Austria — Dawdling along the Danube
by Joan Hansen, Sacramento, CA
Some people prefer to see the Danube River by boat, but my husband, Claude, and I decided that a leisurely drive along its banks, stopping at picturesque medieval villages along the way, would be our cup of tea. We found Austria in the springtime to be magical.
Vienna
We landed in Vienna on April 2, 2009, having decided to spend a few days in that beautiful city before picking up our rental car to tour the Danube region. As our arrival was at night, we decided to take advantage of our hotel’s €12-per-person airport pickup service.
Our hotel, Pension Neuer Markt (phone 01 512 2316, www.hotel
pension.at/neuermarkt), which we booked online prior to our departure, could not have been in a better location. Our comfortable room overlooked several outdoor cafés, and the cathedral was only half a block away.
The cost (€110, or $143, per night) was reasonable for Vienna, especially considering the superb location and the delicious included buffet breakfast, which offered every possible Austrian specialty.
Vienna is a city of music, cafés, designer shops and mind-blowing historical sites, most within walking distance of our hotel. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is one of the greatest Gothic structures in Europe, and it was there that mourners attended Mozart’s funeral in 1791 and Napoleon posted his farewell edict in 1805.
Just a few blocks away we visited the Hofburg Palace Complex. Once the winter palace of the Hapsburgs, it is now the place for a ride in a romantic horse-drawn carriage. You can also see the amazing Lipizzaner stallions prance to the music of Chopin or Strauss at the Spanish Riding School (Tuesday-Saturday), or try to catch the Vienna Boys’ Choir singing on a Sunday when they’re in town. If that isn’t enough, there is also the Sisi Museum, a tribute to Emperor Franz Josef’s mysterious and beautiful wife, Empress Elisabeth, to whom Princess Diana has been compared for her bittersweet life and tragic death.
And no visit to Vienna is complete without attacking one of the huge, plate-filling Wiener schnitzels, a golden brown, breaded veal delicacy. We ate ours (€15) at Figlmüller, a restaurant located in a thick-walled, 200-year-old-building within walking distance of our hotel. After a short wait in line, we were seated at a table with another couple and soon found that a meal in Austria is not just a meal but an event!
Along the Danube
Three days in Vienna were hardly enough, but we were anxious to pick up our rental car. We found out that the Avis rental office is closed on Sundays, and at the last minute we received a message to pick up our car at the airport. Our car rental, booked through Auto Europe (888/223-5555, www.autoeurope.com) before we left, cost $318 for two weeks.
After picking up the car, we managed to get lost a few times looking for the Romantic Road that winds along the beautiful Danube. Instead of taking the Autobahn, we had planned our journey along Route 3, or the Austrian Romantic Road, with stops in the Danube Valley and the lake district of Salzkammergut.
We used the more-than-1,000-year-old village of Krems as our base, taking day trips along the Danube over the next three days. After stopping to ask directions several times, we found our charming hotel, Gourmethotel am Förthof (phone +43 02732 83345, www.gourmethotel-foerthof.at), in the old Stein section of the city.
We had a spacious room overlooking the Danube. As no one was available to help us, we carried our luggage up some steps to the hotel entrance, then lugged it up to the second floor.
There were not many people in the hotel, perhaps because it was rather expensive (€424, or $553, for three nights). However, the view of the river across the road was lovely and the included breakfast buffet was elegant and delicious.
Exploring Krems was fascinating. We passed ancient decorated houses, visited beautiful old churches and entered taverns where people flock to sample the new wine each year.
Village visits
Only five miles down the road is Dürnstein, It didn’t take us long to agree that it is one of the loveliest and most picturesque villages along the Danube, and it was especially so during our visit, with fragrant and beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere.
Claude skillfully maneuvered our small Opel car down the narrow cobbled streets, trying to avoid hitting the throngs of people visiting during Easter week. One-way streets, dead-ends and pedestrians made it tricky driving, and we were happy to find a parking place so we could stroll at leisure.
High above the town sits the castle fortress where Richard the Lionheart of England was held prisoner by a powerful Austrian Duke.
We continued down the road to Melk, where one of the greatest sites in Austria, Melk Abbey, stands on a rock-strewn bluff overlooking the village and the river. Its influence as a center of learning and culture spread all over Austria, a fact that is familiar to readers of Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose.”
We followed our tour of the abbey with a visit to the quaint village of Melk, where we gorged ourselves on a delicious Sacher-torte and strong Austrian coffee.
Salzburg’s Lake District
Sisi came into our lives again at Bad Ischl, located 139 miles from Krems. She and Emperor Franz Josef spent many summers in this spa town, staying at Kaiservilla.
Also notable is the wide array of wonderful pastries available at the oldest coffeehouse in Austria, Konditorei Zauner (Pfarrgasse 7). Who could resist the delicious treats? (Coffee cost $2.80, and pastries started at $3.90.)
At this point, it seems prudent to remind American drivers that most of the rental cars in Austria take diesel fuel. Putting unleaded in the tank could cause a lot of problems for both car and driver, so be smart and check your paperwork from the rental agency before filling up.
Several years ago when traveling by rail, we visited the beautiful village of Hallstatt, getting there by boat from the train station across the lake. We were surprised to discover that you can also get to this village by car — that is, if you don’t mind passing through a series of tunnels through the mountains. The oldest still-inhabited village in Europe, it is perched against a mountain and overlooks the lake.
Salzburg
We continued on to Salzburg, which was enchanting at Easter time. There were thousands of beautifully decorated Easter eggs everywhere. This fascinating city was our base for the next three days.
We checked into Hotel Jedermann (phone +43 [0] 662 8732410, www.hotel-jedermann.com) after an exciting ride on the high-speed Autobahn and found it to be both comfortable and well located for exploring the city. It was called a designer hotel, and it had a modern-art approach to decor.
The breakfast buffet offered delicious pastries, cold cuts and a variety of cheeses plus many other choices. The total price for our three nights was €190 ($247), including breakfast, a good value in Salzburg.
This is Mozart’s birthplace, so we attended a string quartet concert in the beautiful Mirabell Palace, surrounded by gorgeous gardens and fountains. This is also “The Sound of Music” country, and you can take a tour to the film sites.
In three days we were able to cover most of this charmingly preserved town, including the cathedral square, surrounded by palaces, and the Hohensalzburg Fortress, towering above the city. We also indulged in the most delectable strawberry-mousse pastry at a café on Mozartplatz. But just wandering down the streets of the Old Town — with all the Easter decorations, windows filled with every imaginable pastry and buffet-style cafés featuring many types of luscious seafood and a variety of salads — was magic!
We had a fantastic time in this region of Austria. The medieval villages nestled in vineyards and the charming larger cities with their historic Old Towns will long be remembered.
The food was special and we returned a few pounds heavier. The weather was perfect the entire time, even when we continued to the Alps in the south. We heartily recommend this independent driving tour to all of our fellow world travelers!