The castle that held Richard the Lionheart
Leaving Krems we headed west along the Danube foreshore. Durnstein is a much smaller, quieter town than Krems. However along this drive is numerous wineries, heurigens (wine gardens) and farms that you can stop off at for food, drinks and various samples of fresh produce. Durnstein isn’t particularly prominent on the map although it is a very picturesque and beautiful town.
It does, however, have the distinguished history of containing the remains of the castle that Richard The Lionheart was dungeoned in. The story goes that he was captured on his way back to England from the Holy Lands and was imprisoned in the castle. The English paid the extraordinary ransom of 35,000kg of Silver to have him released and thus ensuring Durnstein would be remembered for something. The Silver was used to profit much of Vienna’s architecture however the Castle has not been maintained at all and is in very poor condition.
The rest of the town was very green and beautiful but we couldnt get parking so kept going!
