A Final Memorable Bike Ride in Austria (Day 8)
From the moment I read about it in our guide book I wanted to do it but it didn’t work out till the end of the trip – our very last full day in Austria.
It was a bike ride. A bike ride where you ride (in my dreamy imagination) through the countryside and through little villages feeling the breeze against your face as you go downhill (for the guide book said it was a gentle downhill slope the entire way), sometimes beside the Blue Danube and sometimes not.
Riding along the Blue Danube
We traveled to the town of Melk where the bike trail was to begin. Melk is a small little town but yet it also has a massive abbey that is partially hidden in the tree tops and you only catch glimpses of it until the last minute when you are right on it. Then in that moment, the immensity of Melk Abbey and the extravagance of it kind of stuns you.
We rented the city bikes. Bikes like these can be found in any city and rented in one location and returned in another. The locals use them quite a bit.
Armed with maps and information from the Tourist Information center we started.
Except that it wasn’t quite the idyllic ride I had imagined! (boo hoo!) Whatever issues the bikes had I don’t know but we had to pedal almost non-stop. Only on the very steepest slopes did we pick up speed… for a few brief glorious seconds and then our speed would slow so quickly that we had to work those leg muscles and keep those pedals turning.
Beep, beep we would hear as bikes came from behind us and before long they had disappeared in the distance as we struggled along.
We reached Groisbach and we started studying the map to see where the closest bike return was located. We were ready to be done with our “idyllic” bike ride. lol
We rode through several small towns/villages.
Castle ruins along the way…
The sign on the side of the bike said it all, “Workout”! That definitely summed it up. 😩 10 1/2 miles we rode. But it was another funny memory in a string of them and I guess that’s how life goes sometimes.
At last! We finally arrived at the bike rental return station!
Time for our last meal in Austria – another outdoor cafe.
And here ends the travels and chronicles of a 25th wedding anniversary celebration 4 years late.
We loved Austria and would highly recommend it to anyone!
My previous posts of our trip to Austria.
We Have Arrived in Austria – Day 1
We Have Arrived in Austria – Part Two of Day 1
An Italian Eatery in Vienna, Austria
The Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria – Part One of Day 2
Street Views of Vienna, Austria – Part Two of Day 2
The Summer Palace of the Habsburg’s – Day 3
Castle Ruins on the Danube River (Day 3)
Driving Adventures in Salzburg (Day 4)
Salzburg, Austria (Day 4, Part 2)
The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music (Day 5)
Dining at a Thousand Year Old Restaurant – the Stiftskeller St. Peter