If you think the "Linz Bermuda Triangle" is a mysterious nautical section of the Danube, you'd be wrong. It's actually about the city's cultural and "pub scene", which is concentrated between the main square and the Schlossberg and is not to be missed. And so this year's European Capital of Culture rightly advertises the "Linz Night Mile", the "City Scene after 10 pm", with a leporello.
From Linz's winter harbour, where we found a safe guest berth at the MYC Nibelungen jetty for a two-week stopover, it's a 2.5 km walk along the Danube to the main square, which with its baroque and rococo facades is one of the most beautiful squares in Central Europe.
We master the Abwinden and Wallsee locks together with a pushed convoy with almost no waiting time and learn something new again: all locks on the Austrian Danube have two chambers next to each other. There are four floating bollards per chamber, which are located on the outer walls of the chambers, i.e. not on the dividing wall between the two chambers. Exceptions: the Aschach lock has three floating bollards, the Persenbeug lock has none. Locking is easy at the floating bollards if you bear in mind that the bollard only starts to move when the water has already lowered by around one metre. If you attach the mooring rope to the boat too early, you will slide down the chamber wall without making contact with the water.
The non-binding guide times for sports boat locks at the nine Austrian locks were irrelevant in practice. Only once did we wait longer than half an hour after registering by radio (around 20 minutes before arriving at the lock). The lock keepers really seem to see themselves as service providers: Communication is always friendly and the announcements are helpful. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that "via donau", the Austrian waterways company, is a private service provider and not a state-owned enterprise. Experienced Austrian Danube skippers report that since 2005, the year "via donau" was founded, the quality of the lock regime for pleasure boaters has improved significantly.
The self-assessment on the internet is not immodest: "via donau - Europe's most modern waterway company" (www.via-donau .org). The old arm of the Danube below the Wallsee lock promises absolutely peaceful mooring. Here you can moor at the jetties just before the bridge on the left (Steyrer Yachtclub) and right (Motoryacht- und Wasserskiclub Wallsee). Of eddies and whirlpools
Our destination for the day is Grein in Strudengau. The name Strudengau refers to the narrowing Danube valley between Ardagger Markt and Ybbs and refers to a section of the Danube that was once feared by Danube boatmen because of its dangerous eddies and whirlpools. Thanks to blasting and backwater at the Ybbs-Persenbeug lock, this is long gone, but the river's current is still lively and the landscape is particularly wildly beautiful.
The Grein harbour with its jetties is located just above the town and offers a magnificent view of Greinburg Castle and the parish church. We find a nice guest berth (water and electricity) at the Turul boat club at the back of the harbour. We are given a code for the sanitary facilities in the clubhouse. And there is also a delicious Grüner Veltliner to welcome us: a foretaste of the Wachau.
Grein is a small, incredibly likeable town whose charm is hard to resist. On the terrace of the "Greiner Bürgerstuben", which is open to the town square, you can not only enjoy a good, homely meal, you also have a neighbourhood worth seeing: the town hall with the oldest preserved theatre in Upper Austria - a rococo showpiece from 1791 - is right next door, and the church tower of St. Ägidius looks on from above. Greinburg Castle with its "stone theatre", the magnificent arcaded courtyard and the "Upper Austrian Maritime Museum" will have to wait until the next day.
Below the Ybbs-Persenbeug lock, the Danube becomes somewhat wider again and therefore also more leisurely than in the Strudengau. At Marbach, the riverbed is a good 300 metres wide. The marina integrated into the Marbach leisure centre offers the best service. The harbour pub "Zur alten Fähre" is a popular meeting place for skippers. The Maria Taferl pilgrimage basilica towers high above Marbach on the Taferlberg, visible from afar.
At the Melk lock we leave the Nibelungengau and reach the Wachau. What a marvellous stretch of land! We start in Melk with its towering abbey, whose baroque façade seems to hover above the Melk lock for a long time. When the lower gate of the lock opens, the mighty building is close enough to touch.
The pontoons of Donau Schiffsstationen GmbH (www.donaustationen.at) are ideally located for visiting the abbey. Of the total of seven pontoons off Melk (two of which are in the oxbow lake), pontoons no. 31 (km 2036.12 RU) and no. 8 (km 2035.85 RU) on the river can be used by pleasure craft without prior booking. You pay 1.50 euros per hour per day and 7.50 euros per night in a metal box. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the pontoon to the pen.
If the places at the "Danube stations" are full, there is only a guest place in the Emmersdorf sports boat harbour (km 2037.2 LU). However, it is then a long way to the pen: ten minutes to the bus station and then another
15 minutes on the bus.
Four kilometres downstream from Melk, the next eye-catcher: Schönbühel Castle, which rises strikingly out of the Danube, which is only a good 200 metres wide here. In the river, two buoyed rocks close to the fairway. The break in the water at the buoy shows us that the Danube really has speed here: we measure a current of 8 to 10 km/h in the Wachau between Melk and Krems.
34 kilometres of the Wachau, 34 kilometres of the Danube that have it all! Not just because of the current. The Danube runs through a fascinatingly beautiful landscape, dotted with castles, palaces and ruins, marvellous villages and towns and always accompanied by vineyards and orchards, which have contributed greatly to the Wachau's reputation: A Wachau apricot brandy is a delicacy, and the "pepper" of the Grüner Veltliner is just as hard to resist as the fruity freshness of the Wachau Rieslings. You have to taste your way through the "Heurigen", from the "Federspiel" to the "Smaragd". And where better to do this than in the centre
centre of Wachau winegrowing between Spitz, Wösendorf, Joching and Weißenkirchen?
The small sports boat harbour of the WSC Spitz (km 2018.2 LU) is our first "tasting station" (water, electricity, very nice sanitary facilities in the clubhouse). It's a good ten-minute walk from the harbour to the village. And there is always a "tasting station" somewhere, and you can sample your way through the "Heurigen". If you also meet a winegrower from the neighbouring village of Wösendorf at the Heurigen, the evening car transfer from the harbour to Wösendorf is guaranteed, as is another tasting at the winery.
The fact that Wösendorf has an exquisite restaurant, the "Florianihof", with "refined regional cuisine and wines from the best winegrowers in the Wachau" is just the icing on the cake (www.florianihof-wachau.at).
Closer to Wösendorf is the Jo-ching sports boat harbour, so our next "day's stage" is actually just a manoeuvre: 4 km from Spitz to Joching, where we are guests at WSC Weißenkirchen. Our first stop is the beautiful Weißenkirchen, where we climb up into the vineyards in front of the wine tavern and enjoy the marvellous view over the village into the Danube valley.
The charming estate restaurant "Prandtauer Hof" of the Holzapfel winery in Weißenkirchen-Joching (www.holzapfel.at) lets us savour the Wachau's cornucopia of food and wine once again.
In Dürnstein, the Wachau hits full throttle once again: high above the Danube are the ruins of Dürnstein Castle, below, squeezed between the hillside and the banks of the Danube, is the town, dominated by the light blue church tower of the baroque Augustinian monastery. It's hard to get enough of it. Boat tourists can moor off Dürnstein at the very uneasy pontoon 22 of the Danube stations (km 2008.02 LU) or on the other side of the Danube at the short guest jetty in the Rossatzbach boat harbour (km 2008.1 RU). From here there is a ferry to Dürnstein.
But the Wachau never tires of presenting one last highlight: the twin town of Krems-Stein. In the spacious marina, the Wachau Motor Yacht Club and the Krems Water Sports Association offer guest moorings with water, electricity and sanitary facilities. From here, it is around a 15-minute walk to the picturesque old town centre with its narrow alleyways and historic buildings. It is considered by many to be a "medieval fairytale town" and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the Wachau in 2000. Which means: if you haven't already left too much time elsewhere in the Wachau, you should also make a stop in Krems.
"As if it wanted to give itself and the traveller a rest after the many cultural and historical twists and turns of the Wachau, the Danube valley in the Tulln basin widens into a meadow landscape with only a few small villages ...", says the Dumont travel guide "Donau". In other words: the Danube becomes wide, sluggish and also visually a little boring. This begins immediately below Krems. The current is reduced to a maximum of 3 to 4 km/h, and there is plenty of water and lush green banks to see - nothing else.
At the Altenwörth lock (Danube kilometre 1980.4) we have to wait 30 minutes for a motor vessel and a huge pushed convoy before we are allowed to enter.
But there is no more mooring for us. I call the lock keeper on the radio: "Where should we moor?" "Go alongside the slipway ('Meister 3')." No sooner said than done. On leaving, we let the Schuber tow us alongside into the lower outer harbour before taking a hard starboard break from its screw water. The hottest manoeuvre of the day.
We need to stock up on food and Tulln seems to be the right place for us. So we moor at the guest jetty of the marina (Danube kilometre 1962.5 LU). It takes around 20 minutes to walk from the marina to the main square. Packed, we return to the boat. Tulln doesn't seem particularly attractive to us, but perhaps we've been spoilt too much in the Wachau: from Tulln to Vienna, the face of the Danube hardly changes: still wide, still sedate, still not very spectacular
The Greifenstein lock breaks up the monotony of the journey, as do short photo stops at the marinas of Muckendorf (km 1955.6 RU), Greifenstein (km 1951.4 RU), Korneuburg (km 1943.0 LU) and the Danube service area at Kahlenbergerdorf (km 1935.3). Our destination, however, is Marina Wien (Danube km 1926.5), where we moor at the guest jetty after refuelling. A perfect facility with great service, but a definite "flaw": it is no less than 850 metres from the guest jetty in the west basin to the sanitary facilities in the harbour building! You have to walk all the way around the harbour basin to get there. The harbour building also houses the reception, a nautical shop and the exceptionally good restaurant! Top quality at reasonable prices. The Viennese know this too, and you are well advised to book a table in good time.
When registering the boat and crew, there is an information folder at reception that provides answers to all important questions: Connection to the centre of Vienna, supermarket, bakery etc. - perfectly done! Some Danube reports say that Marina Wien is completely overpriced. We paid 18 euros for "Troll" including water, electricity and showers. This makes Marina Wien more expensive than most club harbours on the Austrian Danube (10 to 15 euros), but the facilities are in excellent condition, which is not the case for all harbours.
There is probably no need to explain here that Vienna, as a first-class European cultural metropolis, can take up a lot of time. Vienna - Bratislava: 61 kilometres of the Danube and one lock - Freudenau. We have to wait half an hour before we can go down next to a slipway. We can't get to the floating bollard because of the barges. But we can go down the last ladder without any problems.
Below the Freudenau lock, the Danube really picks up speed again. A current of between 8 and 10 km/h allows us to "race" towards the Austrian-Slovakian border at more than 20 km/h above ground. We pass endless Danube floodplains. It's not really exciting!
We pass Hainburg, the easternmost town in Austria, and a little later we have the Slovakian Devin Rock in front of us, on which a castle ruin is enthroned. At the foot of the Devin Rock, the Morava flows into the Danube, which is the border river between Austria and Slovakia for the next seven kilometres. Since Slovakia joined the Schengen Agreement in December 2007, border controls have finally become a thing of the past. We swap the Austrian flag for the Slovakian host country flag.
At kilometre 1873, the Danube becomes completely Slovakian and we are already on the outskirts of Bratislava. A little later, we enjoy the sublime view of the castle, which sits majestically high above the Danube. The modern Danube bridge with the "UFO restaurant" at the top of the bridge pillar is also an eye-catcher.
Shortly afterwards, we moor at a Danube institution: "Milan's Treff", a yacht pontoon in a harbour basin on the south-eastern outskirts of Bratislava (approach Danube km 1864.8 LU). On the pontoon is a house with a restaurant and basic sanitary facilities, in front of which are jetties for the boats with water and electricity. It's not the pontoon that makes it special, but its operators: Milan Bokol and his wife Lydia are charming hosts and cook for the crews in the evening. They have long since moved close together on the pontoon and sense that it is the Danube that has brought them together here and whose spell they can no longer escape.
We meet András from Cologne, a German of Hungarian origin, who is travelling alone to Istanbul in his 8-metre sailing boat "Jonathan", as well as skipper Wolfgang and bosun Toni from Frankfurt with their 14-metre sailing yacht "Trear". And the Bavarian couple Erna and Gerhard, who are once again spending their boating holiday on Milan's pontoon.
The next morning, Milan hands us 900 Slovakian crowns (around 30 euros): "You'll need it for a taxi and if you want to buy something in town. We'll settle the bill later." When Milan calls the taxi, it costs 300 crowns (around 10 euros) to the city centre. It makes sense to arrange the return journey with the same driver! A day stroll through the beautiful old town centre of Bratislava is an absolute must! All the splendour of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy is artfully gathered here in the smallest of spaces.
Together with "Jonathan" and "Trear", we tackle the Gabcikovo reservoir, which begins 10 kilometres below Bratislava and about which the purest horror stories can be read. What is certain is that the approximately 10 km long reservoir and the adjoining lock channel, which narrows from an initial width of 800 metres towards the Gabcikovo lock to 500 metres, can get very rough in westerly winds.
The channel is "buoyed" by stone embankments, which have light signs on the top. In the southern part of the reservoir, dead tree trunks protrude bizarrely from the water like skeletons: end-time atmosphere! We register in German at the Gabcikovo lock: "If you hurry, that would be good," replies the lock keeper in impeccable German. We hurry, because the hydrofoil travelling between Vienna and Budapest is already waiting in the lock. Would anyone in Germany wait a good ten minutes for three pleasure craft if a scheduled fast ferry wanted to pass through the lock? Hardly!
Eight kilometres in the boring lock canal in the tailwater, then the "real Danube" has us back. And it is beautiful now, with its white beaches and sandbanks in front of never-ending green floodplain banks, a pristine river landscape and border river between Hungary and Slovakia.
A long day's journey, as there are 100 km between Bratislava and Komárno without any harbours. Komárno lies on the Slovakian bank of the Danube, Komárom opposite, on the Hungarian bank. We enter the industrial harbour of Komárno (Danube km 1767.2 LU), because at its far end on the south bank opposite a large shipyard there is a solid and fairly new floating dock with a welcoming little harbour house: The "Miro Marina". Water, electricity, showers and toilets are included in the mooring fee of 400 Slovakian crowns (around 13 euros).
In the evening, Miro's team, a friendly chap by the way, conjures up fish soup and then fried fish. Including "Rizling" from Slovakia, we pay a good 20 euros for food and drink. There is a supermarket around 600 metres from the harbour. The town centre is too far for us.
Farewell to Miro: 50 kilometres of the Danube from Komárno to Esztergom lie ahead of us. The picture of the Danube
the previous day. But ahead, on the eastern horizon, hills become visible, the first since we left the Wachau in Krems. At kilometre 1753 on the Danube, the first gentle elevations appear next to us on the right bank, i.e. the Hungarian bank. Are the hills reminiscent of the Wachau? Not really, because the wine is missing. But the Danube here has pearly white beaches, which you would look for in vain in the Wachau. Then the dome of the Basilica of Esztergom ahead. We head for the small "marina" of Esztergom. It is actually a 150 metre long jetty in the narrow estuary of the Kis-Duna (Little Danube).
A quiet spot just below the basilica and only a few hundred metres from the town centre. SY "Trear" doesn't fit in here and has to anchor outside in the stream. For water, electricity and showers, we pay the harbour operator Attila 4,500 forints (18 euros at the time) - not cheap, but Attila's helpfulness with the three boats and their crews and their wishes is definitely worth more! In the evening, we enjoy András' interpreting skills in a typical Hungarian inn (garlic and paprika bunches above the front door!).
A strong west-north-westerly wind pushes us towards the Danube bend near the floating dock in a harbour basin,
which cuts deep into Hajógyári Island. The service is good: petrol station with all types of fuel, drinking water
There is a petrol station with all types of fuel, drinking water, electricity at the jetty, sanitary containers, a club boat with terrace and restaurant, washing machine, crane and workshop. The charges are high (as in Szentendre) and the berth is noisy: In the front part because of the traffic noise (tram!), which falls from the Arpád Bridge almost directly into the boat.
disco, which plays its basses over the water until the early hours of the morning, and not just at weekends.
the water.
Perhaps it is therefore a good thing that the Wiking Marina will probably be moved from its current location in 2010 and built around three kilometres further upstream (km 1654.8 LU). But that is still a long way off. You can still take the suburban railway from Arpád Hid station, which is 800 metres from the harbour, to the city centre, where you can change to the legendary Budapest underground at Bathyány-Ter (Ter = square). And when you see the
When you see the Hungarian Parliament on the banks of the Danube for the first time, you realise that you have reached the second major European cultural metropolis on this stage after Vienna.
And this great city also needs time - a lot of time, even if you only want to see the most important things. The nearby "artists' town" is completely deserted: empty alleyways, empty restaurants (lots of them) and the baroque old town in dreary grey: decadence with charm, I wonder what it looks like in dry weather? The next morning we can satisfy our curiosity.
What a shock! Airport art and dubious handicrafts are pushed in front of the doors of every second house, and the first buses have unleashed their age-weakened tourists on the "city of artists".
Instead of baroque facades, folklore trimmed to puszta. Quickly away from this hustle and bustle. At the harbour office of the Viking
Yacht Club Szentendre: our mooring fees are at a new record level: 5700 HUF (23 euros) for an overnight stay with an 8-metre boat, with electricity at the jetty but only a single drinking water tap at the pontoon with the harbour house.
The last 20 kilometres of our trip: 10 on the tributary and 10 on the Danube, which rejoins at the city limits of Budapest. Immediately below the Arpád Hid (Hid = bridge), we head hard to starboard into the Wiking Marina Budapest (km 1651.4 RU): a 400-metre-long Viségrad, where the Danube changes from its east to south course, but where it also splits into the eastern main branch and the slightly more westerly branch, the Szentendre Danube.
branch, the Szentendre Danube.
Our flotilla disperses: "Jonathan" and "Trear" follow the main arm, we follow the tempting call of the "pretty little artists' town" of Szentendre, which gave this side arm its name. A very quaint body of water,
not marked by kilometres, but sufficiently buoyed. Reach the jetty of the Szentendre Viking Yacht Club (Szentendrei-Duna km 10.5 RU).
WHAT SKIPPERS NEED TO KNOW
Refuelling km 2112.00 RU Enns industrial harbour. Bunker service Rutjes. Diesel + Super. 1.4. to 31.10. daily 8 am to 7 pm. Telephone: 0043-650-55 44 722. km 2082,70 RU Ardagger leisure harbour. Diesel + Super. 1.4. to 31.10. daily throughout the day. Please book by telephone. Phone: 0043- 664-41 37 931. km 2004,00 LU Stein. Elektro Hoch Krems. Diesel + Super. 1.5. to 31.10. Mon to Fri 5 to 6 pm; Sat, Sun, public holidays 10 to 12 and 4 to 6 pm. Phone: 0043-2732-83 183. km 1962,20 RU Tulln Yachthafen. Petrol + Super. 1.4. to 31.10. Mon to Fri 8am to 12pm and 1pm to 6pm; Sat and Sun 8am to 7pm. 0043-2272-62 656. 1951.30 RU Wördern, Yachtclub Donau. Diesel + Super. Opening hours on request. Tel.: 0043-2242-32 524. 1935.30 RU Vienna-Kuchelau, Danube service area Kahlenberger Dorf. Diesel + Super. 1.4. to 30.4. and 1.10. to 31.10. daily 8am to 12pm and 1pm to 6pm; 1.5. to 30.9. daily 8am to 12pm and 1pm to 7pm. Telephone: 0043-1-37 01 658. km 1926.30 RU Vienna, Marina. Diesel, petrol, super. 1.4. to 31.10. daily 9 am to 7 pm. Phone: 0043-1- 72 60 762. km 1864,8 LU Bratislava, Milan's Treff. Milan Bokol can help with the fuel supply by canister. km 1651,40 RU Budapest, Wiking Marina. Diesel + Super. Opening hours on request
