Not a bad place to be imprisoned

At the beginning of March I finally got round to going to the famous Danube/ Wachau region village of Duernstein, having previously only floated past it on a boat from Melk to Krems. Well, in fact I gratefully took up the invitation of my hiking buddies, without whom I wouldn't go half the places I do! Duernstein is a beautiful village in the incredibly picturesque Wachau region, where the Danube flows through the harder metamorphic rocks of the Bohemian Massif. This leads to a narrower river with steeper cliffs to either side, complete with tor-like rock pillars peeking from between the trees. A covering of sandy, wind-blown glacial loess fills the valleys and allows for huge ranks of vineyard terraces. The whole area is overflowing with history, geology and wine!

Duernstein is particularly famous, for its medieval architecture and walls, for its striking blue church (that looks to me a bit like a 50s sci-fi rocketship) and for its ruined castle perched among the rock pillars above the village. Although we no longer know for sure whether it was in the village, in the much rebuilt castle (Burg) above, or somewhere else nearby, the name Duernstein has passed into history and legend as the place where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned from December 1192 to March 1193, while trying to travel back from the Crusades. His ransom paid for many things, including the founding of a mint, the founding of a city, and upgrades to several castles...

Our hike took us switchbacking up the steep rocky cliffs next to the river, almost immediately giving us fantastic views of the rock formations across the valley, the castle, the Danube, and Duernstein itself. Zigzagging further between trees and rock formations, we passed the odd geological curiosity, like a beautiful ductile shear zone and some lovely small folds. Not everyone was as excited as me, of course.

The views of amazing rock formations remained for the whole of the hike, sometimes near, sometimes far, and occasionally adorned with the odd climber soaking in the early spring sunshine. This place looks amazing to climb in, and I really should come back and give that a go someday! The final highlight of the walk was the arrival at the castle proper, sitting almost impossibly atop a bit of rocky high ground. I have to say that castle builders seem to have much more of a flair for dramatic locations here in central europe! The castle has of course been worked and reworked over many centuries, including being invaded by marauding swedes (yes, swedes!) during the 30 years war...

We headed down the educational Richard the Lionheart tourist path back to the Danube, where there was time for a quick sunset stroll before the bus back to Krems. A selection of my photos can, as ever, be found by clicking a link. All in all, I wouldn't mind spending a few months imprisoned round here, at least if I got a window!

Bis bald,

der Tom