Friday 9/18- Many visitors to this area visit the impressive Melk Abbey. We saw the abbey at Melk on our last visit, so we decided to visit the Gottweig Abbey nearby. While not as ornate or impressive as the abbey at Melk, it was still a pleasant place to visit. There is a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the surrounding area and it was a beautiful sunny day, so we decided to enjoy some apple strudel and ice cream on their terrace. Yum!
We also visited the ruined Aggstein Castle. The road up was a little confusing as it didn't really look like a road, more like someone's driveway really. But we persisted and were so glad we did because there was indeed a parking area at the top. If we had stopped and parked down below, it would have been quite a hike to get up there. We saw one couple who were walking down the hill and it was fairly apparent that one of them was not happy with the other. We're pretty sure one of them had insisted on parking at the bottom instead of trying to go further up the road and now they were both regretting that decision. Glad that wasn't us!
The castle is relatively intact for a ruin, we had fun climbing the various towers, stairs and platforms. From the top tower you could see all the way to Schonbuhl Castle which is situated on a huge rock outcropping further down the river. We had to hurry a little at the end because it had clouded over and started to rain on us. We do love exploring those old castles though!
Today is Saturday, our 3rd day in Durnstein. We took the little people-and-bike ferry across the river to get some photos of Durnstein from the other side. We then drove down to St. Michaels's to see the fortified church there and check out the little rabbits on the roof, it has to do with a local legend about a huge snowstorm that piled snow so high that the little rabbits just walked right over to the roof of the church. They were then frozen there forever, poor bunnies.
There was a concert festival last night and again tonight directly across the river from our hotel so we've been treated to a free concert for 2 nights. I have to say I'm really liking a couple of the songs, I'll have to try to find them on iTunes. Tonight was really special though because upriver they released a bunch of floating flames to float thei way down the river. It was hard to tell exactly, but they appeared to be a floating disc (maybe frisbee-sized) with a small flame on it. The effect of all these little firelights floating down the river in the darkness was just beautiful. And then there were fireworks! What a perfect evening!
One funny thing though, when we did the Danube River cruise 6 years ago they brought a local folk music group onboard to entertain us. They sang local music but then they also sang "Country Roads" - you know, the old John Denver song. Then later that same week, we were in a different town and there was a group of 20-something kids at the fortress. One of the girls had a guitar and was singing "Country Roads"! I remember thinking, what are the odds of that? We never hear that song at home anymore but we've heard it twice in one week in Austria and Germany.
Well at this concert in Durnstein, one of the performers sang......you guessed it! "Country Roads"! I just laid in bed and laughed at that. Mike was asleep so I didn't wake him up. The next night, they sang it again! I'll have to see if some Austrian group also recorded it.
We hate to leave Durnstein and our lovely hotel but we are moving on to Salzburg tomorrow.
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