Sunday, 22 September to Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Melk, Passau and Regensberg
Sunday morning we boarded a bus in Vienna to drive to Krems where we were meeting our ship, the Avalon Imagery II. It was one of only 2 river ships that had negotiated the Danube that far downstream.
We arrived in time for lunch and a cruise up the Danube to Melk, site of a beautiful Benedictine abbey. Founded in 1089, today’s baroque abbey was built in the early 18th century.
There was evidence of quite high flooding here in Melk although the authorities have worked hard to open the river, roads and bikeways.
After arriving back on board, we departed for an overnight passage to Passau.
In Passau, we had arranged to meet friends Scott and Helen who were cycling across France, Germany and Austria. Luckily after the changes to our plans due to the flooding, we were back on track and spent a great couple of hours catching up on each others travels.
After our short stop in Passau we were off for another overnight sail to Regensberg.
On arriving in Regensberg we set off for our first bike ride with adventure host Elena.
We were pleased to discover we were going to Walhalla. This is a monument to distinguished Germans – politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists.
I think we both earned our dinner that evening.