Wachau, Wow and Melk Abbey, Austria
Monday, September 29
Today, as we make our way up the Danube, on our way to Melk, Austria, we sail through the absolutely beautiful Wachau Valley. This scenic rolling hills area extends about 20 miles and hugs the river. It is home to all things wine as well as apricots. The entire valley is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the valley begins near Melk and extends to the city of Krems.
Vineyard after vineyard set into the rolling terraced farmland
greet you as you slowly sail by. This is
what I expected Sonoma or Napa to look like when we traveled there earlier this
year. Everything must be just right here
for the growing of grapes. I almost
thought that you could just walk out to the terraced farms and just pick wine
bottles off the vine. Alas, the area is
mostly known for their white wines and LeRoy is a spoiled little puppy and
prefers his reds.
Today, we are on our way to the small city of Melk, home to the most impressive Melk Abbey, an 11th century monastery built high above Melk.
This church’s history started back in 1089 when the castle was gifted to the monks by Leopold II. Then the original structures were replaced between 1702 to 1746. The result is what we have today. It is a Benedictine Abbey, built in the baroque architectural style.
But the Abbey is also a school, a spiritual,
intellectual, and cultural center. As we
were entering the Abbey, I think school was let out for the day and we were almost
run over by the 825 student, aged 10 to 18 in grades 5 thru 12. But everyone of them, while being kids, were
the most polite mob of school kids I have ever been run over by. Our guide, Laura, had just graduated the year
before so her knowledge of the Abbey was outstanding and her English was even
better.
This is an active place of worship run by the Benedictine
monks who have lived there since1089.
Currently there are 22 monks who live a life of prayer, manual labor and
study. Some of the monks have jobs in
the town some teach in the Abbey, etc.
These monks commit to a specific community and monastery for life, a
concept known as "stabilitas loci."
As in several places, we were allowed to take photos throughout the exterior of the Abbey but cameras were not allowed to be used in the interior rooms of the Abbey. Sorry, but we do have so many of pictures of everything else. As you all know, Vialula is most capable of capturing the beauty wherever she goes, but for more pictures, see Melk Abbey's Official Website. Floating on up to Passau tomorrow. See you there!
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