Castle Ruins (Burgruine Dürnstein) - Dürnstein, Austria

This ruined castle (Burgruine Dürnstein) in Dürnstein is one of my favorite memories of my trip down the Danube River with my husband. We were on a river cruise, so we never got to spend as much time as we would have liked in one place. And then, there's the weather. You can never predict that. Originally, we had planned to bike along the Danube River for a small part of the trip. I was really excited -- until the clouds opened up and decided to pour torrents of water the whole day. We cancelled our plans to bike along the river and contented ourselves with playing cribbage on the boat until arriving in Dürnstein, (Austria). And the rain didn't stop when we arrived either. I had my heart on climbing up to see the castle ruins (Burg Ruin Loewenherz) at Dürnstein though, so we donned our rain gear, grabbed an umbrella, and took off. It was muddy, slippery, and deserted for the main part of our hike. My husband was so sweet and held the umbrella overhead to protect my camera while I captured this image, as well as views from the summit. The rain stopped once we had finished our descent, naturally. We stopped at a pub to warm up before heading back to the boat to change out of our rain soaked clothes and shoes. Was it wet? Absolutely. Was it a memory I will always treasure? Unequivocally.

Location: Dürnstein, Austria.

• Atlantic Islands
• Danube River
• England
• Israel
• Italy
• Nature
• United States
• Switzerland