A European River Cruise: Budapest to Amsterdam

We finished up a fantastic riverboat tour of central and western Europe, from Budapest to Amsterdam. We cruised up the Danube and Main Rivers to a high water point near Regensburg, Germany, then down the Main, Rhine and Waal Rivers to Amsterdam. We visited fascinating old cities, castles, cathedrals, and UNESCO sites and made good new friends along the way!

We traveled on a Viking riverboat like this, which carried about 200 passengers and 50 crew members

And we followed this 14 day route, beginning in Budapest, Hungary, then cruising through Austria, Slovakia, and Germany, on the way to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Budapest, Hungary earned a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing that includes the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue. "This site has the remains of monuments such as the Roman city of Aquincum and the Gothic castle of Buda, which have had a considerable influence on the architecture of various periods. It is one of the world's outstanding urban landscapes and illustrates the great periods in the history of the Hungarian capital."

From https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/400/

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest

The Buda Castle and St Matthias Church at night

"The Shoes on the Danube Bank" is a disturbing memorial erected "to honour the Jews who were massacred by fascist antisemitic Hungarian militia in Budapest during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be stolen and resold by the militia after the massacre), and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents the shoes left behind on the bank."

From Wiki

The wonderful Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Art) in Vienna

Hungarian Parliament, along the Danube, designed and built to compete with the Parliament Building in London

Vienna, Austria is renowned for its rich musical heritage, having been home to many celebrated classical composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, Johann Strauss I, and Johann Strauss II. It played a pivotal role as a leading European music center, from the age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The city was home to the world's first psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. The historic center of Vienna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße, which is lined with grand buildings, monuments, and parks.

From Wiki. More at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna

St Stephan's Cathedral, Vienna

The Vienna Opera House

A visit to a park dedicated to one of Vienna's famous residents and a founder of clinical psychiatry and psychology

The Wachau Valley is an Austrian valley formed by the Danube. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located between the towns of Melk and Krems that attracts epicureans for its high-quality wines. It is 36 kilometres (22 mi) in length and has been settled since prehistoric times....The architectural elegance of its monasteries (Melk Abbey and Göttweig Abbey), castles and ruins combined with the urban architecture of its towns and villages, and the cultivation of vines as an important agricultural produce are the dominant features of the valley.

The Wachau Valley is included as a " Cultural Landscape" in the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in recognition of its architectural and agricultural history

From Wiki. More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wachau

We sailed through the scenic Wachau Valley, near Melk, Austria

Wachau Valley at Durnstein, Germany

Wachau Valley at Spitz, Germany

Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey along the Danube River, near Melk, Austria. There has been an abbey on this location for over 1,000 years. This complex, part of the Wachau Valley World Heritage Site, was built in Baroque style in the early 1700s. Cameras were not permitted inside the buildings (it is a functioning monastery) so I have a few pictures from a postcard here. Nothing like the real thing; it is overwhelming, over the top Baroque splendor!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melk_Abbey

Views of the Baroque Melk Abbey

The Melk Abbey Church

The Melk Abbey, Museum, and Courtyard

Passau is a small city located at the confluence of the Inn and the Ilz rivers with the Danube. It is home to the University of Passau; that seems to help this ancient city stay young. Tourists mainly visit the river itself, the "Old Town," and the ornate St Stephan's Cathedral which also houses the second largest pipe organ in the world. We were able to hear it being played!

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passau

Passau Town Hall

St Stephan's Cathedral, Passau

Regensburg was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006 because of its well-preserved architecture, being the biggest medieval city site north of the Alps, and the city's historical importance for assemblies during the Holy Roman Empire.

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regensburg

Regensburg Town Hall

Old Stone Bridge and St Peter's Cathedral, Regensburg

Nuremberg has a well-preserved medieval old town, dominated by the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle), populated by some old and many old looking homes and public buildings. It is a walled city with four remaining watch towers. It is infamous as a hotbed of Nazism in the early 1930s. Hitler regarded it as the best place to hold massive pro Nazi rallies. It is also famous as the place where the Nuremberg war trials took place. We explored the city through a guided walking tour and on our own.

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg

The old walled city of Nuremberg

Old Town Nuremberg

Bamberg is located at the confluence of the Main and the Rhine Rivers. It marks the end of a long series of locks along the Main Canal and River, and the beginning of our journey on the Rhine. It has a rich history involving the blending of politics and religion (as do most of these old cities in western Europe), and it has a beautiful riverfront and a unique Rathus (Town Hall).

Like Rome, Bamburg is a city built on seven hills, with a church on top of each hill . It has a spectacular cathedral, funded in part by fees charged to river traffic going up and down the Rhine. It has a dark history during the 17th century witch trials. It was mostly spared from allied bombing during WW II, and so it has an unusually rich collection of surviving medieval buildings, enough that it has been listed as a World Heritage Site. It is also famous for the accidental discovery of a smoky beer that tastes and smells bad (kind of like stinky socks, imo) but has become something of a sensation among beer lovers

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamberg

"Little Venice" in Bamburg

Old Town Hall, Bamberg. Maybe the coolest town hall I saw on the trip!

Wurzburg is another old city along the Main River in the province of Franconia. At least it looks old. It was mostly destroyed at the end of WW II, and has been painstakingly rebuilt as a new and improved "Old Town." It has an ugly history in terms of 15th century witch trials. The Old Town Square, the churches, a fortress overlooking the city and a spectacular "Bishop's Palace" (meant to compete with Versailles) are among the most interesting things to explore here

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%BCrzburg

The prince-bishop's residence, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Wurzburg. We toured three main rooms and walked through a half dozen others. Pretty amazing display of late renaissance opulence, rivaling Versailles in size and grandeur

Old Main Bridge, a pedestrian bridge and social center for tourists and locals alike, in Wurzburg

Wertheim is a medium sized town (pop ~24,000) located at the confluence of the Tauber with the Main River. It is a medieval-looking town, complete with castle ruins on the hilltop, a large church and a town hall below, a "leaning tower" that once served as a jail for town drunks and quarreling women, and a sad history of Jewish oppression and extermination.

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wertheim_am_Main

The Leaning Tower of Wertheim, now simply a landmark, also used as a prison in years gone by

The Castle Ruins overlooking Wertheim, also along the Main

The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km (40 mi) section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in ... Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 because of its beauty as a cultural landscape, its importance as a route of transport across Europe, and the unique adaptations of the buildings and terraces to the steep slopes of the gorge.

From Wiki. More at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine_Gorge

The Rhine Gorge, near Bacharach

Schönburg Castle along the Rhine River gorge near Oberwesel

Koblenz is a small German city located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers. The name derives from the Latin word for confluence; the began as a Roman military post over 2,000 years ago! It features an interesting Old Town with walled fortifications, a palace, a castle, a cathedral, many vineyards and wineries, and more. A fun visit with a guided tour and exploration on our own.

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koblenz

Koblenz Central Square

"History Columns" are interesting, common features in many medieval towns we visited. This one, built into a fountain in the town square, tells the story of Koblenz in eleven "layers"

At the main square in Koblenz

Koblenz Castle at dusk

Cologne: Although about 90% of the City of Cologne, Germany was destroyed by the end of WW II, it has rebuilt itself and restored many of the best of the medieval buildings along the way. It has very modern buildings and bridges that coexist with centuries old churches, cathedrals, and public offices. Located at a strategic part of the Rhine River, it could control (and profit from) the flow of goods up and down the river. We found it to be a diverse, interesting, and fun place to spend a day, exploring it on our own, on a guided tour, and on a hop on hop off bus tour. We also had fun visiting the Lindt Chocolate Company's main visitor center!

More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne

The Cologne Cathedral

Inside the Cologne Cathedral

Crane Houses, residential buildings with designs inspired by the cranes that once were used here along the banks of the Rhine

Severinsbrücke (Severins Bridge), Crane Houses, and the Lindt Chocolate Company's main visitor center along the Rhine in Cologne

Cologne skyline (St Martin's Church and the Cologne Cathedral) at night

Kinderdijk is a well-preserved complex of 19 old fashioned dutch windmills. Combined with displays of drainage ditches, canals, and collecting ponds, this UNESCO site tells the interesting story of how the Dutch reclaimed land from the sea (polders), and kept it dry enough to live and grow food on.

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam in the Netherlands, is a village that protects and preserves a system of 19 windmills that were first built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands.

Windmills at Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Windmill up close, Kinderdijk

Amsterdam, the cosmopolitan city of canals and culture, pot and prostitution, boats and bikes, and so much more! A fun capital city with a rich history, plenty of diversity, and lots to see and do. We stayed for almost a week at the end of our cruise, and were able to take a canal tour, walk through the red light districts, a visit to the Rijksmuseum and the National Maritime Museum, and visits to the hometowns of both of my parents. A nice way to end the cruise, and to begin the next phase of my trip!

More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam

There are than 60 miles / 100 km of canals in Amsterdam. We explored them by walking along some of them and tanking a canal boat cruise

The dancing houses, named because of how they lean. Like Venice, most of Old Town Amsterdam is built on posts and pilings driven into the ground. This contributes to uneven settling of many of these old houses. Kind of amazing that so many of them are still standing

The gardens at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a truly world class art museum

The National Maritime Museum

We missed the tulips, but there were lots of roses in Amsterdam! These were in Vondelpark, one of Amsterdam's largest city parks

All in all, a pretty great experience, visiting many interesting places while sailing along a few great rivers. Life on a river cruise is pretty easy. Good food and comfortable lodging are taken care of. Excursions are available at each port and many of them are included in the fare. Fellow travelers are friendly and interesting. I found the pace a bit slow and the excursions a bit limited (lots of castles, cathedrals, and medieval history) but the scenery was spectacular and venturing off on our own made exploring the port cities quite fun! Can definitely see more river cruising in my future!

More details and pics here:

Budapest:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/G5NuNJy2XhCJDKWU7

Vienna:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UDvJmvBiLCaQqD459

Wachau Valley:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/aQkBQDfAMhygVEsK6

The Melk Abbey:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iJeS36L4ACsLdvgt9

Passau:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AJtzEDs17CJEHiLq5

Regensburg: