Trip to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire - Day 4

We were in the midst of unusual warm spring in Vienna, so it is a good day to visit the countryside. The stretch of Danube Valley between Melk and Krems is considered as pretty as they come. Unfortunately tourist season hasn't official started until April, so boat cruise is not available. Instead I took a bike trip from Melk to Krems, a strenuous 35 km (but mostly flat) exercise.

It took about an hour to reach Melk, having breakfast on the early train

Melk is a very sleepy town, about its only major attraction is the Benediktinerstift Abbey, which you will see immediately after getting off the train station

Little road that leads to town square of Melk 

Before visiting the Abbey, lunch in the town square cafe

A panoramic view of Melk's town square. Also present in the clip is Pascal (as well as my finger) who was walking into the cafe. A fellow tourist in Melk from Shenzhen, Pascal struck up a conversation with me over lunch and eventually joined me with the biking

Cappuccino in the outdoor cafe

Mixed salad for lunch

This photo of the Abbey could have been great, except it got ruined by the construction site underneath

Signs to the Abbey (Stift Melk) is all over town

You only can go in the Abbey with a tour and due to off season only German tours are being given. However, what you can see without a tour is quite a lot already

Self guide tour of the Abbey

A peek into the internal of the Abbey

A peek into the internal of the Abbey

A peek into the internal of the Abbey

A peek into the dome ceiling of the Abbey

Finally the main course of the day but first we need to rent a bike. According to the woman in the local tourist information, there are plenty of bike rentals during tourist season but in March the only option will be this self-service rental NextBike stand

NextBike - the only bicycle rental available during my stay

There is a phone number to call to register and there is a number labelled on each bike at the stand. After you registered, key in the number on the bike

Then a code will be given to you over the phone to unlock the bike. Sound easy, well if only you can get through the line to register

Off we started for Krems, passing through some very nice village along the way

There are fields of cherry blossom (I think) trees on the trail

Maybe because it is off season, there is no place to buy water on the trail. Finally there is some make-shift water stand set up by local kids, charging €0.50 for a glass of water. Highway robbery (Just kidding)

It is getting dark but we have only reached Dürnstein, which is about 12 km to go 

A medieval castle in Dürnstein

Finally a place we buy water and use the bathroom

Sunset at the Danube

It is past 6:30 p.m. and Pascal is longing for some dinner but I am hellbent on getting back to Vienna by the end of the day, so we just have to soldier on. Poor Pascal

Finally back in Melk but the next train to Vienna will not arrive until 10:20 p.m. The only restaurant in town that is still open is this Pizzéria operated by a Cypriot

Spaghetti bolognese will be my dinner for the night

Next: Trip to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire - Day 5