Or maybe I should say, New day, new pastry.
Today we are in Melk, a small city on the Danube River, where the Pastry of the Day is topfentorte, a light and fluffy Austrian cake with a creamy cheese filling made from topfen, a Austrian fresh cheese sometimes called quark. Here, it’s being shown up by a very happy linzertorte cookie.
A view of the Danube and the hills beyond, which are filled with agriculture, including cornfields and grape vineyards.
The city of Melk
Melk is most well known as the location of Melk Abbey, a Benedictine Abbey originally built by the House of Babenberg, Austria’s first ruling dynasty.
The Abbey is incredibly ornate, and contains a museum filled with gold statues, mirrored rooms, frescoes, reliquaries and other religious treasures, including the remains of a bunch of saints as well as relics, like a piece of the wood cross on which Jesus was crucified. No proof of this, but it’s a big deal here.
One of the courtyards in the abbey, which is gigantic, with 497 rooms, including one of the world’s most impressive libraries of ancient books. Sadly, no photos were allowed.
We’re not too sad, though, because, you know, new day, new city, new kind of beer.
