Hi all, Yep you guessed it another church!!. This one is at Melk on the Danube. It was a brisk -2 C most of the time. The gates of Heaven This Abbey has been in existence for some 900 year as an Abbey and longer as a palace for the Bamburgs. It has been an important strategic place for over 2000 years. It was used originally as a fortress to fight off the impending Ottoman Turks. Austria was used as a sort of buffer between the Ottomans and the German empire. Once the threat was over the palace was turned over to the Franciscan Monks who have operated it since. It sits high atop the hill. Great location to view the surrounding valley. Views The monks after all the conflicts etc wanted somewhere to represent heaven on Earth. Well they sure accomplished close to that. While hard to describe it was magnificent inside. No photos allowed inside but here are a couple of postcards we have taken a photo of to show you something of the place. The Crown of Rig...