Christmas Market Cruising – Melk Abbey

As we continued our journey down the Danube, our final stop before reaching Vienna, was the historic Melk Abbey.

Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey located above the town of Melk, Austria. The abbey is located on a rocky overlook above the Danube river. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg, Austria’s first ruling dynasty.

It was a nice walk from the ship to the abbey, through the winding streets of Melk, and then up the many stairs to the abbey. It was not a difficult walk and the amount of stairs was definitely doable.

Once inside the abbey, visitors are able to see an excellent exhibit tracing the history of the abbey and trends in the Catholic Church.   There were manuscripts dating back hundreds of years.  A real treat, was the library, which held 1000s of books.  

The actual abbey was stunning. The photos do not do it justice – it was gorgeous.

The view from the top is also stunning. It was certainly worth the stair climb to see it. You can see the whole town and out toward the river where the ship was docked.

Walking through the town of Melk

The walk down back through the town was easy and allowed me to see my favorite little Austrian ducks and two swans swimming on the Danube.  Melk was a pretty quick stop compared to the other towns we visited on the cruise. We left early in the day to complete the journey on to Vienna.

Look for my other posts on Christmas Market Cruising: Nuremberg, Regensburg, Passau, Salzburg, and Vienna.