We started our Danube Viking River Cruise onboard the Ingvi with a flight to Munich from Heathrow, we were swiftly picked up from Munich airport and transferred the 1-hour 15 minutes to Passau. A gorgeous Bavarian town close to the Austrian border with winding cobbled streets, and quaint cafes, we noticed nearly every cafe in the local towns only accepted cash as payment so definitely worth taking some extra euros with you if you wanted to experience the local cafe and bars.
One of the most famous sights in the town is St Stephens Cathedral, it is a huge baroque-style cathedral with green domes in the heart of the old town. Back onboard we left lovely Passau to enjoy the Scenic evening cruise to Linz along the way, whilst enjoying the view we were served a gorgeous 3-course meal, the food onboard was fabulous and catered for all dietary requirements and focused on local dishes from each port you docked in. Evenings were always the highlight of the day for me, with beautiful food, and amazing service followed by cocktails in the lounge.
We arrived in Linz the following day where we followed the included Viking walking tour, as Viking always has the best docking spots we were able just to wander off the ship and start the walking tour straight off the ship, we passed through the old town and learned interesting facts about the city, after the tour we had free time to soak up the atmosphere in Ring Hauptplatz, the town's main square where you can people watch whilst enjoying one of the local iced coffees.
Back onboard we enjoyed a beautiful 3-course lunch with wine, after lunch, we explored the riverside art gallery, Kunstmuseum, which includes works of art ranging from the local art school to Andy Warhol. Back onboard by late afternoon which was enough time to enjoy a local beer on board before heading back to our cabins to get ready for the evening.
The next morning after passing through one of the many locks, we sailed through the rolling hills and fortress of the scenic Wachau Valley to arrive in Krems by late morning for our lunchtime visit to the Gottweig Valley. Viking is very aware that they don't want their passengers going hungry and did start serving lunch at 11am so that they can go off on their lunchtime excursions.
After a very short walk to meet our transfer, we headed off on the minute journey up to Gottweig Abbey, a Benedictine monastery overlooking the Wachau Valley. The guided tour started with a glass of their apricot sparkling wine before watching a video that explained the history of the Abbey and the mission of the monks. They guided us around the grounds into the beautiful church and into the museum buildings and explained the history of the Abbey.
In the afternoon we had time to visit the local town of Krems, a small town full of colourful historic buildings, which makes it the perfect place to visit if you only have a couple of hours spare. That evening the restaurant hosted a 'Taste of Austria' with many delicious Austrian delicacies.
On the last morning of our trip, we were lucky enough to have the morning to explore Vienna, even though we only had a few hours to soak up the atmosphere, this was enough for me to decide that I would love to revisit. The history of this city was truly amazing, the buildings are a work of art and the local Sachertorte was to die for.
