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.  

European Vacation - Part XIII

Vienna, Austria

We arrived in Vienna just after dinner and were whisked off to an Austrian Heuriger (wine tavern).  Wine was fairly new and not so good.  There was an accordion player, some singing, some dancing some bread and spreads.  It was not a highlight of the trip.

The next morning though we went on a Hidden Vienna tour that was a highlight for us.  Here are some of the sights.

One of the oldest churches in Vienna.

Plague monument - these got more and more elaborate as we traveled north on the Danube.

 A very whimsical clock.

St. Stephen's Cathedral.  

Our guide kept referring to squirrels and pointing up.  We couldn't see any squirrels.  I asked if he was saying scrolls but no he thought another word for the towers was squirrels but he meant spires.  It messed up his talk after that so we told him to just say squirrels because we knew what he meant.

Down in the subway there is an entrance to a museum that features what remains of a very old chapel.  No written records survive that explain the purpose of this small chapel.  It was found when the subway was dug.  Another church had been built on top of it but none of those records refer to this place.

The walls show fainting paintings of crosses.

 We stopped for a midday snack of apple strudel and coffee.

Back to St. Stephen's this "squirrel" was never built to the height of the other.

We saw Roman remains.

Walked around the Hapsburg Palace but not in this one.

Three clocks on this building.

Back to the riverboat for lunch and then in the afternoon we took a trip to the summer palace.  Subject of another post.