Day 7—Meeting a Princess!

Dürnstein

Today had a LOT going on!  We docked in Dürnstein, Austria in the morning.  Dürnstein is in the Wachau valley, a world heritage site.  The valley has been a wine producer for many centuries and has some of the best white wines in Europe (per our tour guide).

Bill climbed up to the top of the hill to visit the ruins of the castle where King Richard the Lionhearted was captured.  He was returning from the Third Crusade, and shipwrecked.  So, he tried to travel incognito, until someone in his party used one of his own coins to pay for something, and, well…he was invited to stay in the castle until they could sort things out.  They sent word to his brother they wanted 20 tons of silver for ransom.  His brother said no, but their mother disagreed, and, well, a lot of Vienna was built up with that 20 tons of silver.

It was pretty good climb, steep enough to be some work but with enough flat spots to rest.  Along the way, the views were pretty cool!

Looking down on the city walls and the Danube.

The Wachau Valley and the Danube.  (Not our ship?)

Yeah, these are not "steps".

A Window to Wachau?  :-)

Last look from the top.

Durnstein Convent (formerly).

"Honor Bar".  Choose your wine, pay as the
sign indicates, and put your glass aside.

Meanwhile, Theresa did a tour of a Saffron Farm.  It was really interesting!  Apparently Saffron will grow wherever grapes grow well. There was an ancient legend about a Crusader returning home, and falling in love with a Durnstein girl…having the Saffron crocuses in his belongings.  The owner of the farm, a University Professor in Horticulture, investigated the legend, as there was no saffron growing in the current day, and found a 200 year old manuscript from a monk that said he was going to detail the means and methods of growing Saffron, as he noted that production was decreasing!  After the Saffron introduction, Theresa went into the small town.

"WEES"sky?  Get it?  I have to go in...!

Back down at the bottom, we met up on the main street, and looked at a few souvenirs, working our way down to the store we heard had free samples of Apricot brandy.  Apparently, this is the largest apricot region in all of Austria (not really sure where that puts it in Europe or the world, but OK).  We found a few nice options!

Back on the ship, we moved to the next dock.  So, we got to enjoy the scenery as we cruised up the river.  After lunch, we headed out to Arstetten Castle. 

The tiers help the grapes.

We have a history now of Theresa's Facebook profile being a campy selfie!

It was such a pretty picture...then the cement truck showed up.

An afternoon break to lay in bed and watch the world go by!

Random cool looking building.

When Archduke Franz Ferdinand fell in love with the wrong girl, he was told he could only marry her if he agreed that she would never be a “Hapsburg”, nor any of their children forever.  Among other things, this meant she could not be buried in the Hapsburg family crypt.  So, when an anarchist assassinated him and his wife Sofia, they found in his will that he wished to be buried with his wife, and NOT with the family.  The little castle they set up in Arstetten was where he wished to be buried with his descendants.  But this meant that the state funeral was called off.  So, the heads of State from around the world, who might have met face to face, never did.  And Austria declared war on Serbia, who leaned on Russia to support them, and Russia declared war on Austria.  And they leaned on Germany, who declared war on Russia.  Who leaned on England and France, who then declared war on Austria and Germany.  And the rest is history.  For the sake of love (oversimplified), all of Europe was plunged into a huge war.

Arstetten Schloss

The lower floor is converted into a museum for Franz Ferdinand, and the family.  We toured the museum and took in a lot of history and context.  But the best was yet to come!

The castle is still a part time residence for remaining descendants.  So at the end of the tour, we were treated to champagne and a chocolate medallion and a person welcome by Countess Alix, the Great-Great-Great Granddaughter of Franz and Sofia.  She talked a little bit about the current events in context of history, and also some personal bits.  She was glad we were a little late, because she had to go and pick up her eldest from school.  She has five children ranging from 3-11.  She talked about the number of windows in the castle and how, when she was a child and they got in trouble, they had to either stand in the corner (THAT sounds familiar!) or sometimes wash the windows!  She was extremely polite and welcoming, and it was a highlight for most of us!!  (Even if she wasn’t technical a princess!  Just sort of!)  We then went into the crypt and saw where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia were laid to rest.

A wooden replica of the car in which the Archduke
and his wife were assassinated.

The crypt and tombs of the Archduke and Archduchess.
It is strange to think how much this one couple changed the world
(even if unwittingly)!!

After the castle, we took a short walking tour of the town of Ybbs, the only town in Austria without one of the five vowels.  It was a tax town, which means the people moving goods up and down the river had to sell their goods at a steep discount to the people of that town, or set up a show there.  This gave the town some clout.  It was a nice little walk, but not much more.

The flood levels for various years.

It was striking seeing a statue of Jesus holding
a fallen German (Nazi) soldier.

Winding road in Ybbs.

St. Christopher, the patron Saint of Travelers (like us!)

Tonight is trivia night.  So, we did a quick dinner, and worked on the blog early, to be ready and available.  We got together with M&MA, P&P, and B&J, and named our team "Gelato".  They had 5 rounds of ten questions each.  One of the rounds was music, so I was ready to check out, but one of the answers was Vanilla Ice, so it wasn't totally out of my league!  Well, after the fifth round, they tallied up the scores, and began reading the 3rd place, the 2nd place, and ready to announce the first place...for a 100 Euro bottle of Champagne (for the whole team to share), and ....  there was a recount.  There were three people feverishly recounting...and then...  The Gelatos were #2?!!  What?!?!?  We got robbed!!  Well, we were ahead by one, and then recount below by one.  Oh well.  Got to get up early tomorrow.  G'night!