Through the Wachau

Today we rode through the beautiful Wachau Valley of Austria which is its most famous and largest wine country. The hills along both sides of the Danube are all terraced steeply up with grape vines. The route was peppered with the most amazing scenery and wound through s everal quaint, old and historic towns. It wasn’t a long ride (35 km) but we took our time to see all of the towns and enjoy the beautiful day. Again it was a spectacular fall day with temperature in the low 20’s and full sun. There was a coolness of autumn in the air and the trees are started to change colour and drop their leaves--the perfect time to cycle anywhere! The Wachau, besides wine, is also well-known for its apricot production and it seemed there were apricot specialities to be had everywhere -- liquors, candles, soaps, pastries such as the Washauer Marillenknodel - a sweet dumpling filled with apricot. We first visited Durnstein one of the valley’s most famous towns. This is where Duke Leopold V held King Richard the Lion-Heart of England captive. He was held in the Kuenringer Castle and the ruins still overlook the town. The castle was built in the 12th century. The streets of this town were very busy today - a Saturday and a tourist town. It seemed there were a lot of walkers out (perhaps from walking tours in the region) as well as bikers of all sorts. It was interesting navigating these old streets and it is an amazing little town. We were treated to a free apricot candle from one of the main souvenir shops where they also make their own schnapps and chocolate. We passed on the schnapps but did get some chocolate. Again today we travelled on the Euro Velo 6. And again we’ll say ’what an amazing trail!’ There were bikers coming regularly from both directions along this pathway. Some were obviously on a long haul ride (as evidenced by their packed panniers) and others seemed to be out for a Saturday ride with friends to visit a local tavern or coffee shop along the way. It was really such a thoroughly enjoyable day in a beautiful area. What a nice ending to a tremendous week of cycling through Europe along the Donau! We stopped at a coffee shop in one of the towns and had a delicious poppy seed pastry with cappuccino. They use a lot of poppy seed in this area (yum!). We also stopped at a local tavern/restaurant for a beer and then parked ourselves on a bench in the middle of a vineyard to eat the remainder of our lunch and enjoy the setting. We were constantly passed by bikers and some Nordic walkers -- it is so great to see this amazing pathway being so well used in all of the countries we have cycled this trip. We also stopped for a short water break at St. Michael which is a hamlet of only 13 houses and less than three dozen inhabitants. It was, from 987 onward the only parish here and provided care for the people in the Wachau for a very long time. Tonight, prior to our farewell dinner, the captain had a cocktail party where all of the crew were introduced and thanked for their hard work in making the trip successful. Dinner was culminated with the chefs' march through the room with several baked Alaska with sparklers on top. A delightful end to a memorable week on the Danube!