Melk is a pretty little town that is towered over by a HUGE abbey. It’s funny that even though the population here (about 5,000) is much bigger than Hallstatt, there are a lot less tourists so it actually seems quieter. And that was even with a festival going on! (Of course I’d stumble on to the local festival.) It was fun with these 3 guys roaming around playing music at all the sidewalk cafes. They had the biggest frying pan I’ve ever seen frying up all kinds of sausage but I opted for a nice thin crust pizza!
I included various shots of the abbey to try to show how large and long it is. My two favorite are the reflection in the water and the silhouette at sunset with the two planes streaking overhead. I hope to tour it either tomorrow or the next day. It was established as a Benedictine abbey in the 11th century but was destroyed by fire. During an 18th century Baroque building boom, the ruling Habsburgs had it redone.
If the weather stays nice tomorrow I’m hoping to bike along the Danube river (yes, the Blue Danube!) from Melk to a little town called Krems and stop at various villages in between. Did you know that the Danube flows 1,770 miles through 10 countries from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea in Romania? (Sounds like my trip! Lol). It is Western Europe’s longest river (the Rhine River is only half as long). OK, that’s your fun factoid for today!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 