September 17, 2014
Melk - Tulln
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Before we left Melk, we withdrew cash and took a less hurried look at the town. What makes Melk, pretty and well-preserved, as it is, stand out from similarly preserved places, is the huge monastery on the cliff above the town centre. It's undeniably an impressive structure, but how happy people were, continuously living under the shadow of the Church, I can't say. You'd certainly know your place. I would find it aggravating, even today.
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3 years ago
This morning, we would pass through die Wachau, considered to be the most attractive stretch of the Germanic Danube. First, it's over the bridge near Melk, turn downstream, then the countryside softens into vineyards and picture postcard villages. The bike route is not so much bike path here as a quiet, narrow road, which connects the villages. The valley is tighter and the vines are planted up and down the slopes in all directions. As luck would have it, our camera's last memory card ran out at Spitz. The last village in this Garden of Eden, Dürstein, which involved a stiff climb up to its narrow cobbled main street, was heaving with visitors and wasn't short of a tacky souvenir shop.
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We pressed on, to the more prosaic town of Krems-an-der-Donau, where we managed to track down a new card for the camera, in the town centre, not too far off route. It took us a long time to get out of Krems, back to the river through an extensive industrial quarter. Back at the river, meant being back on the dyke and so back into that wind, which had lost none of its energy. We acquired some more energy for ourselves at a picnic table in the shelter of a few meagre bushes. After this late lunch, it was heads down and arses up to the Altenwörth dam, which we crossed for the final stage into Tulln. There's a GPS glitch on this stretch. After the dam, unbeknown to me at the time [I've just found this out] we passed the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant, so, speaking of energy? Well, it doesn't produce any. It was built in 1978, but after a referendum on nuclear power, its start-up was cancelled, following a majority of 50.8% against. It was to be the first of six such plants in Austria. The others were kicked into the long grass, which was pretty much what surrounded the one we rode past.
At Pischelsdorf, a chemical works by the river forces the bike path inland until the edge of Tulln, where there is a tourist notice board advertising accommodation. I rang a few numbers, but either they were full or not answering. Another cyclist advised us to try the Springblumen pension on the main square. We rode into the Hauptplatz, found the recommended establishment, but didn't much like the look of it. There was a bell to ring. A man came down and quoted us what seemed like an exorbitant rate for bed and nreakfast [around 90 euros, as I remember] “What about without breakfast,” asked Barbara. “Und ohne Früstück?” says I . The man got on his phone, then came back with 5 euros off. “Nein, Danke.” we said and rode off, back across the square. We found the Albrechtstuben back of the square, all on our own. I went down to the bar for a beer and watched a group of older men, playing cards and drinking white wine instead of beer. That was a surprise. There was no ban on smoking either. That was another surprise. We treated ourselves to dinner in the hotel restaurant this evening. I didn't take notes on this trip and I can't remember what we ate; whatever, good but undistinguished.
Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 1,418 km (881 miles)
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