, a very ornate Baroque monastery perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube River the town of Melk. The abbey features a lot of elaborate frescoes, gilded altars, and stunning sculptures. We got to also visit the large library containing thousands of manuscripts and books, many of which date back to the Middle Ages.
Although there are only handful of monks still working at the Abbey, it continues to play an important educational role, with a school that serves nearly 900 pupils.
Melk and an Octoberfest
After the Abbey tour we have about 90 minutes of free time to explore the town below. There are steps from the Abbey that lead directly to the town center. From the Abbey we saw what looked like a little fair but it wasn’t until we got to the bottom and into the town center that we realized it was an Oktoberfest with live music, beer and food as well as crafts and other goods. We wish we had more time to hang out here but we needed to catch the bus back to the ship.
Melk to Ybbs
After boarding the bus we travel through farmland around Melk to where the ship is now docked in Ybbs. As had been the case for most of road trips we were let off the ship at one port and it continued up stream to another while we toured.
Day 4 – A Road Trip to Salzburg Austria
Passau Germany
We wake the next day docked in Passau. We learn we are docked across the river from Veste Oberhaus Fortress built in 1219. Today it includes a museum, a youth hostel, a restaurant, and an open-air theater. Passau would have been a great stop for us, but today we chose an all-day tour that takes us back into Austria to Salzburg.
As we leave Passau, we get a glimpse of the town – it definitely looks interesting to wander around. Perhaps on some future trip we will get the chance.
Passau to Salzburg
We are going to head south from Passau for about 2 hours so we can reach our objective today 0 Salzburg Austria. The drive is very scenic as we pass farms and small villages until we come into sight of Salzburg with it silhouetted against the Austrian Alps.
Salzburg
Salzburg is famously known as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Salzburg takes every opportunity to promote it. In addition, many of the landmarks within the city were used as backdrops for the movie “The Sound of Music”. When we returned from this outing, we just had to watch the movie again to see the various places in the movie we just visited (it was playing on Viking TV).
Mirabell Palace and Gardens
The first stop of our tour was the Mirabell Palace and its Gardens. Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau had the Palace (originally called Schloss Altenau) built in 1606 for his mistress and their 15 children. His successor, Marcus Sittikus, banished mother and children from the palace, which he re-named “Schloss Mirabell” [from the Italian mirabile “wonderful” and bella “beautiful”]. Today the palace houses the offices of the Salzburg mayor and the municipal administration.
As for the gardens, the basic geometrical form characteristic is of the Baroque age. In the Sound of Music, Maria and the Von Trapp children sing “Do Re Mi” while dancing, running and skipping around Mirabell Gardens. We recognize the gnome garden, the Pegasus fountain they leap off of before finishing the song on the steps.
Kapitelplatz Fountain
This fountain was built in 1732 and is modeled after Roman fountains. The Baroque figure of Neptune, the god of the sea, holding a trident and crown, is mounted on a seahorse spurting water
Residence Square
As we walk around, we pass through Residence Square with its large richly decorate baroque fountain.
Saint Peter’s Abbey Church
Before heading to lunch, we stop head to Archabbey St. Peter, the oldest monastery in the German-speaking area. It was founded in the 7th century by Bishop Rupert of Worms as a monastery with the purpose of proselytizing the area. St. Peter’s Abbey Church (more commonly referred to as “Peter’s Church”) is one centerpiece of this Benedictine monastery. We take a quick look inside.
Saint Peter’s Cemetery
St Peter’s Cemetery is actually older than the Abbey itself. Numerous funerary monuments and crypts around the late-Gothic Margarethenkapelle in the center of the grounds make St Peter’s Cemetery so impressive. Famous personalities, artists, scholars and merchants found their final resting place here. The catacombs are caves carved into the fortress hill. They are most likely of late did not serve as burial sites but as early Christian meeting places. Although this beautiful cemetery wasn’t used as a background in the Sound of Music it was the inspiration for the set used in the movie scene.
Lunch
After touring the church and grounds we are taken to a old reception hall where we are treated to not only lunch, but a “Sound of Music” show where the singers where very good.
Walking Around Salzburg
With its location nestled against the mountains, Salzburg is a beautiful town to walk around in.
Salzburg to Vilshofen Germany
We board the bus for a return trip to the ship now anchored in Vilshofen Germany. This is great from our prospective because we get to another part of the rural area and some parts of southern Germany. About halfway through the trip, we cross the border into Germany we are surprised to see is a border check point looking for illegal migrates (at least that’s what we are told).
As the sun sets we are back on board and ready to head off from our next stop which is Regensburg Germany.
Summary
We were in Austria just long enough to get a flavor for the country and would definitely come back here again. While we were docked in Vienna for 2 nights, we only had 1 full day and all our time there was consumed by 2 different tours. We need to get back here to explore more on our own. We also really liked our road trip to Salzburg and seeing the rural countryside. Our adventure now continues in Germany.
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