As we approached Krems for our first stop of the day we could see the church steeple of St Vitus and this is where we went after disembarking. The church was originally built in 1014 but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1612 in the baroque style by Milanese master builder Cypriano Biasino. Plain on the outside but absolutely stunning on the inside with the 18th-century interior featuring stunning ceiling frescoes painted in 1787 by the renowned local artist Martin Johann Schmidt.
A pretty little town but after the initial delights presented by the church, was in fact a little disappointing. We wandered around, not really knowing where to go and had missed the presence of a 'Noddy' tourist bus that turned up to late for us to take advantage.
After the morning in Krems, we moved on to Weissenkirchen which was similar to Krems, i.e. a small pretty town on the side of the Danube. We walked into the town and into the 15th-century Gothic church which sits on a hilltop overlooking the town. Unfortunately we didn't climb the stairs to the top of the tower and catch the fantastic views of the Danube, mainly because we hadn't realised you could do this.
Like many of these old RC churches they look unpreprossessing on the outside but amazing on the inside.
We took the opportunity to visit a vineyard and purchase two bottles of speciality wines from the area (Grüner Veltliner Federspiel), a type of dry Reisling which I'm afraid has long gone now.
