European River Cruise 2011 | The Probus Club of Frankston Heights Inc.

September 4th to September 18th 2011

Thank you to Jan Waring for putting the following notes together.
(Scroll down for photos)

A group of 15 Probians and friends enjoyed a 2-week APT European River Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam on the very comfortable “Amadante”. Most of the group had extended their holiday with 3-day visits to Prague (before joining the ship) and Paris at the end of the cruise.

Our first get-together was a “Welcome Dinner” on board, after which we overnighted on the ship in Budapest before enjoying a coach/walking tour of the city visiting its many sights, including the beautiful Opera House where we were treated to champagne (or orange juice if preferred!) while listening to a tenor and soprano who were in full concert dress and who sang three ariettas. Other sights we visited included Heroes’ Square, Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion from where we viewed the magnificent Parliament Building, the design of which was influenced by the architecture of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. This building made a spectacular floodlit backdrop as we departed in the evening, viewing the stunning lights of Budapest as we started our journey along the mighty Danube River. This journey was to take us along the Danube, the Main/Danube Canal and the Rhine, crossing the Continental Divide at 1,332 ft. above sea level and travelling through 68 locks!

En route to Vienna we visited Bratislava, then the following day docked at Nussdorf just outside Vienna to find that there were ten cruise boats moored there and forty buses were needed to transport people to the city! Our initial walking tour through this gracious city was chaotic, spoiled by delivery trucks everywhere in the pedestrian area, but things improved as there was a curfew on such vehicles which took effect later in the morning. We returned to the ship for lunch and then, after an early dinner on board, we were again taken into the city for an excellent Mozart & Strauss concert at the 18^th century Auersperg Palace.

The lovely old wine and apricot-producing town of Durnstein was our next destination, after which we sailed on to Melk (while some of the more energetic members of the group preferred to cycle there) to visit the amazing Melk Abbey. From Linz there were optional tours to either Salzburg or the Czech medieval castle city of Cesky-Krumlov. This was the start of many medieval town destinations, including Regensburg (containing old Roman walls and Germany’s oldest sausage kitchen), the very picturesque Bamberg , the walled city of Rothenburg (including the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas museum and shop), Wertheim, Freudenberg & Miltenberg.

After entering the Rhine River, our stop at Rudesheim saw us taking a mini-train to Siegfried’s Musical Cabinet Museum, an amazing collection of musical automation from the 1920s. Afterwards many of us stopped at an outdoor café to enjoy a “Rudesheim coffee”, which entailed brandy and sugar being set alight as it was made – scrumptious! In the late afternoon we sailed through the spectacular Rhine Gorge passing the famous Lorelei Rock statue on the way, which was actually quite a disappointment. The ship sailed on to Andernach, Bonn and Köln on the way to our final destination of Amsterdam where, on arrival, some of the group enjoyed a glass-topped canal boat tour of the city, which was somewhat marred by rain.

Throughout the whole cruise we were entertained in the evenings by a number of mostly excellent musical groups as varied as pianists, violinists, singers, guitarists and even a medieval music group, plus a concert staged by the crew. As usual, our group made the most of every social opportunity and Sue Mair was dubbed by the other passengers “Queen Sue” of the dance floor for her continual enthusiastic participation!

The whole river-cruising experience was greatly enjoyed by all and a fantastic way to see some of Europe.