Germany Vacation-A Beautiful Drive To Salzburg

An absolutely beautiful morning to enjoy the last few glimpses of Budapest, as we journey on to Salzburg.

Our hotel from the back/side view.

Suitcases are being loaded onto the bus....we are all waiting 'til the last second to get on.

Crossing the Danube, we get another view of the city, this time all crisp and clear a nice contrast to yesterday's cloudy, grey day.

The downside of moving seats was that now this couple who was behind us, has now been in front of us since we  crossed over to the other side of the bus. Unfortunately, they were the only ones that reclined their seats :-( which made it extremely difficult for me to get anything from my backpack that was under the seat....and Jim's leg/knee room was almost non-existent! They had a tendency to sleep on the bus and missed all the great views....they probably heard my camera clicking (loudly) away and all of my ooohs and aaahs when I got a pic and an 'awww chucks' when I missed the shot :-)

Justin and Geoffrey are on the left side a couple of rows in front of us.

Another mythical Turul statue outside of Budapest.

After we made our way back thru Vienna, we then had a delightful ride thru the Danube Valley in Lower Austria. This area's stunning scenery is comprised of medieval villages with vineyards and forested slopes for a setting.

terraced vineyards

These picturesque wine producing villages had a wide variety of churches/steeples.

Many of the villages still had their maypole displayed, a tradition from the 16th century. A decorated tree or tree trunk is put up May 1st or the day before with much celebration. Many remain in place until the end of the month.

 Just to complete the whole picture, castles/fortresses loom nearby in the background.

A 25 mile stretch from Krems an der Donau to Melk is so beautiful culturally and naturally, that it is known as the Wachau and is a Unesco World Heritage site.

We pull into the Benedictine Abbey of Melk for a 2 hour lunch break, which also allowed Dietmar to get the required amount of 'break time' to 'driving time' ratio. This area was not even mentioned in our itinerary and was quite a treat. Melk was an important city for the Romans and later on to the Babenbergs, who built a castle/palace overlooking the city. The castle was given to the Benedictine Monks in 1089 and was converted into a fortified Abbey. Because of a fire it was rebuilt during 1702-1738.

Simone led us thru the complex...

The Church's octagonal dome can be seen from one of the courtyards.

The facade still has a palace's feel to it.

I am not sure what these scenes/paintings are supposed to represent...but they are quite dramatic!

 ...to a narrow pathway, and got us to a side door of the church...

 ....where we had limited access, but quite a view of an extremely Baroque church overrun by angels...

Frescoes by Johann Michael Rottmayr

 ...besides angels, the amount of swirling,curlicued, ornate gold designs and marble are overwhelming.

After we get our fill of (as 1 tour guide book describes it)" Baroque gone Barmy" , we decide we better head back for lunch.

 There is only one restaurant and many tourists, a very popular spot for a break. We enjoyed a delicious lunch in a beautiful setting.

 I wanted to walk around and get a few more pictures of the area, and left the boys to finish their lunch/beers.

Jim, Justin, and Geoffrey walking up the steps to the parking/bus area.

Didn't have time to tour the gardens :-(

 The group decided that this would be a good spot to get a group photo taken. So, Simone took the cameras of those that wanted one and it took a little bit of time to get them all.The cameras were placed in a line on the wall.I did not want to take the chance of my camera falling off the wall and getting broken....so, I did not get a group photo :-( However, Jim took this one of the group from the backside.

A couple of Jim's pics of Melk.

 As we depart from the area, we see  the Benedictine Abbey of Melk with a good view of the church with its twin spires and high dome being enclosed by the buildings.
 

All you can see of Melk is a church steeple!

More rural scenic views as we travel onward to Salzburg.

This would definitely be a great place for Jim and I to do a biking trip; fairly flat, many scenic towns with wineries to try, castles and abbeys to explore, and the sights and sounds of the Danube all along the way!

Our last rest stop/fill up with gas before Salzburg is at Mondsee. This rest stop was beautiful with its mountains and lake scenery. We were told to be back on the bus in 20 minutes, it was also suggested to order a cup of coffee because you get to keep the cup. I decided that there was no way I would be able to enjoy a cup of coffee, use the rest room, and take pictures of the area...so I skipped the coffee :-(

This definitely would have been a very nice place to sip some coffee!!

Justin and I play around with some window reflections.

We got on the bus with a minute to spare......and then waited another 15 minutes or so for a few others to get back on the bus- very unusual for our group.....could have had that cup of coffee :-(

We get a nice view of Salzburg (where we will explore tomorrow morning) on our way to our hotel.

Aaahh, relaxing in the room with feet up and a large bottle of water :-)