Wachau

The Wachau is a 36-kilometer valley of the Danube River in Lower Austria, between the towns of Melk and Krems, where the river was carved through crystalline rock of the Bohemian Massif along a weak fault zone, with Tertiary and Quaternary clay and silt deposits appearing in the valley's wider stretches near Weissenkirchen. People have lived in the valley since prehistoric times, and Palaeolithic figurines found at Willendorf and Galgenberg, dated to about 26,000 and 32,000 years old, are among the evidence. UNESCO listed the Wachau as a World Heritage cultural landscape in 2000, citing its blend of medieval architecture, riverside scenery and terraced vineyards, and the valley is home to the Baroque abbeys of Melk and Göttweig as well as medieval castles. Its steep, sun-facing vineyard terraces produce Riesling and Grüner Veltliner wines. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/