Spot of Leymond Cha: Vienna to Salzburg with a lovely day cruise!

Our journey from Vienna to Salzburg included a 3-hour cruise down the Danube river, from Krems to Melk. Trying to get on the cruise turned out to be quite an adventure! Our bus was too big to get past one low bridge; our poor driver tried inching forward slowly as everyone held their breaths, but the loud scraping sound we heard forced him to give up and reverse out of the road, while a queue of cars waited their turn to pass. That was stressful! And then, when we finally got to the pier, we found out that the captain of the boat somehow decided that he wasn’t going to wait for us (despite having agreed to do so), and we ended up missing the boat!

We were fortunate that a kind soul offered to get into her car and show our bus the way to the next pier, so that we could then hop on the boat. So there we were, along the banks of the Danube- a huge bus hot on the heels of a little car, chasing a boat.

We finally DID manage to get on, although it was only after half walking/half running from the bus park to the pier; huffing and panting all the way, while hoping my painful feet would not give way. :p

Drama aside, the cruise turned out to be a lovely affair. The weather was wonderful, and it was nice just to relax and enjoy the wind, sun and the charming scenery all around.

Enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Wachau region..

Simply breahtaking..

The cruise ended at Melk, and off we went to visit Melk Abbey. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a very interesting stop; pity we did not have more time there. According to Wikipedia, Melk Abbey (or Stift Melk) is a historic Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube.

Melk Abbey

Love this shot- it's the painted underside of a spiral staircase!

We also discovered a self-service ice cream machine near the abbey; a few of us were rather intrigued and had fun putting in coins and watch the machine go! The ice-cream wasn’t bad either, heh. Such a lovely way to end the afternoon!

We journeyed on to Salzburg, reaching our hotel in the evening. We decided to be adventurous and walked all the way to the old town centre to have dinner. We ended up at Zum Mohren, a lovely cellar restaurant serving traditional food.

Hubby had the Grilled Escalope of Turkey with Pineapple Mustard Sauce, and I had the Viennese Boiled Beef with Creamy Spinach and Ginger Apple Sauce. Boiled beef may sound boring, but it was delicious! For dessert, we had the cheese strudel served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream- it was unbelievable… *yum*