Cruising along the Danube, there is lots to see. Colorful castles, abbeys, churches, mountains and charming towns. Here is the Wachau Valley in Austria, a World Cultural Site, where tiered vineyards take over the landscape. Weisenkirchen (“white church”) was one of those charming bergs where the vineyard comes right to the edge of town. I snapped a self-portrait (look closely). Then, we arrived at Dürnstein, another lovely town where we hiked up to the castle erected in the 12th century where Richard the Lionhearted was held captive and released for, wait for it, a king’s ransom. We hiked all the way up to that sucker! I earned that beer.
