Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Biked 50k from Grein, Austria, to Melk, Austria
Accommodations: Private Zimmer Marillenhof. Lovely studio with private entrance, bath, and kitchenette.
Dinner: Ratshauskellar in main square. Good traditional Austrian home-made food.
Pleasant day of biking along the Danube on quiet roads and cycle paths.
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| Village across the river. |
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| Monastery on a hill between Grein and Melk. |
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| Courtyard of the Stift Melk Benedictine monastery. |
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| View from above the Stift Melk Benedictine monastery in Melk. |
Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Biked 40k from Melk, Austria, to Krems, Austria, through the Wachau Valley
Accommodations: Gasthaus auf der Kunstmeile, Stein/Krems, night 1 of 2. Hostel with private room and bath, including an incredible breakfast with vegetable omelettes prepared to order by our host, Ferdinand.
Beautiful orchards, vineyards, villages, churches, and castles all along this stretch of the river. We took our time biking to Krems, took lots of pictures, and explored an old church and tower.
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| Just one of the many villages we passed through in the Wachau Valley. |
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| The river flowed beside us all day. |
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| We stopped at St. Michael Church to explore the old tower and buildings. |
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| The St. Michael Church tower is newer than either of the existing church buildings. |
Thursday, 11 July 2019
Rest day
Accommodations: Gasthaus auf der Kunstmeile, night 2 of 2
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| Tower and gate into Krems. Our hostel was in Stein, just outside of Krems. We walked through this gate to get to Krems. |
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| Krems. |
Friday, 12 July 2019
Rain day. Took the train from Krems to Klosterneuberg
Accommodations: Privatzimmer Familie Fux, approximately 2 miles west of Klosterneuburg in a quiet neighborhood in the foothills. Hosts Theres Fux and Reinhard Fux, a sweet couple just a bit older than us. Smallish room with shared bath and a nice breakfast.
We woke up to pouring rain, pulled up the OBB app, and booked train tickets for ourselves and our bikes. The trains were full of cyclists with the same idea. By the time we arrived in Klosterneuburg, the rain had eased off to a drizzle. We had a late lunch, cycled around the monastery grounds, picked up groceries, and then biked out to our private room in the foothills. After a picnic dinner in our room, we hiked up in the foothills for a couple of hours. We found an observatory, cross-country ski trails, a compost center, and farm fields along the way. A fair number of people were biking the paved road up into the hills and back down--it was the perfect pitch and length for a good workout.
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| Benedictine monastery in Klosterneuburg. |
