Day 7 - Saturday, May 6, 2017 - Durnstein and Melk

In the 12th century, King Richard I of England, the Lionheart, managed to alienate much of the nobility in the countries he passed through on his crusade to the Holy Land and on the way back was captured and held for ransom which cost 1/3 of the total wealth of England at the time. This paid for many abbeys and castles in the region.


 
Ruin of castle on mountain top. Durnstein Abbey in foreground.

 Elaborate plantings in cemetery

We walked back to the ship for lunch and continued to cruise up to our next stop at Melk. We have been very fortunate with the weather as almost every day, the forecast was for rain but by the next morning the forecast changed to good weather.  During this part of the cruise we were comfortable sitting on the upper deck in a short-sleeve shirt and having a beer.

Melk was founded in the 10th century and in the 11th century, Leopold II gave his castle to Benedict monks who continue to live and worship there to this day. The main part of the abbey and the church date to the early 1700s. The inside of the church is very gaudy, illustrative of the excesses of the Baroque style. An English-speaking guide took us through the abbey museum, showing the history from its origin.

Melk Abbey on the hill. Evangelical (Lutheran) church in the background.



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