Austria Day 3: The Wine Tour!!!

So for day three of the Austria adventure I was setting out to the Vienna Explorer office to meet up with the folks for my Hidden Wachau Valley wine tour! I had found this tour via TripAdvisor and it really looked fabulous! My friend Carrie echoed my idea that I HAD to do this! Cost was E115 or about $160 USD.

Met up with the tour folks (started at 9am) and there was four other people besides me. A couple slightly younger than me from Montana and two older ladies from South Africa. There was also our guide Stelios and our driver Amir. Amir was in training to be a guide so he was going to drive us today and then watch and learn. Normally I guess there is only one guide.

We went to the Domane Wachau winery first. It was about an hour outside of Vienna. From the winery you had wonderful views of the valley and the peaceful countryside all around you. Yeah, I totally wanted to move there. Until our next stop. Which was Durnstein. Then I totally wanted to re locate there. It was one of those tiny little European villages you see onscreen that looks so charming that it couldn’t really be that quaint in real life. But it is. The main road through the village was probably so small that my VW Beetle might have issues getting through. But I didn’t care, I loved it!

Just a note about the wine in Austria. Apparently they specialize in white wine. They do make red but there better reds come from nearby Hungary as there is a difference in the soil that produces the grapes. Also, their Riesling is different from what we are used to here. I found it way to dry and strong but others may like it. Austrians went out of their way to claim their Riesling is different than the German Riesling. Who knew? 

Domane Wachau

Our guide, Stelios

My favorite? The sweet wine!

Durnstein

See look, I am right at home!

church in Durnstein

And this view? Amazing!

From there we went on to the Mang Hermenegild winery. This was where we had lunch and also of course, wine! This winery has been family owned for a long time (I didn’t get the exact number) and it is still run by the family. The grandma works in the kitchen preparing the meals, the daughter runs the bar, the sons work the fields and the grandkids all help out as well. And the food? Amazing! I had the sampler plate of meats, cheeses and of course pickles! With a glass of wine, it really was a refreshing and light lunch!

Mang Hermenegild winery

Mang Hermenegild winery

Group photo!

My lunch. Yummy!!

After lunch and some photos we headed to where we would meet the boat. We were taking a boat cruise along the Danube River to the historic town of Melk, where we would meet up with Stelios and Amir. The boat cruise was a nice, relaxing way to check out the scenery and we all had some warm coffee on board.

After the boat cruise we drove up to the Abbey at Melk. We didn’t go in but stopped and took pictures along the river with the Abbey in the background. Apparently to visit and tour the Abbey you need to take about ½ day to see everything. That’s for another trip!

View from the boat

Abbey at Melk

Pretty impressive!

Yep, impressive!

Once finished we were driven back to the Vienna Explorer office to complete the day. I think we ended about 5:30 or so. It was one of the highlights of my trip and well worth the money. Everything was included except the lunch (because everyone had the option to get something different). My total for my lunch was 10 euro and that was with the wine and the tip.

I highly recommend taking this tour if you are in Vienna. It was a lovely way to see the backcountry, get out of the city with great, personable and knowledgeable guides! Well worth the money but you do need to book online ahead of time as they have limited options for days and times as well as the amount of folks they can take on one tour.

After a leisurely walk back to the hotel, I decided to grab some dinner. There was a place not far from the hotel called Gulaschmusem. It’s not actually a museum but a small restaurant with about 15 types of goulash.  I had a beef and potato type goulash that was wonderful. What’s not to love? It was the perfect end to the day!