AUSTRIA - Europe by Eurail 2015: Touring Europe by Train - page 53

www.tiscover.at/melk
E-mail: [e-mail]
Hours: April-October 0900-1800 Monday-Saturday; November-March
0900-1700 Monday-Thursday, 0900-1430 Friday
Brandner ship line: Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: schif
[e-mail]; www.brandner.at
DDSG ship line: Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: info@ddsg-
blue-danube.at; www.ddsg-blue-danube.at
Notes: As you emerge from the bahnhof (rail station), walk toward the abbey,
which dominates the foreground. The tourist office is in the town hall, which sits at
the base of the abbey, 3 blocks from the station.
The Danube is Europe's grand river, second in length only to the Volga and
stretching almost 1,800 miles across eight countries. As plains, hills, and moun-
tains succeed one another along its course, the Danube can be sluggish, swift, or
even wild. The Danube rises in Germany's Black Forest—the length of a football
field away from the watershed of the Rhine. By the time its waters reach the Ger-
man city of Ulm, the Danube becomes navigable by river craft. Between Ulm and
Vienna, the Danube takes on an alpine character. The Danube is unusual among
the rivers of the world in that it flows from west to east. At its delta, it empties into
the Black Sea.
The “Blue Danube Waltz” is a musical expression of the attractiveness and
charm of Austria along the banks of the Danube. The vast countryside—fringed
by the Austrian Alps on the south—offers a vista of natural beauty. Although the
waters of the river, especially in times of flood, do not always display the color of
which the song sings, the beauty of the countryside through which the Danube
flows makes it easy to forget that the waters are actually milky white throughout
most of the spring and summer.
Vienna (Wien)—Melk—Up the Danube (Donau)
There is no longer a regular Danube (Donau) steamer service between Vienna and
Melk.
Instead, take the train to Melk, steam downriver to Krems, and then return to Vi-
enna from Krems by train. Between April and October, steamers depart Melk at
1100, 1350, and 1625. November to March, steamers depart Melk at 1350. Al-