We awoke to a crystal clear, sunny morning with temperatures forecast to hit the mid-70s. Today was the way I had imagined a river cruise when we booked this trip. We were divided into 4 groups, walked off of the boat at 9 AM and met up with the local guides (all of whom were residents of this small town). Durstein has a population of 400, is in the middle of the Wachau Valley that is known for its high quality white wines and apricots.
The whole town has 2 streets and a rush hour consisting of 2 cars trying to pass each other and no sidewalks. We moved to the edge of the cobblestone street every time a car came in either direction. Twice we saw cars back up to allow a car to pass in the opposite direction. It's a beautiful town ( we would call it a village but the folks who live here are insulted if you don't think it's a 'town'). Lots of small shops selling apricot products (from soap to chocolates to liqueurs and schnapps). We, of course, tasted all of them, except the soap, multiple times and bought some apricot jam to bring home as well as the requisite tee shirts. Art has commited to giving away one shirt for each new one that he buys....we'll see if that transpires. After an hour's walk through the town, some hearty souls hiked up to the ruins of the castle where Richard, the Lionhearted was imprisoned on his way back to England from the Crusades (only for the ransom paid...not to do him harm). We then wandered around on our own taking lots of pictures of the charming building some dating to the 14th century and the many vineyards bordering the town.
Then we had a wine tasting at a local winery that opened just for our group. We didn't especially like the 5 wines that we tasted (and it was at 11:30 AM) but that didn't stop anyone in the group from imbibing. Then a slow walk back to the boat where we had lunch as we sailed through the Wauchau Valley and gorge. We had a lovely afternoon....sitting on the sun deck at the top of the boat, enjoying the magnificent scenery, taking lots of pictures AGAIN and going through 2 locks on the river. We continue to be in awe of the process of going through the locks - even though we did one before and have done the Panama Canal locks.
Unfortunately, as the afternoon was ending, I started to feel ill....perhaps from all of the alcohol tasting in the AM followed by an unhealthy high fat lunch??? So I spent the rest of the afternoon in the cabin and skipped both the local entertainment and dinner. Thankful, as always, to PeptoBismol :) When Art came back from dinner, he stopped one of the waitress to ask her if I could get some dry toast in the room....it arrived almost at the same time as he got back to the room. Another example of the level of service and concern that we've experienced from day 1 of this trip. Our cabin is very close to the Lido Bar in the rear of our level where coffee, hot chocolate, tea and snacks are available all day and evening....so getting tea to go with my toast was a snap. Feeling much better now and looking forward to our bus trip tomorrow morning to Salzburg after we dock in Linz late tonight. It's so cool to site in bed with a large picture window that opens to a French balcony and watching the scenery go by!
109 PICTURES :)
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