Day 83: Marbach to Krems, Austria: Melk!

August 10, 2012

Under construction ....

We began our day reminiscing with Karl, a friend we had made in the common room at this Marbach camping yesterday. Karl had inadvertently walked into the ladies' shower room! It was the result of one of those kookie washroom setups so common in these European camp sites. The door to the ladies is accessed from a common room (where we happened to be sitting, working on the blog).

The door to the common room has the following sign:

Karl is German. So in looking at the sign, he read the first German line. The next line is English, so he turned off, and did not try to read the rest of the sign!

Here is Karl the next morning, no worse for wear. Despite his flamboyant hat and guitar (and hurricane lamp) he is a most sweet and conservative guy!

After exchanging email addressed with Karl, we headed off, again on the easiest cycle route there can possibly be. We zipped along, noting all the other cyclists, the trailside picnic tables, gasthofs, castles to look at, etc. We even spotted the bizarre scene of people being set up in elaborate seating arrangements for riverside fishing. They seemed like they would be more at home on a marlin boat in Florida, or something.

Any zipping along we were doing came to an immediate halt when we hit Melk. First off, you can see Melk (or rather its mammoth Benedictine monastery) from 10 km away, so you know to slow down! Next the monastery truly is mammoth, and its on a hill, so just cycling beneath it is cause for a major wow!

The layout of Melk, with its hugh monastery

The monastery sits on a hill above the town. It is much larger than you can see from here.

Entering Melk town is is also something else again.

The narrow streets are clogged with cycle tourists. And the bakeries! Actually we just stopped at one, the first we came to. We found that we are now firmly in Viennese torte territory. A torte is a mostly flourless, moist, decadent cake.

We also ran into a cake that is a pink square of icing. Inside is a rum ball type cake. It's great. We had tried one yesterday, and thought it was just a one off at a particular bakery. Now perhaps it will lie in wait for us at other places!

More Melk main street - with bikes everywhere!!

The highlight for us of Melk was the monsatery. We spent three hours there and just scratched the surface. We knew we had other places to go and things to do, so how long could we stay? To actually get a firm grasp on the place and its history would have taken a week? a month?

The building (buildings?) is really huge, and comprises a museum (that used to be royal apartments), the "marble room", a large terrace overlooking the town and the river, a library with 16,000 volumes, and a huge baroque church. Then there is a baroque garden pavilion and formal garden, and a "Garden of Paradise", which is a traditional Benedictine herbal garden. Finally there is a restaurant. Oh yes, there are also special displays, in large modern looking rooms. One seemed to be art work by Downs Syndrome people, and the other was a large presentation on alternative energy.

The museum featured relics and bits of the monastery's history, each with a complex description of what it was and where it came from. It was rapidly too much for us to absorb. The presentation, interestingly, was not musty museum style but plexiglass, multimedia, and mood lighting.

The marble hall gave a preview of the over the top marble and painting decor that we would next see in the library and church. The library, then, had floor to ceiling shelves of similarly bound ancient texts, and crazily colourful and complicated painting on the ceilings. In the library, no photos were allowed. so I took some anyway. A docent came over to remind me about the rule (in German). In English I said I could understand that flash could damage the books, but what was the problem with ambient light shots. The German reply was long and of course I didn't understand it. However the word "Verbotten" did figure an awful lot!

The outer gates - flanked by St Peter and St Paul

A typical story board. There was much more of this than we could fathom.

More rich vestments. With the clothes and the buildings, the priests were set up more like kings. Actually, I think in some cases they were actually the kings, in a dual role.

A scale model of the monastery, helps to show how big it is.

The marble hall - was a dining room, we think

A typical description of a book on display in the library. = ???

Many ancient books were on display under glass in the library

The library balcony level and part of the ceiling

The church section was the crowning glory of the building, with the kind of elaborate decoration we have come to expect in cathedrals like this. In this one though, gold figured a lot - more than others that may have specialized in pink cherubs, or something. It helps to actually know what the various depictions are, rather than just be overwhelmed by the general impression. So read the description of St Benedict's altar, for example.

We also noted St Berthold in there. He is the guy who we found lying in a crypt in Garsten. He must be putting in a guest appearance here.

The monastery had several gift shops, and we happily picked up a sticker for our panniers. One observation is of the professional accomplishment with which the gift shops, the ticket sales and collection, the special exhibitions, and later, the restaurant, are put together. Either these dusty monks have hired some real pros, or they have turned their studies to something beyond religious texts and plants!

A high tech ticket checking machine. These monks are on the ball!

Certainly, there is evidence of multi millions of Euros being invested into the tourist and other facilities at the monastery. There was also major restoration work done recently (1978-2006). This joined years and centuries of previous work, of course.

There was also a major presentation about Jacob Prandtauer, the primary architect of the place. Amazingly, in a short life of 66 years, this man worked on dozens of major projects in this region.

The grounds of the monastery were as interesting as the interiors, natural since the Bendictines are known for horticulture.

200 herbs on display, planted according to 9th century plans

Another view of the town, from the herb garden

It's hungry work walking around a place like this, so we stopped at the on site restaurant. Although our dishes were a bit ordinary, the beef and vegetables were exactly what we need for cycling, and were in any event delicious.

In the restaurant - an example of a typical eis (ice cream) menu, found in this region everywhere.

The area approximately from Melk to Krems is known as the Wauchau. The main feature of the region is terraces on the hillsides, on which grapes plus apples, pears, and apricots are grown. However the region is also stuffed with castles, abbeys, and ruins, plus beautiful medieval towns. The rest of our ride this day was though this environment. We bought some trailside apricot marmalade (which we have yet to try) and plums as well. What fun!

A detour, with the Wauchau in the background

Gefahr of the day. We think it means there is no snow clearance and no salting on the bike way, so use at your own risk.

Riding for kms through orchards and vines

We had used a lot of time in Melk, but with the easy cycling were not too worried about chalking up some distance too. We came around to Rossatz where there is some camping, about 5:45, and found Karl already installed there. So Dodie went off to register while I set up the tent. I had it up when she returned to report that there was no wifi, that it was pretty much a bike ride from the tent site to the toilet, and that the man seemed to want a 15 euro deposit for the toilet key, plus a total price of 17.50 euros. We tore down the tent and moved on! (Sorry, Karl).

At Krems we found much happier camping, with unlimited wifi for one euro and an indoor room with tables, chairs, and power. The place is called Donaupark Camping. Maybe it is a bit of a chain, since that is also the name of the place we are targeting near Vienna. Anyway, it's pretty good here!

Strangely, the internet deal was that the office lady had to type the wifi code into your computer. I think she was trying to disguise the fact that the code is CamPing2012, in order to keep raking in those Euros.

(This is just one of the funny internet schemes we have encountered at camp sites. The funniest was yesterday, when they said they would email a code. How do you pick up email without internet access first? Catch 22! Anyway with that one, access magically appeared when I gave their website (accessible without a code) just a country code (England - 0044) as a prior step in getting their internet access code sent by SMS to my phone. Weird.)

Tomorrow we will reach Vienna, the furthest east we plan to go on this trip. We know it will be at least the equal of Salzburg and Melk. No worries. I have the camera battery charged up and ready to roll!

The trip for him, his parents and 2 year old brother was Passau to Vienna.

A final word from the Benedictine Monastery that rings a chord in our Radfahrer spirits (this was on a wall in the museum, not sure exactly where it is quoted from):

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 3,942 km (2,448 miles)

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