Page 163 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2022 DISCOVERING MADRID

And my lodgings for the eight-day Backroads
cycling trip along and in the hills above the
Danube?
They were in the cushy Amalea (Amawater-
ways.com) riverboat, a sleek 120-passenger
vessel that included a top deck swimming pool,
a piano, musical performances, a fitness center
and wi-fi. It was a far cry from Richard’s dismal
dungeon.
And because the boat motored down the
river every day, we met up with it each after-
noon and never had to change hotels during the
trip. A big plus.
John Montgomery and Marcin Woj-
ciechowski, my cycling companions the morning
we rode from Melk to Durnstein, and I stopped
for a beer (we were in Austria, after all) at a
small stand on the west side of the river. From
our perch, we could see the blue and white
church that towers above the Durnstein Abbey
and the fortress ruins higher on a slope above
the town.
We sipped our Pilsners and enjoyed the view
of the 900-year-old castle and waited for a
diminutive ferry boat, which looked something
like an Asian sampan, to carry us and our bikes
over the Danube.
After the crossing, we pedaled up a steep
street and stopped in at a wine shop to sample
the local fare, including some tasty apricot
liqueur. Then it was on to the village of Weis-
senkirchen - where the Amalea awaited us -
through more vineyards and orchards on slopes
rising from the river.
My cycling adventure began three days ear-
lier in the Czech Republic’s capital of Prague.
I’d arrived the previous day, giving myself
enough time to explore on my own and then
take a walking tour of this beautiful city, most
of which escaped bombing by the Allies in
World War II.
Writer Brian Clark toasts cycling on
the Danube during a recent
Backroads trip.
Opposite: John Montgomery gazed at
a home above a vineyard in Austria’s
Wachau Valley

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