Danube
River Christmas Markets Cruise
Part 3 : Beautiful Austria -
Salzburg, Melk, Vienna
A Photo Journal of the 2007 Travel
Insider Cruise
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Click the map to have a larger and more detailed version open in a new window
(Note - the route wanted to
use roads, not canals! So I've tried to get the route
on the roads closest to the waterways we traveled on.) |
The Amadagio sailed
overnight from Regensburg to Passau. The next morning,
we traveled by coach on a sidetrip to glorious Salzburg,
then met up with our ship in Linz to continue along the
Danube to Melk and Vienna, before leaving Austria and
reaching Budapest, marking the end of our river cruise, but
not the end of our tour.
Part 3 of a four part Photo
Journal of the 2007 Travel Insider Christmas Markets Tour.
Click the links for other pages in this series.
Part 1 :
Munich, Bavaria and the Amadagio
Part 2 :
Along the Danube in Germany
Part 3 :
Beautiful Austria
Part 4 :
Hungary, Slovakia and The Czech Republic |
Partially for my own pleasure and memories, and of course,
partially to help you understand what to expect on a
Christmas Markets cruise, here's a 'photo journal' of
memories from my 2007 cruise along the Danube from Nuremberg
to Budapest, with pre-cruise touring in Bavaria and
post-cruise touring in the Czech Republic.
I've tried to make this different to a typical travelogue by
concentrating on sights and impressions that are either
quirky or of particular interest to Christmas Market
cruises.
I hope it may encourage you to come join me on one of these
cruises.
Come see for yourself what is so special about these
cruises.
Chances are you'll enjoy one of these enchanting cruises
too.
Click here for details of
the this year's Christmas
cruise.
Photojournal Part 3 - Salzburg,
Melk and Vienna in Austria
Note - the small images below
can all be clicked on and this will open a larger image,
sometimes showing more of the picture, too, in a new
window. Simply close the window after enjoying the image
to return back to this page.
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Salzburg |
There's a hint of snow on the ground as we look across from
the Mirabell Castle gardens and up to the Hohensalzburg
Fortress on the other side of the river.
Salzburg's famous Getreidegasse was the medieval equivalent
of a shopping mall and dates back to Roman times. The
emblems hung on the walls outside each shop were used to
indicate the type of goods the shop sold. Partway
along Getreidegasse is the bright yellow exteriored building
that denotes Mozart's birthplace.
More tasty food. Anyone would think they weren't
feeding us on board, but that absolutely was not the case.
We enjoyed three excellent meals every day, with snacks
outside of meal hours available too.
A Christmas stall selling various handcrafts in a lovely
setting - sure beats the generic mall environment back home!
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I
like all of Austria, and of course Vienna is a glorious big
city with a grandeur befitting its former role as co-capital
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in its time the second
largest country in Europe.
But my true favorite part of Austria is Salzburg. It
is smaller, more approachable, easier to become comfortable
and familiar with, and of course, it is also where that
marvelous movie, The Sound of Music, was filmed.
We always include the optional side trip to Salzburg for
free on our Travel Insider tours (a $105 value if you
purchased the tour yourself on the ship) and most people
agree that the drive through some of Austria's beautiful
lakes and alpine regions is marvelous, and the time in
Salzburg a trip highlight.
Our sidetrip to Salzburg this year was interesting because
we were simultaneously changing ships. Flooding had
raised the level of the Danube so high that ships could not
pass underneath a particularly low bridge between Passau and
Linz, and so Amawaterways arranged for us to simply swap
ships with Amadagio's sister ship, Amalegro, rather than be
stuck in Passau for who knows how many days (like many other
ships and their passengers).
(Note - a new higher bridge that
subsequently replaced the low bridge has reduced the
likelihood of such experiences reoccuring.) |
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Melk |
Glorious Melk Abbey, towering above the Danube and visible
for miles in all directions.
The library at Melk Abbey. Walls of antique books from
floor to ceiling on all four sides, lovely wood floor and
glorious paintings on the ceiling. Beauty and history
wherever you look. This is the sort of place you
expect to see real live 'Da Vinci Code' or Raiders of the
Lost Ark researchers studying books and making stunning
finds.
It is fair to say that Melk Abbey's library celebrates the
works of man. However its main church definitely
celebrates the works of God. Every square inch is
beautifully decorated.
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The ship stops at Melk primarily to visit the wonderful
Abbey on the hill above the village.
There's a phenomenon that occurs on many tours which guides
refer jokingly to as 'ABC' - it can stand for 'Another
boring church' or 'Another boring castle' or such other 'b'
word as you may choose to use!
But, no matter how many churches you have seen, Melk Abbey
will standout as a 'must see' experience.
Melk Abbey, dating back 900 years, has one of the finest
libraries of anywhere in Europe, a fascinating museum, and a
lovely church.
The small town of Melk is pleasant enough, and - for a
change - does not have a Christmas market. |
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Vienna |
Vienna has lots of Christmas Markets to choose from.
Perhaps the largest one is in front of their town hall.
In addition to our time during the day in the city, our
cruise director volunteered to take people who wished to
come with him into Vienna for a walking tour of the city and
markets by night. This was a lovely extra
experience and cruise director John gave us a more personal
commentary of the city than is often the case with the
professional guides. Thank you, John.
It seems most of the pictures of the market stalls so far
have featured food or drink! Here are a couple of
examples of the handcrafts and ornaments that are available
in such a huge variety of styles and items.
You'll have no problems buying unique gifts for everyone on
your Christmas list as you tour through the lovely markets
on the Christmas Markets cruise.
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What can one say about Vienna that hasn't been said many
times before?
Truly one of Europe's great cities, Vienna is redolent in
musical culture and the grandiose remains of what was one of
Europe's great Empires between 1804 - 1918.
We had a generous amount of time in Vienna, arriving one
afternoon, staying overnight, and then spending most of the
next day too. This allowed people the chance to go to
an optional Viennese concert in one of the many palaces in
the city, and gave us all a chance to have a great exposure
to this glorious city.
All too soon, though, it was time to move on and to leave
Austria behind us, traveling to our final port of call,
Vienna's partner capital city of the Austro-Hungarian
empire, Budapest (see the next part of the Photo Journal). |
Part 3 of a four part Photo Journal of the 2007 Travel Insider
Christmas Markets Tour. Click the links for other pages in
this series.
Part 1 :
Munich, Bavaria and the Amadagio
Part 2 : Along
the Danube in Germany
Part 3 :
Beautiful Austria
Part 4 :
Hungary, Slovakia and The Czech Republic
Have we persuaded you to join us for this year's
Christmas Markets Cruise
along the Danube yet? :)
Click the link for details of this year's itinerary and special
offer.
Click here for the full
details of this cruise and the booking form to confirm your
interest.
Originally published
26 Sep 2008, last update
03 Jun 2021
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