Melk Danube River Austria

Travelled:53km
Visited: Melk, Weissenkirchen
Stay: Weissenkirchen- free parking at train station, no facilities. N40°23.9214' E15°28.4208'

There were a few rain showers as we drove along the Danube this morning. We arrived in Melk just after 9am and found a spot in the abbey carpark. 

In the 11th century, Leopold II invited the Benedictines from Lambach to Melk and granted them land and the castle, which the monks turned into a fortified abbey. It was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1297 and rebuilt many times. It was in 1702 the abbey was given its magnificent Baroque form which was fully renovated in 1987. We paid €10 ea for an unguided visit including access to the gardens. 

We entered through the courtyard surrounded by imposing buildings crowned with statues. 

The first rooms we visited were about St Benedict, the monks and some relics including the jewelled cross that is said to have a fingernail size part of Jesus' cross embedded within.

This coffin has a trap door so that when it is lifted back out of the grave the body is dropped out.

We exited that wing via the Marble Hall.

We next walked through the most impressive library holding 100,000 volumes and with a beautiful fresco on the ceiling. 

We stepped out onto the balcony and admired the views.

On the way to the church we marvelled at the spiral staircase. 

We were then blown away by the interior of the splendid Baroque church. 

\

We had a stroll around the garden before walking down into the village for some lunch.

We continued our drive downstream of the Danube and found a place to stop in Weissenkirchen. A pretty village in the Wachau Valley. We walked up to the church and then asked at the tourist information office if there was anywhere we could stop for the night. We were given directions to the train station carpark.