Today we say Auf Wiedersehen to Vienna and set our sights on Slovakia. But first, there is an abbey yet unexplored! To Melk we go before heading for the border. We were washed, fed, and packed in time to hit the road before 10.00. Then the short one hour drive to Melk under dark and threatening skies.
The abbey is GINORMOUS (technical architecture term!) and dates back more than 1000 years. There are 100s of room where court officials stayed, school children learned, and monks worshiped. There are 21 monks still in residence! We got there just as the English tour was leaving so we went outside our comfort zone and followed the docent and 30 others around the museum part of the abbey. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about both the abbey and Austrian history.
Then we got to explore the Baroque church itself. Holy Gold Leaf batman! The place is completely OTT with 5 kilos of gold leaf adorning the various surfaces. A borrowed photo is included as there is no photography allowed inside. Of course, that didn’t stop some of the ignorant tourists from taking pics anyway.
Short aside on my disdain for tourists: we decided today that we are not tourists. We are travellers. Yes we may tour things but in general we travel and try to explore what life is like in different places. Possibly a pedantic distinction but one that makes me feel better when I sneer at bus tours and other hoards following the umbrella people. I’m sure they have learned much more than we do about some of the details of the history, architecture, or art. But they are unlikely to have experienced the joy of correctly translating the Slovak for ‘black tea’ in a market or figured out how to use an Austrian washing machine. 🙂 Now back to the regularly scheduled travel blog.
After touring the abbey, it was cafe time! We wandered into the town of Melk and found a nice sidewalk cafe for coffee and pastries (including a GF one!) and started to enjoy a break. Then it started to sprinkle. Then the sprinkles got bigger. And then the skies opened up. The hearty souls who had been braving the outdoor seating – ourselves included – made the mad dash for the interior. The poor cafe staff were completely overwhelmed, trying to deliver orders to people who were no longer sitting at their original tables. Just explaining where we were sitting to pay the bill was a challenge!
Time to cross a border! We headed out of Melk and got on the freeway to Bratislava. Here the border crossing from Austria to Slovakia was very much like crossing state lines in the US: not much of a big deal at all. We found our way to our flat which was advertised as being in the shadow of the castle. And it definitely is! We did some basic unpacking before heading out to explore the city.
The clouds were starting to clear as we wandered through the old town. We grabbed some dinner and drinks – yes, it was early enough to be the old person’s special at a diner but we only had cake for lunch. More wandering and another stop at the Billa for additional groceries then back to the flat. We enjoyed our fizzy Gruner on our little balcony and made plans for the next few days. We made one more foray out of the apartment to try to find a good spot for watching the sunset but were unsuccessful. More planning needed there!
Data for today:
- Steps: 14,121
- Kilometres driven: 253ish
- Hours of sunshine: 3
- Countries of cars passed on the road: 16
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