Regensburg

Regensburg is a perfectly preserved medieval city on the banks of the Danube River, in Bravaria and is dominated by the spires of its impressive Cathedral. Regensburg has a population of nearly 150,000. During the war Regensburg was spared destruction by the bombs of WW11.
Our boat is docked, about a 19 minute walk into town.
Today we chose to attend a Michelin star restaurant, called Storstadt and sample a few of their small treats at their bar.
On our walk through the old town in charming cobblestone pathways, we experienced the charm of this lovely city. On our walk we past a very old famous bratwurst sausage kitchen, sadly we did not sample as the line up was long and we were all fed and very full. We also walked over the very old stone bridge.
A little trivia Regensburg was once home to Oskar Schindler, who was remembered in the film “Schindlers List”
   

 

Linz, Salzburg and the Majestic Imperator

APT has offered us an awe inspiring trip as a signature experience, a Majestic train journey to the breathtaking city of Mozart, through the beautiful Austrian Lake District and the Salzkammergut.
This is also the sound of music country. We were all ferried by buses to the Linz train station to board our train, red carpet was rolled out and first class service was offered, in an orient express like steam train.
Beverages and appetisers were served whilst we were travelling to Salzburg, where we will alight and spend a few hours touring the city, having lunch, then back on board to continue our journey to Passat, where we will all get on board, and sail overnight to Regensburg.
The train was built and used by Franz Joseph and his wife, Sisi, we had the Franz Joseph cabin, there was five carriages in total, we all felt very privileged to be doing this train travel as it will be the last with APT, they are going to be using a train from Hungary in the future.
This train journey is offered due to the number of locks that the boat has to pass, the option was given for people to stay on board, all, but three people went on the train.

Salzburg is famous for the birth of Mozart, in 1756 and the Sound of Music was made in 1964.  Lovely city and it was a lovely day, not too cold to really enjoy the city tour and the sights. After an enjoyable lunch of bratwurst and cold potato salad we continued with our train journey to Passat and spent an enjoyable evening dining on board our boat. Tomorrow we visit Regensburg.

Dürnstein, Wachau and Melk

After we left the big cities behind, we entered the beautiful countryside of Austria.
Dürnstein is famous, because of Richard the lion heart being imprisoned here. It is dominated by the ruins of the castle where he was interned. We took a stroll through the charming streets of this fairytale village, with a population of less than 1,000.

 The water marks of recent floods

Apricot wine is very popular and the apricots are grown here.

The local church 

The hangman’s house

The ruins of a castle.

Lovely views

Gate entry ways.

The lovely Danube.

Entry ways.

Local shops

After our couple of hours in Dürnstein we cruised through the Wachau valley, where we docked in Melk and visited the Melk Abbey.

Melk has been an important spiritual and cultural centre centre in Austria for over 1000 years. First it was the residence of the Babenberg family and since 1089, it was a Benedictine monastery, founded by Leopopld 11. For over 900 years, monks have continually lived and worked in Stift Melk, following the rules laid down by St Benedict.

The Cathedral inside the Melk Stift was one of the most impressive that I have ever seen, sorry no photos allowed

We had a very informative and enjoyable few hours here, more adventures to follow.