Melk, Austria - Stift Melk

The morning started with a tour of Melk Abbey, a personal favorite.  We docked at Emmersdor/Melk at 6:00 AM.  I had a light breakfast from the ship buffet (scrambled eggs, bacon, Veggies and fruit) and then turned my room key in for my boarding pass.  The bus boarded at 8:15.  Melk is a quaint town (photos are from the bus window).

 I had my QuietVox with me to keep connected to the tour guide.

We drove across the bridge and entered Melk, at the abbey in no time.  To my surprise, they have installed an elevator!  This is awesome.

I took the stairs down to the walkway and vowed to take the elevator UP so that I could give a good review.

The crowds were sparse and I was glad that we were there in the winter.  Today is Sunday and Christmas Eve, so the restaurants are closed.  Actually, they were probably closed because it is winter.  

We walked with our guide to the ticket booth where she bought for the group and distributed them to us all.  I put on my QuietVox system and headset, ready for a guided tour.  We met our Melk Abbey guide in the court yard and off we went, with firm instructions that photography was allowed outside but NOT inside the building.  These photos were taken before the "no photography" rule was in effect.  This is one of the long hallways and then the stairs to the upper floor.

Rats, this "no photography" idea was new.  When I was here in August 2015 and again in December, photography was allowed everywhere except in the library.  The guide said that people could not control their flash so no photos at all.  I will put a reference link to the photos that I took in 2015 at the bottom of this page (and republish this post) and that will have to do.  Nothing had changed during the time between my visits except the new rule.  (Note: I searched my blog for those 2015 photos and I haven't posted them yet!  I will connect all of these posts when they are written and republish.)

We toured the inner rooms and learned about the Abbey.  To switch from one wing to the other, we went out on the balcony for some great views.

 The church exterior from the balcony.

At the end, we walked quietly through the church because there was a mass.  The music was beautiful and added to the scene.

As we exited, I was surprised at the size of the crowds.  I know that our early tour departures can be painful, but I am always happy to get through before the crowds arrive.  This crowd is larger than when we arrived, but is much smaller than the huge crowds in the summer.

I rode the elevator to the upper parking lot and  turned to take a few last photographs of the Melk Abbey.  There are actually two elevators and they should be a tremendous help to tourists that have stair difficulty.  In the past, you could either take the stairs or a long sloped walkway to get from the parking lot to the Abbey walkway.

The path took us through the gift shop and I was able to purchase my treasured Apricot Likor.  One large bottle for the table, a juice for the bus, and more "medicine" to take home with me.

Ladee

www.LadeeTravels.blogspot.com

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign." Robert Louis Stevenson

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