Tour de Danube

Hands down the best day in Austria was not in Vienna but along the River Danube (and I’ll even have to knock hiking in the alps down to number 2). This Saturday, five of us (Kathy Stuart, Harrison, Richard, Sarah and myself) ventured to Krems with our rented bikes and then pedaled our way along the Danube to Melk.

The 41 km (over 25 miles) tour de Danube was perfection. The hills were alive with the music in my head and the terraced vineyards rolling up the hills. Where sidewalks would have been poured, vines of grapes met the road with rosebushes interspersed to flavor the wine just right. The cyclist could reach out a grab a bunch of grapes directly from the vine if one was so inclined.

As we ventured along the Danube we came across Dürnstein. On the top of the hill overlooking the quaint town is the actual fortress that held King Richard the Lionheart and crusader in 1192. Leopold V, after a dispute with England’s King at the siege in Acre, took the opportunity to kidnap the Lionheart in disguise while attempting to return home after crusading. Richard was later released when England raised the ransom through “ruinous taxes.” It is a grand story and even grander of a story for me to say, “I rode by Richard the Lionheart’s prison on a bike ride along the Danube.”

This was not the only castle on the hilltops along the Danube. Every couple of kilometers there was another castle, ruins or something of historical significance. In one city we stopped by a church. Its foundations were built on a pagan site of worship that dated back to the 800s. The church hosted a wedding, so we did not go inside but the church had a spiral staircase in the back of an unattached tower behind the church and its small cemetery. The top was open and overlooked the Danube and the town. There was an information plaque at the top that mentioned an altar made out of skulls. The cellar it was contained in at the bottom of the tower was closed but it was viewable through the windows. Not once in all my life had I imagined an altar built out of stones would exist and that I would have the chance to see it.

Besides being welcomed by castles and interesting churches from Austria’s hillsides along the Danube, we were also welcomed by another aspect of Austira’s rich culture: Heurigen. As we grew hungry from our tour we could stop for a glass or two of this years wine and fill our bellies with a snack of authentic Heuriger food: bread and cheese spreads. The delicacy is called Griebenschmalz, which is a rendered fat with crunchy pieces of pork mixed in and spread over bread. I can tell you the bread was tasty, while others I dined with could expound on the deliciousness of the non-vegan fare.

We arrived in Melk by crossing the Danube over hydro-electric plant after the miles of the Danube trails up and down hills, through towns and over a few unpleasant cobblestone streets. My fondest memories of this trip is soaking my feet in the cool Danube and listing to the “wahoos” from a fellow traveler as we coasted down the hills with the wind in our hair. As we caught the train home, I couldn’t help but decide that if I had a choice I would ride my bike along a river like this every Saturday for the rest of my life. It is a shame I forgot my camera.