I have always wanted to see Dürnstein, a little town outside of Vienna where Richard the Lionheart was captured and held captive after the crusades. I had heard the story and heard it is a beautiful area of Austria, so we headed out early in the morning to check it out.
Dürnstein is a very small town built into the side of a mountain, right along the Danube River. Parts of the old castle and the castle walls are built right into houses and vineyards throughout the town. It is a unique and incredibly beautiful place to visit.
It is such a beautiful little town. Cars can only park in parking lots just on the edges of the town. The streets are narrow, the buildings are old and beautiful, the mountains and river are amazing and to top it all off, we started our day at a cute local bakery that sold really good, fresh bread. It was really inexpensive and obviously made from scratch that morning. I love Dürnstein!
You can hike up the mountain the town is built into to the old castle ruins. Have I ever mentioned that castle ruins are my favorite places to visit? I am just amazed to visit places where people walked and lived so long ago. There are a couple of different trails up the mountain and the one we found had old stone stairs that took us up a very steep path. The views as we went higher up were very beautiful, even on a cloudy day. There were also various places to read about the legends surrounding Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart, which the kids thought was awesome.
The best part about the old ruins is that you can climb on, in, and around all of them. The kids had a great time exploring, pretending, and playing up on the mountain.
We spent a few hours letting the kids roam the mountain top. They were knights, guards, kings, soldiers, outlaws, wizards, and who knows what else. Their stories and games kept evolving and they were entertained for hours in this amazing spot. We were just about the only people there. We saw a couple of other people who came up for a picture and then left again. It was not the perfect weather, but maybe that is why it was the perfect day. It was more enjoyable to visit as one of a few people instead of with crowds.
Dürnstein is named for the medieval castle on the hill, the Burgruine Dürnstein. The castle was first mentioned in 1192 when King Richard of England was held captive after insulting and possibly betraying Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who had been Richard’s ally in the crusade. For holding another crusader captive, Leopold was excommunicated by the pope. England was charged a king’s ransom for Richard’s release, and the money was used in part to build the city of Wiener Neustadt, just outside Vienna.
From the top we could see another trail up to the castle that would have been a nice meander instead of straight up the stairs. If we come back we will try that one out. After enjoying the beautiful views from the top of the mountain, we headed down and back through the little town. It is not very large, so we wandered about and then decided to drive to the next town over, Krems, to look for some restaurants for lunch. Dürnstein is one of my favorite places I have ever visited in Austria. I love small towns, I love mountains, I love rivers, I love castle ruins, I love old buildings. It was perfect.
As soon as we parked the car in Krems, the kids saw a pizzeria and wanted to go there. It turned out to be amazing. Marion got gnocchi that were the best gnocchi I have ever had. The rest of us got pizza, and mine was asparagus pizza with a ball of fresh mozzarella on top. Yum. While waiting for the food, Marion decided to yank out her loose tooth, which made for some (gross) entertainment for us, some blood on a napkin, and a happy toothless girl.
After lunch we wandered around Krems for a bit. You could tell it was not tourist season yet, as not much was open. The town itself is quite pretty and I loved the old buildings and statues around the historic center.
We found a section of town with multiple old churches and a cool stone stairway. We spent some time exploring the churches. I am still so amazed when we see buildings and churches that were built in the 1100s. There aren’t churches or large buildings that old in the USA, so I am constantly amazed by the history of these old towns in Austria. By then the little ones were getting tired so we headed back to Vienna. This was a great day trip that we all enjoyed. I’m so glad we decided to come to Dürnstein and Krems!
