Tuesday (12/23/2014)
We scheduled our tour from the Melk Abbey when we were still in Dublin, because this is the instruction in website of them, especially if you go in the winter and are interested in tour in English and not in German. The visit cost 12 euros per person, started at 2 pm and as we arrived in the city at the last minute, coming from Hallstat (see more details here), we left our backpacks in the lockers from the train station and we ran there.
The city and the abbey of Melk, original seat of the dynasty Babenberg, are between Vienna and Salzburg, on the left bank of the Danube River. In the 11th century, Leopold II invited the Benedictines from Lambach Abbey to settle in Melk and gave them land and a castle, which the monks transformed into a fortified abbey. It was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1297, had to be rebuilt several times and in the 16th century, it withstood Turkish attacks.
The abbey left us speechless.
When you arrive in the city and look at it from the top of the city, you can't help but be impressed by its size and beauty, and then when you're inside, it's a beauty beating with the church, library and view of the city. I dare say they are the most beautiful church and library I have ever seen (Jan/2015). See some photos:
Since you can't take a photo of the library, I took one from Google so you can be amazed too.
We left there towards the train station to get our backpacks and look for our hotel, the Madar Café Restaurant zum Fürsten (66 euros per night, with breakfast, rated 8). It is located in the city center, on a pedestrian-only street that seems to be the busiest there (since there weren't many people walking around, I can't say for sure). The city is very small, calm and has cute architecture. Our hotel, despite being well rated on Booking, was quite strange. There is no reception, so we went to the café downstairs and, to our surprise, the waiter gave us the key and showed us the way to the rooms, which are on the side of the building through a somewhat hidden door. We didn't really like the look of the hotel. hall and not even the room, which had a bit of a cigarette smell, but it was only one night, luckily.
We went out for dinner at the best pizzeria in town, according to TripAdvisor, Pasta and Pizza, which was empty when we arrived and then got full on a Tuesday. The food was delicious, as were the Austrian beers, but I don't remember the names. The best thing about it all was the prices... We ate two pizzas and drank 2 liters (!!!) of beer for 25 euros. Good, right?
Wednesday (12/24/2014) – Christmas Eve
Breakfast was included in the price and guess where we had it? Right there, in the cafeteria that is located below the hotel. I think it must all be owned by the same person. We ate relatively well and then caught our train to Vienna (31 euros for the two of us) and in less than an hour, we were there.
Find out what we did in the Austrian capital here.
I don't know if it's worth staying overnight in Melk, as we did, but it's definitely worth a stop to see the abbey. It's between Salzburg and Vienna and it will only take you a few hours to get there. tour…
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To learn more about this trip we took, see the posts below:
3 responses
Hello, your blog is very good. It was worth it for my trip. I'm going to Vienna at the end of December. Will I be able to do a round trip to Melk and Wachau in one day without having to go out in the dark? I see that you went in the winter. How can I deal with the cold without suffering too much? Haha, thanks.
Hi, Marlene! I'm glad you liked the blog 🙂
I took a look at Google Maps to see what the transportation is like if you want to go on your own, but Wachau seems a bit complicated to me. You can easily get to Melk by train…it takes 1 hour to go there and the same amount of time to return. Maybe you can do both together on a tour. Have you checked out the Viator website? They are part of TripAdvisor and usually offer interesting tours. You can also try to buy tickets at the tourist centers in Vienna.
As for winter, I just want to say be prepared! It's important to have a coat that's appropriate for the temperature you're going to get, as well as comfortable, snow-proof shoes, because it's quite possible that you'll have white days there at the end of December. A hat, gloves, and thermal pants and blouse will be very welcome... lol. And of course, a few sit-downs in a coffee shop every now and then, right?
I hope I helped.
Kisses and have fun!!
Thank you for getting back to me, your tip was really helpful, let's go, shall we? Kisses