* Took a vacation from our vacation and spent five days in the Austrian countryside…you know, just had to get away from it all: the hustle and bustle of traveling to amazing cities, the stress of having to find a place for my morning cappuccino and croissant, not having a job. It’s been rough.
* So we wound up in Aggsbach Markt, a tiny village of ~750 people on the banks of the Danube in the Wachau Valley. The floods had just receded so we witnessed some of the cleanup of the river bank, but our stay was largely unaffected by the floods.
* Aggsbach Markt is in the middle of a ~30km stretch of villages on the Danube that are famous for their food, wines, spectacular scenery, as well as their hiking and biking opportunities.
* Stayed at Haus Gerstbauer, one of many similar pension-style apartments on offer in the region. But ours was far from ordinary. The proprietors are Hermann and Elisabeth Gerstbauer. Elisabeth treated us like family – from making us dinner on the night we arrived because all the stores were closed, to making sure our clothes stayed in the sun all day to dry after we had gotten caught in a strong thunderstorm. Hermann, her husband, whose family has lived in the village for three generations, is equally wonderful with his time (and booze!). He also happens to be the mayor which, even in a small village, clearly makes you the big man on campus. I can’t say enough, except stay here if you ever find yourself in the area (and you should!)
The Good:
* The Wachau Valley is quite impressive, with seemingly endless rolling green hills divided by the powerful Danube River
* Melk, one of the anchor towns in the valley, is quite lovely with a gorgeous abbey set atop a mountain and numerous cafes and restaurants in the village below
* Duernstein, another town, is equally lovely to visit, not only for its local bakery (Schmidl) which turns out rolls (the Wachauer Laberl, very unique in that they use both rye and wheat flour) that left even this seasoned bread connoisseur plotting his next opportunity for a fix like some sort of yeast junkie, as well contains an abbey with a striking blue watchtower and, separately up a hill, the ruins of the castle used to hold King Richard the Lionheart prisoner
* The people of the Wachau Valley seriously like their ice cream, especially ice cream sundaes. This made me all too happy (and fatter!).
* Finally, the bike riding and hiking opportunities are wonderful here – the bike path they’ve got set out winds through the vineyards and towns and is safely tucked away from the main traffic road; the hiking paths are also well marked and easy to access
* So we wound up in Aggsbach Markt, a tiny village of ~750 people on the banks of the Danube in the Wachau Valley. The floods had just receded so we witnessed some of the cleanup of the river bank, but our stay was largely unaffected by the floods.
* Aggsbach Markt is in the middle of a ~30km stretch of villages on the Danube that are famous for their food, wines, spectacular scenery, as well as their hiking and biking opportunities.
* Stayed at Haus Gerstbauer, one of many similar pension-style apartments on offer in the region. But ours was far from ordinary. The proprietors are Hermann and Elisabeth Gerstbauer. Elisabeth treated us like family – from making us dinner on the night we arrived because all the stores were closed, to making sure our clothes stayed in the sun all day to dry after we had gotten caught in a strong thunderstorm. Hermann, her husband, whose family has lived in the village for three generations, is equally wonderful with his time (and booze!). He also happens to be the mayor which, even in a small village, clearly makes you the big man on campus. I can’t say enough, except stay here if you ever find yourself in the area (and you should!)
The Good:
* The Wachau Valley is quite impressive, with seemingly endless rolling green hills divided by the powerful Danube River
* Melk, one of the anchor towns in the valley, is quite lovely with a gorgeous abbey set atop a mountain and numerous cafes and restaurants in the village below
* Duernstein, another town, is equally lovely to visit, not only for its local bakery (Schmidl) which turns out rolls (the Wachauer Laberl, very unique in that they use both rye and wheat flour) that left even this seasoned bread connoisseur plotting his next opportunity for a fix like some sort of yeast junkie, as well contains an abbey with a striking blue watchtower and, separately up a hill, the ruins of the castle used to hold King Richard the Lionheart prisoner
* The people of the Wachau Valley seriously like their ice cream, especially ice cream sundaes. This made me all too happy (and fatter!).
* Finally, the bike riding and hiking opportunities are wonderful here – the bike path they’ve got set out winds through the vineyards and towns and is safely tucked away from the main traffic road; the hiking paths are also well marked and easy to access
* Nada
Our first full day we traveled to Duernstein, which contains an absolutely gorgeous church and accompanying bell tower….
It also, apparently, offers one of the most amazing apricot danishes known to man…here is Carrie devouring it in the street approximately 13 seconds after we bought it (for similar behavior out of me, see post about the cream cake in Lake Bled):
Our second day was spent in the town of Melk, which has a gorgeous abbey set on a hilltop which offers stunning views, not to mention its own beautiful and unique brand of architecture:
Follow me on Twitter at @adonaldson1214
No comments:
Post a Comment