May 14, 2013
Dürnstein to Tulln 51km, 860km total
Zum Schwartse Adler €33.50 per person ($87 for double) - including breakfast

 

Reticent Pension Staff

The entrance to the hotel was as charming as they come. We entered through an arched portal through the old Rathaus. A zigzag stone staircase led up to the front door of the pension. Our rooms, another floor up, had views of the backside of the Rathaus and the blue steeple of the Basilica. A tiny garden and the breakfast room would have been nice area to relax if we had the inclination. But the couple who own our Durnstein pension turned out to be impersonal. No attempt was made to have contact or conversation beyond the absolute necessary. The man, who had shown us to our room, showed us the garage where we could park our bikes and gave us directions to the ruined castle then departed. We didn't see him again. The woman, who we didn't see the day before, was responsible for the breakfast buffet and we saw only her back until it was time to check out and pay.


Apricot Orchards Too!

We left town passing by vineyard after vineyard and orchards with sweet smelling apricot trees in full bloom. That is another thing the area is famous for, it's apricots. Everything is 'apricot’, from preserves to liquors. Several vineyards had workers pruning the vines. An old woman was tilling the soil with a shovel in another small plot.

 
After 8 km we reached the old town of Krems and the end of the Wachau wine area. Krems is a large modern town with a broad and long pedestrian shopping street. It has several museums including the Caricature Museum and, of course, churches. Those may have been interesting to stop at but we mutually agreed to press on. The town was a little too big to grab us like Spitz did, where we all wished we could stay if hadn't been for the reservation we had in Dürnstein.

 
 
2000!

We crossed a giant bridge over the Donau exiting Krems. We circled a cloverleaf path to the south side and rode the easy path on the dyke. We passed the giant 2000 km from Black Sea signboard and stopped for a team photograph to mark the milestone.


 
Blue Sky Slowed Us Down

The overcast had burned off by now and the weather was pleasant. This part of the path hugs the river and is very rural with the villages located away from the Donau. A few recreational boat harbors dot the area. It appeared that many of the houses near the river were seasonal, being smaller, simpler and newer, two story bungalows.

 
.....The last ten kilometers into Tulln, left the river’s edge and zigzagged on country lanes past wheat fields and wildflowers galore. I decided to pick some for our room since we were planning to stay two nights it the ‘romantic town’, of Tulln. Dave and Hiro patiently waited while Junko and I picked enough flowers. Painfully, I poked my shin with the sharp knife I was using to cut through a few particularly tough stems. Blood poured out as if I had amputated my foot. (Okay, a bit of hyperbole) We got it under control and bandaged up. Soon we were back at the river’s edge and the town of Tulln.


 
Nice Town but nothing Romantic About it

Tulin is known as the city of flowers and Hiro’s and Junko’s Japanese guidebook calls it romantic. We went directly to the tourist info office in Tulln where we learned that a sporting event was happening and many private zimmers and pensions were fully booked. They called several places for us and finally found a vacancy at Zum Schwartse Adler, the second most expensive place in town. It was overpriced for what the rooms offered but it is well located at the corner of the main town square. We could not find anything particularly romantic about Tulln and told them we would be staying just the one night.

They have a medium size shopping mall in Tulln and we took advantage of it to get hair care, have Dave’s phone sim registered (Dave could find the phone registration but not the data plan registration on the German only language website) and buy snacks for the trail. We topped the day off with a filling Chinese buffet before turning in. Traditional Austrian fare has its limits.

 


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References: 

....1) The Danube Cycle Way; Donaueschingen to Budapest by John Higginson
... 2) Bikeline Maps & Guides; Donau-Radweg 1, (5 books in the series)

Our plan in a nutshell; 2900 total kilometers at 50 km per day - 2 days riding for 1 day off for a total of 58 riding days & 90 total days - April to July, 2013 :)