Danube Austria & Germany

Austria

Vienna is a beautiful capital city with over 50% parkland. Many elegant public buildings and palaces are found near the city centre as befits the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The royal family (Hapsbergs) over 300 years added more wings to what is known as the winter palace in the centre of the city.

Royal Winter Palace Vienna

Vienna's cultural legacy is well known - especially through the contributions to music by, among others, members of the Strauss family. The locals enjoy opera and musical performance and the Opera House currently hosts a different opera every day. This is offered at very affordable prices so that everyone has the opportunity to develop their interest and love of classical music.

Statues of Johann Strauss abound and his iconic waltzes can often be heard on street corners.

The other cultural legacy of Vienna and Austria is several forms of food including schnitzel, strudel and sasha torte!

Austria has a population of about 8 million and Vienna has 1.8 million

Trucks are banned on all roads from early on Saturday afternoon until 10pm on Sunday (except for fresh food deliveries including milk and bread).

Terraced vineyards Wachau Valley Durnstein

Our next stop was UNESCO listed Durnstein – population 400. This little village is in the centre of the Wachau Valley which is home to the Austrian wine industry. The qualities of the soil and its surprisingly mild climate (a micro climate over a few kilometres of the Danube) have led to intense farming of grapes and apricots. 

Wine production is mainly of the chardonnay and riesling variety as red wine grapes do not do so well. Apricots are produced in enormous quantities and are used in everything from jams through to an apricot liqueur.

Benedictine monastery and school 1200's, Melk

In the 1200’s the previous royal family (Badenburgs) bequeathed a palace at Melk to the Benedictines who have used it ever since as a monastery, more latterly a high school and from time to time as a venue for major art festivals. Current co-ed enrolment is 900+ and about a dozen monks are in residence. We visited a museum in the monastery that included incredible vestments – some of which took years to make.

 Monk's eye view of corridor in Melk Monastery

The chapel was refurbished in the period after the 30 year war (Catholics v Protestants) at a time when the Catholic hierarchy believed it was necessary following their victory to demonstrate their strength and longevity with opulent architecture. Photographs do not really do justice to what we saw.

The Chapel at Melk

The Danube

The Danube commences in the Black Forest in Germany and is fed along the way by various tributaries as it passes through five countries and builds up momentum on its journey of 2,800 km to the Black Sea. It is always at least 70m wide and at some stages is 500m wide with occasional islands. It is very fast flowing and prone to flooding without much notice. There are dozens of locks built as flood mitigation devices and our ship had to negotiate these-as did the many commercial barges that also ply the river.

 The Danube

A flood last year was the second highest recorded – with only the 1587 high water mark exceeding it. Flood walls have been built to protect low lying villages but the majority of the riverbank is farmland and forest.

For centuries it has been critical to trade. However, sending craft upstream was problematic. It inevitably involved animals (and sometimes people) on riverbank tow paths being used to drag craft upstream. The River has also formed a natural defensive border or boundary to various kingdoms and territories.

Austrian Lake District

St Wolfgang Lake Austria

Further upstream at Linz we took a coach tour to the Austrian lakes. Absolutely stunning scenery with snow-capped alps and rolling green landscapes edging very deep glacial lakes. We even came across the village where the local church was used in The Sound of Music as the venue for the marriage of Julie Andrews (Maria) to Christopher Plummer (the Captain). There is an avenue of trees running to the lake which was used for the scene in the movie where the von Trapp family children were climbing after their blueberry excursion!

 Chapel at Lake Mondsee. Scene of the Sound of Music wedding

Germany

We entered Germany at the town of Passau which is on a peninsular where two significant rivers intersect with the Danube. This has been a major trading town since the middle ages and was where Hitler spent his first decade. As a six year old, Hitler fell into the fast flowing Danube but was rescued by a priest who was in the vicinity at the time. The guide made some wry remarks about how this act of charity/bravery had its downside! It is also noteworthy for the incredible number of churches (30+) in a relatively small area.

St Stephen's Cathedral Passau. Largest organ in the world (17,000+ pipes!)

Our final port on the cruise was at Vilshofen and we enjoyed a Bavarian folk dancing and mini beer festival that evening.

Bavaria is one of the southern states of Germany and is also one of its most prosperous with official unemployment at less than 3%. Its capital, Munich, is home to the world HQ of many famous companies – particularly BMW, Bosch, Linder and many national breweries.

BMW world headquarters

Officially approximately 80% of Germans are Catholics and this percentage is higher in Bavaria. However, as in most other western countries, religious attendance and participation is limited and declining.

Germans appear quite united in protecting the environment and we saw acres of solar panel farms which are the product of government subsidies over the last 20 years. They plan on reducing reliance on nuclear energy as they perceive a lack of capacity to deal with nuclear waste. They also wish to be energy self-reliant but the country is not endowed with the reserves and minerals that make this easy.

Royal Hunting Lodge Munich

Regensburg and Munich

Regensburg’s history goes back to pre-Roman times as it is located on a bend in the Danube that is easy to defend and the riverside farm land is very productive. It was an important trading port and local, mediaeval merchants flaunted their wealth by building Tuscan style villas – many of which are still standing. The salt trade necessitated building of large structures akin to silos to store product prior to sale and distribution.

Salt Silo Regensburg 1300's

Regensburg also had one of the largest hat stores that we had ever seen. Being a particularly cold day I acquired a very stylish hat and I suspect it will get considerable use. It has a tyrolean flavour with a narrow brim and could probably be worn with elan by individuals of any age.

Munich has a population of about a million which swells to 6 million during its famous annual Oktoberfest (beer festival) that runs for three weeks from late September. Again, lots of parkland and well laid out with a lot of post war reconstruction. It was also the beneficiary of some town planning by Napoleon who believed strongly in public buildings and galleries providing access for the wider population. 

Munich was the base for Hitler’s political influence in Germany and apparently he spent as little time as possible in Berlin preferring to be among trusted local cadres – which is understandable given he apparently survived over 30 attempts on his life. One was in the 30’s where a bomb went off at a tavern in Munich at which he was conducting a public rally. He had left earlier than planned and it exploded ten minutes later.

Bavarian countryside from the Neuschwanstein Castle

Bavaria was effectively a monarchy until the late 1800’s while forming part of Germany. We visited the Neuschwanstein Castle which was built in the 1870’s under the direction of Ludwig II who assumed the throne at the age of 18. Walt Disney had a German grandmother and on a visit to the castle he was inspired to use its style and form as a basis for his sets in The Sleeping Beauty and at all the Disney theme parks.

Neuschwanstein Castle

In 1730 a peasant in a remote rural area near the Bavarian Alps claimed that her wooden statue of Christ was weeping. Locals were intrigued and believed it to be a miracle. The Church agreed and soon a chapel was built to house the statue.

Initial Chapel built to house statue

It became a site for pilgrims and within 20 years a much larger basilica was built which has beautiful rococo styling – and this area is now known as The Church in the Meadow.

The replacement chapel built 20 years later

Stunning ceiling of the replacement church

Cars

BMW headquarters in Munich offers a very attractive option for would be purchasers. You order your car and options online; visit Munich to take delivery of your new BMW and use it to do some local travel; you then return it to BMW who ship it to your home address. As you are importing a used car (you used it) there is no import duty and as it is an international sale no German sales tax applies. Bottom line is that the car costs up to 50% less than what you would pay at home! Obviously, you need to travel to Munich at some stage of your journey but apparently this mechanism is very popular with BMW buyers.

Bavarian rural setting at sunset

The autobahn highway system is very impressive – no speed limits and good cars are probably two important factors. The other is the very rigorous German Driver Licence system which involves driving instructors in dual control cars for many hours; a very rigorous knowledge test and fees of about $A 3,000 in order to complete all the requisite steps. Minimum driving age is 18 and the road toll for a population of 80 million is very low in absolute and proportional terms.

Oberammergau

This little village at the foot of the Alps is famous for its woodcarving and stucco paintings. It s also renowned for its once per decade performance of the Passion Play. When the Bubonic plague was ravaging Europe the locals made a vow to perform the play every ten years if their village was spared. It was and since 1634 the inhabitants have kept their promise. One of the 'rules' is that only locals can take part in the performance. It has become a major international event and a 5,000 person theatre with retractable roof has been built. It remains unused for most of the year and its major purpose is for the once a decade performance.