I had heard that the Amsterdam to Budapest trip was worth doing, so decided to try that & the following is a brief account of our experience.
First of all, we decided to repeat our use of Premium Economy air travel which we had first experienced on our trip to Africa last year & found excellent as far as seat comfort, service & meal quality was concerned. However, we had used Qantas before & on this trip were advised that British Airways was the best option & provided similar quality - RUBBISH. BA was disgusting & Jan arrived in Heathrow sick as a dog & requiring a wheelchair to get to our departure point for Amsterdam. Read my earlier blog about the experience, which ensures we will not use BA again if avoidable.
27
Sep
Canal cruise in Amsterdam followed by own walk around in the
day, passing on the tour of Gassan Diamonds & Hermitage Museum
optional excursion. Jan improved a lot. Didn't manage to find the
flower markets unfortunately, due to time constraints before boat
departure.
We were asked to complete our preferences for which of the 13
optional excursions we wanted to take & were provided with a
summary of what they covered. We chose 6 which added Euro 582 to the
trip cost, but they were worth it.
Viewed passing through the first of the 68 locks on the trip, a huge
affair capable of taking 4 boats of our size. Other locks were not
as large but the 2 deepest had an 81 foot fall!
The boat is 443 feet long & 34 wide with 47 crew, very clean &
comfortable with 4 decks including the upper sky deck, a large
restaurant, a large saloon & bar forward & a small rear
coffee/library/TV room at the rear of the boat. We were told the boat
could float in only 10cm of water because of a ballasting system.
All rooms were quite spacious with TVs & free internet access.
However, the latter could be affected by where we were docked &
by going through locks, but was otherwise good.
In the evening, we had a talk about the difference between Holland &
Netherlands, which was instructive, then off to the usual excellent 8
course dinner after which we could enjoy casual music in the forward
saloon, or special performances put on at particular locations.
The only problem with the cruise was that we were fed so well we
didn't feel like sampling any of the local food in any of the places
visited! However, the chef generally included one local choice with
the meals served, as well as having a standard reserve of 3 entrees &
3 mains available in case anyone didn't like anything on the main
menu.
28
Sep
Cologne walking tour - interested to see the development since
last here in mid '80s. Took the pilgrim tour of the cathedral, which
was otherwise closed to tourists. Stained glass had been cleaned &
the Dom impressive. Bought some Farina cologne, the first cologne
produced here.
Our walking tour went past the Hohenzollern rail bridge, which we
were told handles 1200 trains a day!
We went into the museum covering Roman occupation – very
interesting with a stunning Dionysius Mosaic from the 2nd
century & could have spent more time there.
Concert by La Strade trio of 2 violinists & 1 guitarist in the
evening - very pleasant.
29 Sep Up early to see the vinyards on steep slopes &
first of the castles in the Rhine Gorge – very spectacular.
Misty on the hills & cold on deck, but cleared up to a fine day
so we caught a glimpse of the Lorelei statue by the river.
In to Rudesheim pm - lovely little village with a Xmas shop
similar to Rothenburg's but much smaller. Gave the mechanical
musical instrument museum a miss & had a Rhine wine at a small
estaminet before going on to sample a Rudesheimer coffee (brandy &
sugar set on fire, doused with coffee & covered in cream &
choc flakes). Then ambled down the Drosselgasse, very narrow street
filled with cafes & tourist shops back to the river & on
board again.
Unfortunately, at Rudesheim we didn't have a chance to get up to
the Niederwald monument of the statue of Germania cast from 32 tonnes
of bronze to celebrate unification of Germany in 1871, perched on a
hillside just north of the village, or visit Hildegard of Bingen's
abbey nearby, or we would have had to forgo the walking tour of the
town & we wanted to visit the Xmas shop there as well.
Definitely an area worth a longer visit via road.
30 Sep on to Miltenberg. Pleasant walk down the
picturesque main street & up to the Schloss, which we didn't
enter, but admired the view from.
Marvellous Zither concert that afternoon by Tomy Temerson, one of
only a handful of professional players world wide - very complicated
instrument! Then attended a hilarious show put on by the crew at
night.
1 Oct on to Wurtzburg. Bishop's palace interesting,
but the guide waffled on too long - we could have done it in half the
time, giving us more to spend exploring, not that there was too much
else to see there, as the gardens were past their best. However, we
didn't have time to wander over the old bridge to the Marienberg
Fortress, which would have been interesting. The palace tour brought
home the arrogance of the bishops in those days & the profligacy
of the Catholic church.
A tour of the boat's galley that afternoon was interesting, as was
question time with Captain Remus who fielded questions on a variety
of subjects.
2 Oct on to Bamberg. Pleasant town with plenty of
antique shops & good for walking. It is reputed the beer capital
of Germany & famous (notorious?) for its Rauchbier, as smokey
flavoured black beer, which I didn't try after watching reactions
from some who did! Bought some fruit at the green markets where we
found prices were on a par with Oz.
That night we were treated to the Chef's special dinner, 9 courses
instead of 8! Also that night Gunzheimer Swingband entertained on
board, but too late for us.
3 Oct on to Nuremberg. Very interesting town with not
enough time to explore as much as we would have liked. Castle
superb, but again, not enough time to do the 1.5 hour palace tour.
That afternoon we had a talk on the Main-Danube Canal, which was very
interesting. We had been climbing through the locks, were now on a
plateau & that night were going to be going downhill through the
locks!
4 Oct on to Weltenburg Abbey via a boat trip through
the Danube Gorge. Lovely trip with interesting scenery. The
Abbey was ordinary until we got into the chapel, which was very
ornate. The Abbey is the oldest abbey brewery in the world & the
beer was excellent.
Then on to Regensberg which was worth a longer look. I
discovered a golf museum by accident & it was superb. I told the
tour director that he needs to announce it as a 'must see' for
golfers in future.
A beer tasting later on the boat was quite interesting too,
describing the various main types, but the entertainment later was a
bit ordinary - Oom pa pa with a guy with the biggest moustache in
Germany who was very talented, but I didn't go for the audience
participation!
5
Oct we passed on Passau,
as we had booked the optional Cesky Krumlov
tour to see into the Czech Republic. We enjoyed a drive of over an
hour to get to it & found the area we visited very interesting.
Whilst most of it had been restored after the Communist era, there
were still parts that showed how it was then – dirty, drab &
run down - although these were slated for redevelopment & will
soon disappear.
We
rejoined the boat at Linz,
but unfortunately didn't have time to see much of it, or visit
Mauthausen, the former Nazi concentration camp. (The Austrians don't
want to talk about the fact that Hitler was Austrian, preferring to
refer to Kepler, composers & tortes!)
6
Oct after leaving Linz we
sailed through night getting to Melk
early the next morning to visit the famous baroque Abbey. Later that
morning we passed through the stunning Wachau Valley
which afforded some superb views of vinyards & castles on the way
to Durnstein, a
winegrowing village with a ruined castle above where Richard
the Lionheart was imprisoned on
his way back from the crusades. It was quite a climb, but worth it
for the views!
7
Oct on to Vienna
where we experienced the first rain of the trip. We had opted for
the optional tour of Schonbrunn Palace
following a coach tour of the city. It was impressive, but we were
pushed through it quite quickly with other tour groups before &
after us. We went to an apple strudel making demonstration in the
grounds which included a massive helping of the same with coffee in
what looked like an old wine cellar, which was welcome as it had
turned cold & wet outside.
We gave the optional classical concert that night a miss as it
consisted of standard works like the Blue Danube & Radetski March
& we had had enough of the cold & wet.
8
Oct saw us coaching to
Bratislava in
Slovakia which was quite interesting, with many antique stores. That
afternoon we took an optional tour to Schlosshof Palace.
It had been extensively damaged by Russian troops after the war but
had largely been renovated. The grounds were beautiful but again we
didn't have much time to explore fully.
That night we had our farewell dinner followed by a concert by the
Aphrodites, which was very pleasant.
9
Oct arrived in Budapest
& did a city tour before taking an optional tour to Szentendre
In Pest County, which took us to Skansen, a reconstructed rural
village of thatched houses & animal pens, which was quite
interesting, then on to a diamond & jewellery centre which was
disappointing, as it was supposed to house the Sissi collection, but
they were just some reproductions.
We returned to the boat by speedboat, which was a pleasant ride once
the cabin was closed in, as it was getting cold by then.
10
Oct as we had elected to spend
an extra couple of days in Budapest, we were able to book another
optional tour to Puszta Farm,
an animal farm with horse riding & coach displays followed by a
typical Hungarian goulash lunch.
This was excellent value, although the performers all lined up for
tips & as we had only Euros instead of Hungarian Forints, were
largely disappointed! (We had opted to pay our tips up front as part
of the tour, but it was recommended we tip the guides on the optional
excursions about 1-2 Euro if we were happy with them.) This was one
of the best optional tours of the trip, as we were past castles,
cathedrals & abbeys by then.
Final
impressions – a great trip,
well organised by Avalon in very comfortable cabins (even though we were on the lowest deck), excellent food & service throughout &
good company. We would recommend it to anyone without hesitation
(but diet first!).
11/12 Oct
We elected to spend a couple of extra days in Budapest after the cruise to have a more extensive look around & were glad we did so, as there is a lot to see. For example, I went to the Torture Museum, which showcases life under Communism & the persecutions carried out by the Hungarian secret police. It was very sobering & gave an indelible impression of the horrors perpetrated in that era.
There were other interesting walks & monuments & we only scratched the surface.
11/12 Oct
We elected to spend a couple of extra days in Budapest after the cruise to have a more extensive look around & were glad we did so, as there is a lot to see. For example, I went to the Torture Museum, which showcases life under Communism & the persecutions carried out by the Hungarian secret police. It was very sobering & gave an indelible impression of the horrors perpetrated in that era.
There were other interesting walks & monuments & we only scratched the surface.
