SCENIC EMERALD: MELK - DÜRNSTEIN WITH SCENIC TOURS

MELK

On 3 September 2010, Scenic Emerald docked at Melk in the Wachau Valley. This small Austrian town is well endowed with gift and coffee shops designed to appeal to tourists. Melk is crowned by a magnificent Benedictine Abbey set on a hill above the town. The cruise director Marianne had warned passengers on the previous evening that there at least eighty steps to be negotiated at the abbey and that passengers with disabilities affecting their legs should consider staying on the boat or visiting the town. Having had both knees totally replaced, and walking with a very noticeable limp, I felt this warning was directed to me and decided to undertake the long walk to the town instead of visiting the abbey with the other passengers. My wife Dianne would not leave me so we both walked to Melk and missed the ornately decorated interior of the abbey. A passenger later told me that the warning from the cruise director Marianne had greatly exaggerated the difficulty that a visitor with a disability such as mine would experience at the abbey. When I thought back to the hundreds of steps that I had negotiated at the Louvre in Paris (albeit with some difficulty), I decided to be sceptical of any future advice that cruise director Marianne might offer to older passengers.

The Benedictine abbey at Melk was a former royal palace and the magnificent interior decoration is famous.

DÜRNSTEIN

After lunching aboard the Scenic Emerald, we continued cruising the Wachau Valley to dock at Dürnstein. This small Austrian town is famous for the ruined medieval castle above the town where Richard I, also known as Lionheart, was imprisoned by Duke Leopold V of Austria during the Third Crusade. The briefing for Dürnstein by the cruise director was not helpful. We wandered aimlessly about the town with no idea what might be worth a visit. The ruins of Dürnstein castle (below) are accessible after a 30 minute hike up the hill but were not mentioned as a place for passengers to visit.

As can be seen from the picture below, Dürnstein can fairly be described as quaint rather than picturesque.

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