Stage 2: Dürnstein – Weißenkirchen

We slept very well in the B&B Gästehaus Rolea, not a sound outside, and even awoke before the alarm went off. Breakfast was awesome! Muesli, fresh fruits, fresh bakery stuff, home-made apricot jam from the owner’s own apricot garden, avocado, boiled eggs… If you ever get to stay at Dürnstein really consider this B&B – and it’s so much cheaper than all the hotels there! The owner even cut us two slices of the home-made apricot cake for the way as he saw that we wanted to head off before even trying it. 😉

Then off we went. First stop – Burgruine Dürnstein.

The way up was very cool – with centuries old stone steps through the shade of trees and already nice views down onto the town.

But the old castle itself was even more awesome!!! 😍 We were the first ones up there this morning and after us there was only one other person for as long as we were at the castle. We surely climbed every rock and chased every good view – and with all the tales behind it, being up there felt magical!

Afterwards the path went through a gorgeous forest path to the Starhembergwarte which we, of course, also went up to.

Next stop was the Fesslhütte, a lovely hut in the forest just a few 100 meters from the Starhembergwarte. We weren’t really hungry or tired yet but it looked so cosy that we stopped for something to drink, coffee and the best Bauernkrapfen I’ve ever tasted. 🤤 Meanwhile, it was nearly 11 a.m. and quite some people were around doing a little Saturday hike or ride and the hut quickly began to fill. Time to leave our comfortable spot in the shade and head on.

Then we decided to do a little detour off the route to hike to the Dürnstein Kanzel – a great viewpoint which was definitely worth the extra mile. Luckily, after us another couple arrived and we got a picture of us together.

After being back on the original track we soon got to the junction to Weißenkirchen. And suddenly there were none. For the next 1,5 hours we hiked in the shade of trees on the most comfortable hiking path without meeting anyone. It was pure bliss! Somewhere along the way we stopped for a short lunch – and after having seen like dozens of benches yesterday there was none for miles right now. So we just looked for a nice moss-covered tree stump and stone and made this our bench.

And were we happy that we took the apricot cake this morning because it tasted delicious! 🤤

After our break we continued on through the forest, again up and down but an easy hike so we made good pace and suddenly were out of the forest in a small residential area with a large Heurigen and a few houses. But the trail immediately took us back from the street and onto a nice path, now more through the vineyards again. There we finally got the first good view of Weißenkirchen and also found original motives on our way. 😎

After arriving in Weißenkirchen we went to the inn we booked for this night, the Donauhof. After showering and doing some shopping we hunted for a spot to eat because we were told from our landlady that nearly everything is full tonight because of the Wachau Festspiele. Blimey! But we were lucky and could get a 1,5 hours time slot at the Kirchenwirt. The food was delicious and huge but the price, too. 🤣

After being stuffed we sat at the Danube and watched as people were swimming and having fun at the beach Donau-Naturbadestrand. Some teens also did some somersaults and handstands and cartwheels.

As soon as we were finally able to get up we took a short walk through the town and to the church. Since a mess was being held we didn’t go inside.