Jul 25 – Melk Austria

Last updated on July 27th, 2019 at 05:42 pm

We started our day on the Sun deck as the ship passed through approximately 20 kilometers of the Wachau Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We learned from Marie that the UNESCO Wold Heritage site designation limits the building of buildings and bridges in the area. The day was beautiful with a near cloudless sky. The rolling hills, limestone cliffs and picturesque towns along the riverbank seemed especially beautiful as we floated past on the river. It felt like we were floating even though we are sailing up river, because we were traveling very slowly due to the low water levels in the river. We spent about two hours on the sun deck enjoying the views and chasing the limited shade as the sun climbing in the sky and the temperatures rose.

Joyce made several trips to our stateroom to get various pieces of camera equipment for Alan as he created various artistic photos. Instead of a sou chef, she is a sou photographer. We experimented with our newly acquired GoPro (not new, just new to us), using the included suction cup to attach it to the glass under the railings on the sun deck with the camera lens aimed through an opening between the glass sections. One of our fellow passengers was taking pictures near where we had placed the GoPro. We decided to make her aware it was there, as we knew she would feel badly if she bumped it. We talked to her a few minutes, asking the normal questions of where are you from, etc. We discovered she grew up in Green Folk, graduating a year after our friends the Olers. Her friend, who was traveling with her, is the same age as the older Oler brother. We got their names and pictures and plan to share them.

As we sailed along, Marie pointed out various towns and castles, ruins of castles and restored castles high on the surrounding cliffs. We saw the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lion-Hearted was imprisoned. Along the banks of the river we saw people along the way enjoying the day biking kayaking, swimming or sun bathing. Alan doesn’t think swimsuits are available in Austria because many of the people in or near the water did not appear to have them.

We had opted to grab a drink and muffin while on the sun deck enjoying the scenery instead of eating breakfast, so we were a little hungry as lunch time approached. We ate at the buffet on the Aquavit Terrace. It was pretty hot and all the tables in the shade were occupied, so we sat in the sun. The dining staff was grilling salmon and it was delicious. Alan also enjoyed the black bean soup.

We arrived in Melk around noon and set off for the included tour of the Melk Abbey and French Gardens around 12:45 p.m. We rode in four buses up to the Abbey. Half of us started with the 1 hour tour through the public rooms of the Abbey, ending with time on our own in the Abby Church. The other half started in the French Gardens.

The Melk Abbey is a functioning Benedictine Abbey. It has a secondary day school for approximately 900 students and 33 monks/priests living at the Abbey. The monks day is to consist of prayer, work and reading. Most of the monks work as parish priests in surrounding communities. We toured the part of the Abbey that originally housed aristocratic guests. When members of the royal family traveled, the Abbey hosted them and their entourage. When Maria Theresa traveled, she brought 300 people with her to provide for her needs. These rooms are now set up with displays of the history of the Order of the Benedictine monks and exhibits of various vestments, some that are still used today during special masses. We also toured one of several libraries on site with volumes dating as far back as the 10th century.

After our guided tour, we visited the church or cathedral. It was breathtaking with the high long nave, multiple paintings and gold covered statues and reliefs. As I am not Catholic, I don’t know the names of the different side areas, the front alter area, etc. but is was breathtakingly beautiful. The atmosphere in the church was quiet, reverent and worshipful. There were informational signs in each area with descriptions of what was depicted in the paintings, statues and reliefs as well as names of the artists. Joyce found herself wondering if the artists created such beauty as an expression of their worship and praise to God or if they desired to create a beautiful piece of art. Joyce found the cathedral a wonderful place to reflect of the unmatched love, grace and power of God. We have now been in several cathedrals, all beautiful in their own way, with some looking a little tired and perhaps neglected. This cathedral appeared fresh and loved.

We toured the gardens next. There were beautiful fragrant roses, wide paths, benches, sculpted hedges and bushes and raven art spaced throughout the garden. At one end was a large pavilion paintings in pastels on the walls and ceiling. It contained a cafe with small tables and benches. There were more forest like walkways on one side and an addition flower garden near the front to the left.

We were not allowed to take pictures in the abbey or church. Here are a couple links to explore if interested.

• • Museum and grounds link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2v44Fa1AAw
  • Inside link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmAaoEu9wf4

When we left the ship, we were in Melk. After we left for the Abbey, the ship sailed and after our tour we drove to Ybbs to meet up with the ship. Our program director, Marie, explained the ship needed the time to sail since it had to move slowly due to low water levels. We have been traveling at around 6 kilometers per hour and normal speed is 18 kilometers per hour.