I can hardly believe that I have been home since mid-evening on Friday 10th May. It's Thursday 16th May mid-morning as I begin this promised Blog. I still have Vienna and Budapest to write and I want to do a more technical blog about the Rhine – Main-Danube Canal that I hope you will find interesting to complete this record of my 1811km cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest.
We left Melk just after lunch and entered the Wachau Valley a stretch of the Danube between Melk and Krems. This wonderfully scenic part of the Austrian landscape is equivalent to the Rhine Gorge but nowhere near as deep and rocky and only took an hour to traverse with a castle or two to observe on the way.
The Wachau Valley Is famous for some distinctive wines produced from the from Grüner Veltliner and Riesling grapes. The area is also famous for its apricots and other soft fruits that are distilled into many brands of Schnapps with many sellers in the small town of Dürnstein, our next destination, offering free tastings of their locally distilled Schnapps. Hence the description 'Schnapps Heaven"!
The Grüner Veltliner grape is grown on the steep south-facing sloped terraces, where optimum sunshine combined with fresh acidity from the altitude of the sites leads to beautifully concentrated flavours such as Lime, Spice, White pepper, Green apple, Lemon and White peach. I personally like this style of wine but of course it's not everyone's taste.
Dürnstein has another claim to fame in that Richard the Lino Heart was imprisoned in the now ruined castle on his return from the Crusades. Wikipedia tells me that Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192 when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, after a dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart had offended Leopold the Virtuous by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the Duke also suspected that King Richard had ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Jerusalem. In consequence Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold for capturing a fellow crusader. The duke finally gave custody of the king to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle – near Reichsberg Germany.
Another story goes that Richard had to pay a ransom of 90,000 pennies for his release but that's not mentioned by Wikipedia.
It was a hot afternoon but a lovely walk along the Danube from our mooring and up the steep slope to the town centre. The Schnapps tastings establishments were doing a roaring trade! I bought some handmade metal fridge magnets in the form of a bug-eyed butterfly, a wasp and a snail with wobbly antennae!!
On leaving the shop I also learnt an important fact 'There are no Kangaroos in Austria'! Intrigued? I will explain all in my next post.
