In a few weeks, I will be taking my very first river cruise, and I’m excited.
To give you some background, I’m a U.S. Navy veteran and when I was in my early 20’s, I was a radarman on the U.S.S. Samuel Eliot Morison, FFG-13.
During my 1984 “Med Cruise”, I sailed to Gibraltar, Morocco, Spain, Italy, France, and through the Suez Canal.
My upcoming AmaWaterways river cruise includes several amazing ports of call!
This small town on the Danube is about 14 miles upriver from the much more frequented port of Passau. Known as the “Little Three Rivers Town,” Vilshofen is situated at the entrance of the Lower Bavarian-Upper Austrian Danube Gorge. The captivating four-block, cobblestone old town sits close to the waterfront, with its streets and alleyways framed by a Baroque town tower and the Church of St. John.
All-Year Oktoberfest: AmaWaterways is the only river cruise line to visit Vilshofen, and it uses the town as an embarkation and disembarkation point. No matter what the calendar says, passengers can attend an Oktoberfest-style party before heading down the Danube, or find one waiting for them at the end of their cruise. The town puts on the party, and cruisers get two vouchers for beers — served the traditional way in big, Bavarian-style mugs.
Passau, a German city on the Austrian border, lies at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers. Known as the Three Rivers City, it’s overlooked by the Veste Oberhaus, a 13th-century hilltop fortress housing a city museum and observation tower. The old town below is known for its baroque architecture, including St. Stephen’s Cathedral, featuring distinctive onion-domed towers and an organ with 17,974 pipes.
Linz is a city in Upper Austria, straddling the Danube River midway between Salzburg and Vienna. Baroque buildings, including Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) and the old cathedral or Alter Dom, ring Hauptplatz, the old town’s main square. The riverside Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz has a major modern art collection. Across the river, the striking Ars Electronica Center focuses on society, technology and life in the future.
Located in the stunning region of Upper Austria in Austria, Grein is a charming little town that offers visitors a delightful mix of history, nature, and cultural experiences. Nestled on the banks of the Danube River, Grein not only enjoys a picturesque setting but also boasts a rich heritage that dates back several centuries.
One of the highlights of Grein is its historic town center, which is lined with beautiful buildings adorned with colorful facades. The centerpiece of the town is the Greinburg Castle, a magnificent Renaissance-style fortress that dominates the skyline. Built in the 15th century, the castle is home to the oldest theater in Austria, the Greinburg Castle Theater. Visitors can take guided tours to explore the castle’s impressive architecture and learn about its fascinating history.
Another must-visit attraction in Grein is the Greinbach Gorge, a natural wonder located just outside the town. Visitors can take a leisurely hike along the well-marked trails to enjoy breathtaking views of the gorge, with its towering cliffs and cascading waterfalls. The Greinbach Gorge is also home to a variety of flora and fauna, making it a haven for nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts.
The small, quaint Austrian city of Melk lies along the banks of the beautiful Danube river, near the Wachau Valley. With a population of just under six thousand citizens, life is laid back here, making it an ideal port of call on any river cruise.
Melk’s history as a marketplace dates back to 1227, and because of this early trade, the town boasts some incredible architectural examples that are representative of many different periods throughout history. One of the more famous structures is the imposing Stift Melk, an impressive Benedictine monastery perched high atop a hill overlooking the Danube and your river cruise ship.
Spitz is located right in the heart of Austria’s Wachau Valley, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is nicknamed “the town of a thousand buckets” because of a rounded hill in the center of the village where supposedly you could fill a thousand buckets with the abundant grapes that grow there.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, is one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. It’s a great city for shopping, dining, and sightseeing. The City of Vienna offers an incredible mix of culture, food and history. With a rich history dating back to the days of the Habsburg Austrian Empire, this imperial past is reflected in the old town city’s architecture, which includes some of the most impressive buildings in Europe. Visitors can explore the Hofburg Palace, the Schönbrunn Palace, and the Belvedere Palace.
There are also beautiful places to see the natural beauty of Vienna. More than half of the metropolitan area is made up of green spaces. 280 imperial parks and gardens enrich the cityscape. In spring, 400 species of rose bloom in the Volksgarten alone. The nearby recreation areas of Prater, Vienna Woods, and Lobau invite visitors to go on walks, day trips, hikes, and bicycle tours. Vienna has a total of 2,000 parks.
Vienna is the world capital of music because nowhere else was home to more famous composers than here. Classical music is the heart of our music history and the work of great composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert is still showcased on many stages throughout the city. Today the Viennese Philharmonic, the ensemble of the Viennese State Opera, and the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra contribute to this very important part of the culture.
Bratislava, city, capital of Slovakia. It lies in the extreme southwestern part of the country, along the Danube where that river has cut a gorge in the Little Carpathian Mountains near the meeting point of the frontiers of Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary. Vienna is 35 miles (56 km) west.
Archaeological evidence suggests prehistoric habitation of the site, which was later fortified and settled by the Celts and Romans and finally in the 8th century was inhabited by the Slavs. The location of today’s Bratislava was within Great Moravia, the earliest West Slavic state. Repeated Hungarian attacks led to the downfall of Great Moravia, and the area became part of Hungary. Being located on the kingdom’s frontier, it became an economic and administrative center.
“Buda-Pest” was created in 1872 when Pest, Buda, and Óbuda were united into a single municipal borough comprising 10 districts. Within a year, however, the hyphen had disappeared from the name of the new capital, even in official documents. Between 1873, when the law promulgating the unification went into effect, and the communist takeover after World War II, Budapest enjoyed self-government.
Its governing body, the City Council, consisted of 400 members elected by the districts. The influence of wealth was ensured by a provision of the law (Prussian in origin) that half the council was to be elected from among the 1,200 highest taxpayers of the capital (the so-called “virilists”), while the other half of the council’s membership was elected from the rest of the electorate, based on a rather narrow franchise. Property owners thus played an important role in the government of the city: aristocrats, grain and wine merchants, German burghers, a few solicitors, builders and architects, and later bankers and industrialists all went into real estate and became virilists.
Budapest dominated national politics. The Belváros was the constituency of Ferenc Deák, the creator of the Dual Monarchy system. After his death in 1876 the constituency was inherited by leading politicians.
Stay tuned to TheCruiseGenius.com for daily updates from my very first river cruise on the amazing AmaWaterways AmaMagna.
