Visiting a 12th CENTURY Winery in Austria’s Wachau Valley (Danube River Cruise)

Visiting a 12th CENTURY Winery in Austria’s Wachau Valley (Danube River Cruise)

[Music] good morning from Austria so today looks very different than Vienna did yesterday we’re in a small town on a beautiful countryside this morning we’re in cremes today’s one of those interesting days on a river cruise where you visit two different ports in one day so this morning we’re in cremes we have a walking tour then we get back on the ship for lunch we sail down the river a bit more and we will be in spits this afternoon we have another walking tour this afternoon and a third event which is a wine tasting at a winery so that’s going to be very exciting before we get back on the ship for dinner to sail to our next destination so today’s going to be busy let’s get going bus time so just in the 10-minute ride from cremes to derstein we learned that we are in the Vaca Valley and this is Wine Country this is where the white grapes are grown and there’s a several different ones but reasing is grown here everyone’s heard of reasing and there is a beautiful church here and there’s a castle ruin back from oh gosh they said that a king was imprisoned in 1192 King Richard the lionard of England was imprisoned here it’s a ruin now we’re not going to get to get in it but we can see it and this looks so different than what we saw in Vienna yesterday there’s Hills everywhere you can see the where the grapes are grown they’re staggered up and it’s beautiful and it’s apricot season so the apricot trees are starting to bloom good time to be [Music] here the grape Vines are prepped and ready and we’ll start blooming in a couple of months so they’re all like trimmed back tied off and ready to go so very soon The Grapes will be produced and then the wine will be produced here this is really cool cuz you can still see see part of the original medieval wall that surrounded the town or the city here right here and it’s in such good condition for being as old as it is keep walking my tour is leaving me every now and then the danu floods and the waters get really really really high and you can I can only imagine cuz see how low the water is right now and then you turn around behind me and you see this chart on the wall of How High the waters have gotten before that would be terrifying to live here and see those Waters [Music] climbing not really rabbit this is apricot flavored chocolate and it’s delicious okay interesting story about the building behind me this is the batter house so this was the surgeon this is where you got a bath and this where you got a shave so he was the cleanest person he had sharp knives so he could take care of minor surgeries no training no medical training but he had the knives derstein is the cutest little town I mean they’ve got dates on the building so a lot of these date back to the 1600s obviously the church is Medieval the walls are medieval I mean I’m sorry the castle the r castle ruins are medieval the church and most the buildings are from the 17th century and they’re absolutely beautiful it’s just and it’s very hilly you’re walking up cobblestone streets it’s like just like that picture perfect what you think of of this part of the world stunning we are in the courtyard of a late medieval building this is actually city hall right here if you’re going to get married these are the steps that you go up to to the registry office but standing in this Courtyard is very interesting CU you can see how they lived back then especially this chimney so this was the kitchen in in the house and this is where all the cooking was done for the family and you know because this was City Hall you know for for many more people and you can see the chimney going up and that’s the clean out of how you know cuz back then the chimney sweeps had to come on a regular basis and clean your kitchen out but it’s just really cool standing in this building so we’re in an older section so a few minutes ago everything was from the 1600s we’re in an older section now this is a lot of 14 00s [Music] buildings so the official walking tour is over and we have about an hour and a half free time in this little town I’m so excited we’re just going to walk there’s um apricots are really big so there’s lots of shops that have you know freshly made apricots of course there’s Winery STS so I bet you can find apricot wine too I bet that’s a thing so we’re going to just walk around we might probably not but might hike up a little bit to see the ruins but they said it’s very very steep so probably won’t do that but they said if you can go up just a little bit you can get a good shot of it so we might but we’ll go see the monastery we’re going to go wander around a little [Music] bit I think 9:45 a.m. is a little early for shots but they do have samples of the different lurs in here if you want to try them I’m going to pass for now magnet yes please well when you in the land of apricots you’re going to get things that contain apricots so I have an apricot drink to go with my apricot filled dut powdered donut M the apricot filling in the middle a slight fluffy donut me shake it up first just in case there’re sediments we’re going to see how much I really like apricots oh that’s yummy that’s really good really really good so so far I’ve had rabbit Chi AKA apricot flavored chocolate drops apricot drink and apricot flavored dut or fil dut so I think I’m checking the apricots off the box for today okay so I have to show the other side of the donut didn’t have a lot of apricot filling it’s all down here and it’s really [Music] good such a cute little Bakery that was a great experience had my little taste of apricots for the day well you didn’t think I would actually leave without going and buying some rabbit right this is just too funny I’m going to take that home to the kids they’re going to love it and it actually really does taste good okay we’re heading into derstein Abbey right now not into the Abbey but into the area we’re not allow we were not allowed to go in there earlier as an organized group but as individuals we can go in there and check it [Music] out so we’re in the courtyard of the Abbey right now in this Fountain right here which is not on but it’s still a fountain is dated to 1670 and this Courtyard almost your voice almost echoes in here because of the way the building is and the colors are beautiful the walls are painted yellow like gold and there’s an entrance a very elaborate beautiful entrance into the church itself but the church is locked so we cannot get inside of there but um we’re hoping I think we’re going to have to walk all the way around to try and get the church view from the front this mirror is interesting so it’s in the courtyard and when you stand in front of the mirror you’ve got this beautiful reflection of the um Abby behind you that’s the most interesting like selfy capture I’ve ever seen in a place like this before so since I couldn’t get in to see the monastery from the back I’m taking the path back down this is a little winding path through the walls are very very high on both sides of me see that and cobblestone streets and there’s this interesting smell of sulfur not sure why that emanates in parts of this little walkway and look it gets really dark and then looking straight down I can see into the danu okay so I made it back down this is the same spot that we came to on the walking tour but it was very quick it’s just like okay here’s the monastery let’s turn around and go back that way so I’ve got some time now to just kind of really sit and and look at everything look now I must say there’s a dock right there how awesome would that have been if that’s where our ship was docked just saying that’s a better spot than where we are right now so behind me there’s just these like massive walls of rock and then the city is built on top of them I love seeing that architecture and just knowing that this was done hundreds of years ago and they figured out how to build a city on top of you know these these uneven surfaces it’s beautiful here it’s just Hills and hills and small mountains really um and then the danu coming through so the danu carved out this Valley many many many years ago and it’s just stunning so where we are now we’re we’re in Austria yesterday we were in Austria today looks totally different it’s an absolutely beautiful place look how clear the water is you can see you know through through the water to the sand below where I live I live near the Mississippi River you can’t see that it’s muddy and this is one of the many many apricot trees here in this area where we get the yummy apricot jams and jellies and drinks and things like that but we’re here at the blooming season so he said the blooming season only lasts about 2 weeks we’re here in March and you can see all the blooms all over the trees so apricots are coming and from right here in the vineyard is the best place that I’m going to see the castle ruins so the castle is up on the hill you can see this the old medieval city wall around it I’m a history buff I’m an architecture buff and that is super cool to me to see these old ruined City walls with a modern city haha buildings from the 1600s modern within the walls still and the old castle ruins up top it’s just beautiful during the non witer part of the year there’s a fairy that will take you from this side of the danu to the other now it’s not running just yet we’re still here in mid-march considered winter time still and the ferry has not resumed yet for the year but this would be the little path that you would go down to the ferry and it says that this Ferry has been established since 1358 I’m sure they use a more modern boat now but this is pedestrians and bikes only that can go across here so I’m gonna walk on down and get a good shot of the river I just can’t get over how clear the water is in this River and when you get down to this level you can kind of see why it’s called the Blue danu to me it’s got a little bit more of a green tint to it but there’s definitely a hue to the water that is different and there’s Granite all around so I picked up this little piece of granite and that’s what most of the Rocks around here are built from the stone stairs and things like that are all granite and just all the different colors in this little piece of granite tells a lot of a story I could just sit here all day I’ve only got about 20 more minutes and I got to get back on the bus to get back on the ship to go to another stop down the river but man I could just sit here and just take in this beauty all day [Music] long we are back on the ship and we are in the alfresa dining room this is a very very front of the ship so this is one of those very cool days on a river cruise where you’re in one port in the morning you sail down the river during lunch and you’re in a different port in the afternoon so we’re going to sit here on the front of the ship and have those amazing views we could sit in the main dining room as well but this is just a little bit more I don’t know better views first off let me say that lunch was very good I enjoyed every bit of it the Austrian potato salad was surprisingly good like I’ve never had potato salad with like lettuce leaves before it was yummy the spinach tortillini was really good and then that burger hit the spot cuz the spinach taling was a very small portion so having that half a burger was spot on and that dessert oh my God I don’t know what that crusty little bits on the outside were but it was delicious so lunch was really good but you can see we haven’t moved so I was wrong about that part so I thought that we were going to be sailing during lunch from here to the next stop and then our next excursions at 25 but what’s happening is those of us that are doing the milk Abbey tour are going to get on the bus from here at 25 go toward the ABY and then they drop us off where the Spitz wine event is tonight so those that are have opted out of the Abbey they will Sail on the ship down to Spitz and meet us at the winery this evening so let’s see if I can leave my camera on board to capture the uh sailing down the danu we’ll see if I can find somebody that operate my camera for me because I will be going to the ABY the weather is fantastic so it’s chilly in the mornings it’s like you need long sleeves maybe a light jacket in the mornings but by midafternoon like this like short sleeves and flipflops would be perfect and then you know it gets a little chilly in the evening so mid-march is absolutely beautiful we’ve got no rain this week none in the for cast for the rest of the trip we just have Sunshine little bit chilly weather a little bit warm weather in the afternoon um I couldn’t ask for better but yeah so where we were this morning was further down river so whenever the Ship Sails it will go that direction and sail past um uh D derstein derstein where we were this morning all right we’re going to take a rest and then get ready for our next Excursion did you know that on each Port of a river cruise you can do a bike tour they keep bikes on the ship and they organize a bike tour in every port so if that’s your thing if you like biking how fun would that be I don’t have great balance and I fall sometimes on bikes so I’m not doing that but more to power to those that can it looks like a lot of [Music] fun [Music] okay we’re finishing up our bus ride from crems to milk which is where the ABY is it’s 36 km and this is the vau valley there’s no Bridges between uh these two points so along the way we had the most beautiful scenery because all of the apricot trees are blooming so all along both sides of the road were hundreds 100,000 trees full of um the apricot blooms they said the apricots will be they’re early this year about 2 weeks earlier than they usually are and the harvest season is typically in July which may actually come a little bit early as well since the blooms are early but man what a beautiful drive through here so we are pulling up now at the ABY of milk okay also just a little side note we also do a lot of rving and I saw a lot of small RVs and RV Vans along this road how fun would that be it is much cooler and it’s windy up here so we’ve gone across you know down the down U River across the river we’re on the other side now and then up a hill so we’re on a very high point beautiful views down of The Villages and there’s definitely a temperature difference up here than went whenever we left okay we are here at the Abbey of milk or as they say Steed milk I hope I’m saying that right and we have our group right here we’ve got our and we’re about to go in and I’m going to absorb all I can from this tour and we let you know what do they say I’ve got the information right here in my [Music] ear [Music] n [Music] the tour is over I’m going to give you as much information as I can remember in an hour and a half I could not Vlog inside the monastery obviously basically this Monastery was founded in 1122 but what you see right here was built in the 17th and 18th century the church the big beautiful Church inside was completed in 1746 it took 44 years to build that big beautiful Church a lot of great Stories the guide was very good I can tell you that uh we went through several rooms each room had a meaning to it the first room was very calm it had a blue light it represented meditation the second room had a green light it represented spring and each room had um that same type type of feel to it you know a theme each room had a theme they were really big on relics uh back in the day what is a relic A Relic is a piece of a saint like a literal piece of bone or usually bones so there were several relics in there where you could see a little piece of bone embedded in a cross or a chalice so they finally figured out that relics don’t really do anything for you but for a long time they thought well if we have this piece of a it will protect us beautiful uh Monastery beautiful Church another interesting fact there’s only 19 monks that live here this place is massive absolutely massive 19 monks the youngest is 38 and the oldest is in his ‘ 9s but this is also used as a school so during the day they have um School AG children here so the building’s not going to waste and of course there are tours we do have a little bit of free time after the tour of the monastery and there is a panoramic Terrace above the gift shop of course there’s a gift shop but up here is absolutely beautiful um I’m not sure what this building is there’s a sign I’ll probably read it but the grounds are really really pretty and this building is beautiful and it’s it’s pink like the monastery’s got this beautiful yellow gold there’s so much gold inside in the church itself and then over here this quaint little pink building doesn’t look like it matches the monastery but it’s a beautiful location and these trees down here so um all around the the ground they’ve planted these sycamore trees but they prune them in the shape of an umbrella and they call them umbrella trees there’s an old beautiful Cemetery down there and I really want to go explore it we don’t have time cuz I asked the guy I said do I have time to go to the cemetery and get back she says no it’s too far so it looks like it’s right there by the buses but I guess it’s really not it’s very peaceful up here you just look at you hear the birds chirping and you look out and you see mountains and you see the river and you see the valley and you see these old homes all around and then we’re in a monastery that you know is hundreds of years old this is why I like to travel to see the beauty of these countries that I’ve never been to before out in this Courtyard before you get into the monastery we’re on our way out there are exotic trees so during the summer they they will have tons of exotic trees they bring them inside for the winter and they’re just now starting to bring some of them back out here in mid-march see we’ve got olive trees we have palm trees things that are not not local to Austria but during the summer they can survive they just can’t survive a winter here we just had a nice ride back from milk to Spitz our ship has met us here in Spitz and the last Excursion of the day can you believe there three excursions in one day we are going into cluster Hoff which is a winery and they they have wine samples for us of local wines you saw how many wi how many Vineyards are along this River and so we’re going to get to taste some local wines and then when we’re done the ship is literally right there there’s a tunnel under the road that we will take back to the ship when we are done well this place is adorable they’ve got it set up for everybody that’s on the alma Magna special wine tasting just for the people on our ship that’s pretty cool I mean it’s said exclusive wine event and they meant it look [Music] at Cheers Cheers Cheers good it’s very light semi sweet semi dry very good this atmosphere is amazing oh my gosh we’re like down in a wine seller we’ve got live Austrian music it doesn’t get any better than this in Austria they don’t say cheers they say PR line number two is a Ling and the bottle is called Dona wling or like danu reing grown on the danu oh that’s yummy I like that one even better than the first one we do have a bottle of reasing on the ship oh God I forgot the cheers already gross gross terrible line number three isne wise which is a sweeter this experience is awesome let me just say that third one PR that’s good that’s my favorite that’s really sweet so don’t get up and run away from these things most everybody left there was just a handful of people just said would you like a seller tour I’m like yes please this is [Music] amazing [Music] [Applause] [Music] this was the most incredible experience local wine local music right here across like we’re going to like go through a tunnel to get back to our ship way to go on the waterways this was awesome listen to the music keeps going what an amazing night oh my gosh and by the way all excursions are included in your cruise fair so this didn’t cost us anything extra AMA waterways just made it happen this is incredible oh my gosh love it they’ve made a tunnel that goes under the street that takes us from the winery to our cruise ship on the river this is the beat most beautiful Walk we’re literally leaving a Vineyard where they’ve made the wine we drank the wine we walked under tunnel under the street and now we’re walking through these beautiful trees to our cruise ship on the river well that is a wrap for today we went to dinner tonight we had a group dinner so I did not bring this camera but here’s everything that we had for dinner I did make sure to take a little snippet of each of that um we had a trout tart for appetizer no that was not good but the Caesar salad was very good the lamb was fabulous it was so good that everybody in the table loved it we asked for more lamb and they brought this huge platter of lamb so that was really really good and then the for dessert we had a crepe Suzette with orange marmalade and vanilla ice cream butterscotch was it butterscotch ice cream it was so good it was so good so needless to say it’s been a long day three excursions a big dinner and I’m tired see my mountain of pillows Sarah said I have to show everyone my mountain of pillows because I have four pillows and this is how it is when I come to bed at night with a chocolate on top so see you tomorrow we will be in salsburg Austria tomorrow and we have done our homework and watched The Sound of Music because it is on demand in this cabin and we have watched it and our neighbors know we’ve watched it because they asked us are you actually watching Sound of Music over there yeah we are okay see you tomorrow bye [Music]

Yesterday was a big city and today is about small villages… three of them actually! Today, we have three excursions in three different towns. We are in the Wachau Valley which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a region of picturesque Austria!

First up, we dock in Krems and hop a bus for a quick 10 minute drive along the river to Dürnstein which offers a unique combination of breathtaking scenery, traditional architecture and places of historic interest. Here we are able to stroll the charming streets of this fairy tale village which even include a castle ruin! Our walking tour took us through medieval cobblestone streets and 16th century townhouses. There are two main landmarks to this town, with the most visible being the luminous blue facade of the Baroque Stiftskirche, Dürnstein’s famed church cloister which is considered the most beautiful of its kind in all of Austria. And high above the town we could see the ruins of castle where Richard the Lionheart (King of England) was imprisoned in 1192. There are vineyards and apricot trees all around town and these are the two most popular products… so I had to go to a cafe and try an apricot filled donut with an apricot nectar juice… the wine will come later. Honestly, this was one of the most picturesque places I have ever seen and I could have just sat by the river all day enjoying the beauty!

Visiting Melk Abbey

After lunch, our second tour takes us to the other side of the valley to Melk Abbey or as known locally as Stift Abbey. We drive high up a hill to arrive at the abbey, which is so grand it can be seen for miles away perched on high in the river valley. Melk Abbey is one of Europe’s largest and most revered Baroque monasteries. Originally founded in the 11th century, this magnificent Benedictine Abbey now houses a museum chronicling its history and a famous library with countless medieval manuscripts. This is a site to behold! The entire complex is painted a yellow/gold and truly stands out in the valley’s landscape. Once you approach, you can see how big it really is! A guide will take you through each room of the museum which leads one into another. Each room has a different theme, for example the first has a blue light in the room that represents meditation. There are many beautiful pieces of art in the form of paintings, sculptures and gold… crosses, chalices, etc. So much gold! Especially when you make it to the last room, which is the ornate and glorious church! It took 44 years to build the church which opened in 1746.

Amazing Wine & Austrian Music Experience

We end our day, and meet up with the ship, in Spitz which is in between Kerns and Melk along the river. Here we attended an exclusive event for AmaWaterways at a local winery. Our bus drops us off at the historic Klosterhof, the former wine press of St. Gottweig Abbey. Dating back to the 12th century, this atmospheric estate will host an intimate wine tasting set to live Austrian music… which was AMAZING!! This was so much more than I ever expected! The building itself is beautiful where you can see the stone from the 12th century and the bricks from the 16th century that make up the walls. The wine was good, but the music and the atmosphere made this the best experience of the day… well actually of the entire trip! We were having such a great time, our table was among the last to leave and we were invited down into the wine cellar to see more. The rooms just went on and on… there was so much to see! And so much more than I can describe, it just has to be seen!

The winery is very close to the river and a tunnel has been made under the road so that we could walk from the winery directly back to the ship. We ended our night with a family style dinner at Jimmy’s Wine Bar & Restaurant onboard, which is a unique restaurant to the AmaMagna. Magnificent day!

#wachau #austria #danuberivercruise

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