Eight Weeks in Europe: Highlights

This wonderful trip began with a plan for a two week river cruise from Budapest, Hungary to Amsterdam in The Netherlands. As long as I was in the neighborhood anyway, I thought I'd spend a few extra weeks exploring the countries on each end of the river cruise. Sooo, I arrived in Prague, Czechia three weeks before our departure date and visited interesting and amazing places there and in Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Croatia before arriving in Budapest. I also decided to stay for an extra three weeks after the cruise to explore The Netherlands and Belgium. Linda joined me for five of the eight weeks of this excellent adventure. In the course of the trip, we spent time in twelve countries, ten UNESCO sites, eight capital cities, six national parks, six great art museums, four big rivers, and met many interesting new friends along the way. Here are a few highlights of the trip:

Central Europe: Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary

Spent the first three weeks visiting five countries around Hungary. It started with a four day visit to Prague in the Czech Republic (aka Czechia). Here is the Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral, seen here from my boat hotel on the Vltava River in Prague

Got out of town to do a fun, challenging hike on Gabriela's Trail to Pravčická Gate, Europe's largest sandstone arch, in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in northwestern Czechia

Then I was off to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. This is the city and the Danube River from the Observation Deck on the top of a cable stayed road bridge. We'd be sailing along this section of the river in about three weeks

Got into the Slovakian countryside to visit a group of castles. We hiked up to this spot to enjoy the view at sunset and to sample a few kinds of wine as we toasted our guides, our interesting day, and our new friends

Then I headed to over to Vienna, Austria to meet up with Linda, who joined me for the next five weeks. We started our time together with a couple of days in Vienna, then took a five day train trip through the Austrian Alps to Zurich, Switzerland, and then on to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Pictured above: St Stephan's Cathedral, one of the biggest, most visible landmarks in Old Town Vienna

We boarded a train from Vienna to Villach, along the Semmering Railway, one of the oldest, most scenic railroads in Austria and a UNESCO site

Church of the Holy Cross, along the Drava River in Villach, Austria

Then on another train, from Villach to Innsbruck

In Innsbruck, we attended a Tyrolean Dinner Show with traditional Austrian singing, dancing, and music. Food was good; show was great!

The next morning, we were off again, this time from Innsbruck, Austria to Zurich, Switzerland via the Arlberg Railway, another high elevation, scenic rail route

Here's a Zurich street and canal scene near the waterfront

Then we were back on the road again, this time traveling by overnight bus from Zurich to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Here's a stunning alpine view near Salzburg

We spent a day in Ljubljana, the capital, and three days in Lake Bled (above), in the nature-oriented northwestern part of the country. Along the way, we also had the opportunity to visit the Triglav National Park and the spectacular Soca River

The Soča River, in the Triglav National Park, Slovenia

Next, we headed over to Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia. Above, a huge range of fruits, veggies, and flowers, and lots of socializing at the Zagreb Central Market in Croatia

In addition to a few days of exploring the city, we spent a day at the spectacular Plitvice Lakes National Park, a few hours south of Zagreb, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The park has 16 lakes connected by 15 waterfalls, including this one, simply called "Large Waterfall"

We left Croatia to head over to Budapest. We visited many places in this fabulous city, including the Castle District on the Buda side of the city. Here's a fun night shot of The Buda Castle and St Matthias Church

It was finally time to board our Viking riverboat and start our leisurely westward journey through central and western Europe. We followed this 14 day route, starting in Budapest, Hungary, cruising through Austria, Slovakia, and Germany, and ending in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We cruised up the Danube and Main Rivers to a high water point near Regensburg, Germany, then down the Main, Rhine and Waal Rivers. We visited fascinating old cities, castles, cathedrals, and UNESCO sites, saw stunning riverscapes, ate great food and made good friends along the way!

Our first port of call after leaving Budapest was Vienna, a city we'd already visited. However, there was plenty more to see and do in this gem along the Danube. We spent some time on a city walking tour, and spent about a half day visiting Vienna's wonderful Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Art)

We sailed up the Danube through the scenic Wachau Valley, near Melk, Austria...

Altogether, we stopped in about 10 river towns and cities along the way, including historically rich places like Nuremberg, pictured above. In each port we had enough time to explore the place on our own or participate in introductory walking or riding tours (generally focused on history and culture) organized by Viking. Along the way, we also sailed up and down a total of 67 locks!

This is the picturesque Old Town Hall in Bamberg, along the Main Canal and River (The Main River and Canal connect the Danube River with the Rhine)

Shortly after the Main River flows into the Rhine, we sailed through some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip. This is the Rhine Gorge, near Bacharach

Here is the Koblenz Castle, along the Rhine

We stopped in Cologne where, among other things, we spent time in the Old Town, the Lindt Chocolate Visitor Center, and this majestic cathedral

Cologne at night. One of my favorite cities on the river cruise

When we got to the Netherlands, we had a fascinating stop at Kinderdijk, a UNESCO site near Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is a village that protects and preserves 19 windmills that were built around the 1750s. This group is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands

Fourteen days after we left Budapest, we arrived in Amsterdam. After we said our goodbyes to friends we made on the trip, we got off the boat and spent about a week in and around Amsterdam, the official capital city of the Netherlands. There are more than 60 miles / 100 km of canals like this in the city.

After our time in Amsterdam we visited a place called Andijk, north of the city. Andijk, a village "on the dike" is the small village where my father and his family lived before they emigrated to Canada.

After a short but interesting visit in Andijk, we traveled to Utrecht for a couple of days. We happened to be in town during the Pride Canal Parade, part of a weekend of activities celebrating and supporting diversity. Lots of fun and lots of support from local people as well as from visitors from around the world. The city was jammed!

We also visited Holten, a town just west of the border with Germany; it was my mother's family's hometown. 1,355 Canadian soldiers were killed in the process of liberating the Netherlands at the end of WW II and are buried here in the Canadian War Cemetery. We were fortunate in meeting a guide who showed us around. In the process, I discovered the grave of a soldier from the Welland-Lincoln regiment, near where I grew up in Canada. Holten and other towns near it have been quite active in celebrating those liberation days, now 80 years later! Quite a moving experience for me.

Shortly after our visit to Holten, Linda returned to the US and I continued my exploration of the southern Netherlands and northern Belgium.

Rotterdam turned out to be my favorite city in the Netherlands. Though it was devastated by German bombing early in WWII, it was rebuilt as a modern and forward-looking city during post war reconstruction. It had plenty of interesting art, architecture, urban design, and culture. It also happens to be the largest shipping port in Europe. The Erasmus Bridge, pictured here, spans the Maas River and connects the north and south sides of Rotterdam

This pretty canal scene in Delft features the "New Church" tower and spires. The New Church was first built in the 1300s. (The "Old Church" was first built in the 1250s.) I attended a very good concert there, and also climbed up to the top of the tower just for the WOW of it. From the top, I had great views of the neighborhood, including Rotterdam and The Hague skyline

In The Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands, I visited governmental buildings, an interesting art museum, a famous nearby beach, and, pictured above, the The International Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice

Here is The MAS, the Museum aan de Stroom (Museum on the Stream), an interesting ten story Art Museum. The building itself is an architectural gem in Antwerp, Belgium

One of Antwerp's charms involves legends about its origin and history. The Brabo Fountain in the Main Square (above) tells the story of how the city came to be called Antwerp. Druon Antigoon was a monster who cut off the right hand of anyone who refused to pay his costly toll for using the Scheldt River at Antwerp. After many such amputations, Brabo, a Roman hero, had a duel with Antigoon, killed him, and cut off Dragoon's right hand The statue depicts the moment Brabo hurled the severed hand into the Scheldt. The legend goes that this accounts for Antwerp's name. The claim is that the name Antwerpen is a combination of the Dutch words "(h)ant" (hand) and "werpen" (throw or launch). Probably not factually accurate, but a wonderful origin story, and one that has spawned hundreds of sculpted severed hands on display all over the city!

I had time to visit the city of Bruges, a UNESCO site famous for its well preserved medieval buildings and canals

This is The Krook, the Central Public Library in Ghent, near Antwerp. It was designed to resemble a stack of books. The thin horizontal lines represent pages; the floors represent books. Krook means "the bend" in dutch; it was named for the bend in the river where it is located

During the last few days of the trip, I stayed in Brussels and explored the Old Town, the capital and palace complexes, and the EU Parliament. Here's one of my favorite spots, the Main Square, lined with shops, restaurants, city hall, the cathedral, and a beautiful group of Guild Halls

All in all, a fabulous trip with lots of variety in cities, countries, and regions. We learned a lot about European history and culture, saw places we'd only heard or read about, met up with wonderful people, and did fun things along the way. I loved traveling by train and other public transportation, carrying all our stuff in a backpack and a handbag, and mostly staying in BnBs with local hosts. We could easily have spent more time exploring the places we visited, but I'm thrilled that we had the time we did to get to know parts of central and western Europe.

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Eight Weeks in Europe: Highlights

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