Saturday, August 6, 2016

European Vacation -Part XIV

I think I took too many photos on our European vacation.  I know poor readers you are tired of seeing them by now.  I'll try to collapse the remaining towns we visited into two or three more posts.

Durnstein, Austria
This small picturesque medieval town was over run with riverboat tourists the day we were there.  Luckily we had opted for the hike to the Durnstein Fortress (Kuenringer Castle ruins) above the town.






The town is situated in the Wachau Valley known for its vineyards,



The ruins above the town once housed Richard the Lionheart, King of England.  He was captured returning from the Third Crusade in 1192 and held for ransom.  The ransom paid helped fund some of the spectacular buildings in Vienna and Budapest (if I remember correctly).









Traveling again on the Danube we came to Linz.  I'll save photos from there for another time.  From Linz we took a bus trip to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.


This town boasts Bohemia's second largest castle.  The old part of town retains its historic charm.








Our first stop in Germany was Passau.








We loved the color of the buildings here,






and the narrow streets.


This plaque let us know how old this town was.


This one spoke to the dangers of living on a river with the flood heights marked on this wall.


The riverboat part of our trip ended in Vilshofen, Germany where we took the train to Munich and then to Kaufering where we had rented a cottage on Air BnB for three nights.