Alpine Foothills and a Jaunt into Hungary

Continuing our Austrian journey, after visiting Melk in the morning we drove south without too much of a game plan. We hadn't planned this part of the trip, deciding to keep the day flexible and have a meandering drive through the countryside before returning to Vienna. It turned out to be a lovely day where we saw several cute off the beaten path towns and made a quick visit to another country.

Typical scenery from our drive through the alpine foothills.

Our driving route through Austria with a jaunt into Hungary.

Looking at Google maps in the morning, it looked like the town of Mariazell was not too far and was at a fairly high altitude, so we set off in that direction. One of the first cute towns we happened upon was Gaming. It has about 3000 people, and a compact little downtown with two mountain streams (Gamingbach and Mitteraubach). It was founded by Celts and was later part of the Roman empire before becoming Slavic (thanks, wikipedia). We walked around for a bit, and continued on, passing gorgeous mountain scenery and tiny towns.

Downtown Gaming.

A stream running through town, with city hall in the background.

A waterfall running alongside the road.

An old church in the tiny "town" of Neuhauser. There were about six buildings in the town.

We arrived in Mariazell in the early afternoon. It's a small city (1,400 people) but has a nice downtown dominated by a large basilica. Mariazell is a site for Christian pilgrims, and also a popular summer day trip for tourists. In winter, people come here to ski in the nearby mountains and participate in other winter higher-altitude sports. We walked around for a bit and had lunch on the main square before visiting the basilica. The basilica itself is famous for its "miraculous" image of the virgin Mary, dating back nearly a thousand years. Only in Europe can you unknowingly come across a town that's been around for a thousand years and has had numerous visits from Popes, kings, marauders and martyrs.

Mariazell

Darn, we'll miss this concert.

The center of Mariazell.

The main square, surrounded by restaurants and guesthouses.

The basilica, with Christian tourist shops in front.

We had Italian for lunch. Not bad! It was a bit chilly, which was a nice change from the hot weather in Vienna.

The view from the graveyard in Mariazell. Cue the Sound of Music songs.

Leaving Mariazell, it was about a 2 hour drive back to Vienna, but we noticed driving to the Hungarian city of Sopron would only add about 45 minutes total. From a quick google search it appeared to be a cute city, so we made up our minds and drove to Hungary. Thanks to the European Union, you can drive right across the border. The old border gates are still in place, but you just drive right through them. God bless the European Union!

Hungary doesn't use the Euro yet, so our first stop was an ATM to get some florints to spend and to keep as souvenirs. Entering from the edge of town, Sopron isn't very glamorous. Hungary was behind the iron curtain for a very long time, and it shows in the architecture and atmosphere of the city. This short trip to Hungary was actually our first visit to an old Eastern Bloc nation. Once you get towards the old historic city center things lighten up and it resembles a more typical historic European city.

Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, most of the shops in the city were closed, but the main ring road  surrounding the old city was bustling with people going on family walks and getting gelato. The actual old city was lovely, but fairly deserted because most things were closed. This city seems a bit off the tourist radar, but if you're in the area we recommend you check it out since it's only 45 miles from Vienna.

Part of the old Sopron city wall.

The street around the historic center had a lot of shops and cafes, and was very pleasant.

David on the firewatch tower.

View of the old town churches from the firewatch tower.

We walked up a lot of spiral steps like this on our European vacation!

We can't pass these by. Paul is... umm... a rappelling elf?

Roman foundations below the museum at the base of the firewatch tower.

The beautiful main square in the old town.

Looking back towards the old city's firewatch tower.

Typical old city street scene.

Some colorful buildings in the old city.

Another building in the beautiful but quiet historic center.

A monument to the German speakers that were forced out of the city after World War II.

These types of signs are somewhat ubiquitous now. We even have one in Atlanta.

Gelato number four of the trip. Don't judge us.

Sopron was actually a bit of a surprise. It's a nice city to spend a few hours walking around, and it's very close to Vienna. The language barrier is a bit of an issue - it's frustrating seeing a language written in the Roman alphabet and not even having the slightest idea about most of the words (a theme that would carry on when we visited Slovakia). As English speakers with some experience with Spanish we're pretty accustomed to Germanic and Romance languages. Hungarian is a very unique language, not related to any other major European language - with ties to Finnish and some Russian languages. Fortunately, some people spoke English and written German was somewhat common. We got by at the museum and ordering ice cream mostly in English with a bit of German.

Hungary is an interesting country. The current political situation isn't great and we're curious to see how the people that live there juggle their modernization and ascension within the EU with their current semi-dictator situation. We'll definitely be back to Hungary someday to visit Budapest.

Hungary flag in the old city of Sopron.

Getting the rental car was a great experience overall. It ended up being a bit more expensive than we thought, after insurance and gas were included, but made the entire day possible. I think we'll be less anxious about renting a car again in Europe. The car even came with bonus awkward baby-tossing Euro-signage:

Signs in Europe are the best. This was in our rental car.

To end out day we drove back to Vienna, which is only about an hour from Sopron. We had to return our rental car at the airport and then take a train back to the city to check in to our hotel for our last two nights in Vienna, Hotel Beethoven Wien. This hotel was just south of the innere stadt near the large food and goods market (the Naschmarkt) and the large beautiful Karlskirche. We took the opportunity to check these landmarks out over the next couple evenings, as we used Vienna as our base for our next day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. That evening we went out for a walk to Karlskirche, where they were showing a movie in the park, and then got dinner at a trendy Asian noodle house called Ramien. The food here was really good and we'd highly recommend it as a break from wiener schnitzel.

Random Hungarian beer Paul got at a gas station in Sopron.

Karlskirche at night.

Next stop Bratislava, then wrapping up our trip with a final day in Munich.

Mahvish and Nate's Anniversary Party in Austria's Wachau Valley

One time we went to a party at an abandoned castle overlooking the Danube river:

This picture checks off about a dozen bucket-list items.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Paul met his friends Mahvish and Nate way back in 2002 on study abroad in Cairo. He's seen them a few times over the years in Chicago, DC, and Atlanta. When we were invited to their 10th wedding anniversary party in a castle on the Danube, we jumped at the chance and made a vacation out of it. Flying to Europe from Atlanta can be pretty expensive in the summer, but luckily we found a good flight deal to Munich and spent a day there before exploring Vienna for a few more days.

Saturday morning, the day of the anniversary party, we got up early and went to the airport to pick up a rental car for the next two days. We usually don't travel through Europe via car, but the location of the party in the UNESCO Wachau Valley made travel by car an easier option. It also gave us the ability to travel more slowly through some towns and see some sights along the Danube River and further south. We met Nate and Mahvish's friend Philippe and his sister at the airport at 9AM to pick up the rental car, and set off for the valley.

Our first stop was Krems an der Donau, a town of 24,000 people 43 miles west of Vienna. Once we figured out how to pay for parking, we walked through the town for a few hours. It's a cute historic city, with a bustling main tourist street through the center of town. We visited a couple of churches and sampled some local marillenshnaps (apricot brandy). Its a great city to just meander around the small central historic district. Just watch out for the busloads of tourists!

View of Krems.



All of the towns along the Danube have hilly adorable cobblestone streets.

Inside the Piaristinkirche, the church perched above the city. 

The facade of the catholic church in the center of town.

The opulent Baroque interior of the catholic church.

One of the main streets in the center of Krems.

The steiner tor, a 15th century gate to the city.

Our next stop was a short drive west along the Danube: the little town of Dürnstein. It's an adorable village situated on a hillside on a bend in the river, surrounded by vinyards and forests and watched over by castle ruins perched high above. We walked through the town then hiked uphill to Burgruine Dürnstein, a 12th century castle where Richard the Lionheart was held prisoner in 1192 on his way home from the crusades. It was a steep 20 minute climb up the hill, and we were rewarded with commanding views and an amazing breeze on a hot day.

Vineyards and hills on the edge of Dürnstein.

The Danube is a really pretty blue-green. Not like Georgia's orange muddy rivers.

Narrow historic streets through the center of town.

Did we mention this town is adorable?

Looking across the river toward the town of Rossatz, on our climb up to the castle.

Very rewarding views after the short hike up to the castle.

The view of the beautiful Wachau valley from the castle.

We made it to the castle! Only a little sweaty...

Vineyards and a castle on a beautiful Saturday.

After walking back down to the village we had lunch before continuing west in our car. We dropped off Philippe and his sister at their hotel in Melk, and got ready for the party at our hotel, the Residenz Wachau. It was a charming hotel, but unfortunately we didn't have too much time there. We picked up Philippe again and our new Swedish friends and drove to the party.

The anniversary party was in another historic castle. Yes, we went to two castles in one day, deal with it! This castle was Burgruine Aggstein, a 12th century castle high on a hill over the Danube. It was a beautiful location, and the party was in a restored banquet hall. We enjoyed seasonal food and drinks (yay apricot champagne and late night schnitzel!) and spent the night drinking, talking and enjoying the beautiful evening.

View of the Danube from our room.

The banquet hall in the castle.

Grrr!

Not a bad view!

We toured the castle before the party.

Amazing views up and down the Danube.

View the other direction.

Apricot champagne and a beautiful sunset on top of the castle.

Paul and Mahvish are ready to party.

Hanging out after the toast.

The weather was amazing.

The happy couple 16 years after meeting (10 of them married!)

We were at the Cairo table!

This guy wants a beer.

Time to cut the cake!

We had an amazing time at the party, and this will certainly be the travel highlight of our year. Congrats to Mahvish and Nate!

The next morning, before leaving the Wachau valley, we drove to Melk and toured the abbey. Melk only has about 5,000 people, but seems larger. It has a small cute historic downtown, but the highlight is a giant abbey and church overlooking the town. It's one of Austria's most famous religious structures, originally founded in the 11th century. The main building is from the 18th century. We couldn't take photos inside, but there was a beautiful library and a number of impressive baroque rooms and paintings. We also happened upon a traditional band and locals in costume in the courtyard, getting ready to parade through town.

Melk and the abbey.

The main courtyard of the impressive abbey.

We listened to this band play traditional songs. A lucky random cultural experience.

The view over Melk on a cloudy Sunday morning.

David outside the abbey.

It was pretty crowded - a popular tourist destination, especially on a weekend during apricot season.

The gardens surrounding the abbey.

It's pretty clear to see why the Wachau Valley is a UNESCO heritage site. The Danube between Krems and Melk is wide and there are numerous small farming villages dotting its banks. This area is very hilly, with the ruins of old castles, vineyards and some overall great scenery. If you happen to be in this neck of the woods, consider visiting the valley for some old world charm. We didn't visit Melk too long, after visiting the abbey we left Melk in the late morning and drove south toward the mountains. We had the rental car until later that night so we wanted to make the most of our rare European car rental to see more of the Austrian countryside and the alpine foothills.