Lowes Travels

Nov 23-27, Strasbourg, Speyer, Rüdesheim, Cologne, Amsterdam

We finally enjoyed our first night on the ship after a bus ride to meet up with it at Ludwigshafen, Germany. I’m lumping together the rest of our Enchanting Rhine River Cruise, which was marred by rain and cold temperatures most of the time. Being from the desert, the drastic change in weather did our old bones no good, and in fact Steve had a nasty head cold within 2 days of us leaving the first port.

Let me introduce to you our home for 5 days, the AmaCerto River Cruise Ship. This was our first cruise with AmaWaterways, and the trip was unfortunately shortened due to flooding conditions on the Rhine. It is comparable in quality to our favorite cruise line, with excellent service and great food. It has a sun deck heated pool, a fitness room, massage services, a specialty restaurant and a wellness director. We continue to slightly prefer Viking, but AmaWaterways is a good alternative we will use again for rivers not served by Viking.

Strasbourg, France

While we couldn’t dock in Strasbourg due to the high water, we were able to take our excursion there by leaving by bus from the repositioned ship in an industrial area in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It was only an hour drive, considering that Strasbourg lies on the eastern border of Germany with the Rhine River forming that border.

We were a week early for the start of the big event, the Annual Christmas Market. This is when hundreds of small buildings are towed into towns across Europe and then decorated with holiday lights before being stocked with an assortment of gifts and foods for sale. In Switzerland, France, Germany and many other cities they convert their central medieval quarters into a Christmas maze. Curtains of lights glow above cobblestone lanes lined with food and gift stalls. There’s even a river cruise devoted solely to visiting Christmas Markets! During our visit there was a frenzy of activity as final preparations were made to get everything completed on time. These folks are serious about Christmas!

Speyer, Germany

Speyer is one of the oldest cities in Germany, and is known for its Romanesque cathedral, the largest in Europe. By virtue of the history to which it is linked, it is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our excellent tour guide related the history of the cathedral which began construction in 1025, with multiple reconstruction efforts occurring subsequently.

The Speyer Cathedral has maintained the overall form and dimensions of its 11th-century structure, and despite substantial losses to the original fabric and successive restorations it presents a complete and unified Romanesque building:

Rüdesheim, Germany

At this stop Steve and I went separate ways. He selected a hiking excursion through Rüdesheim’s vineyards, taking in views of the town, the Roman Bridge and Brömserburg Castle. I took a gondola ride up to the Niederwald Monument, where I enjoyed panoramic views of the river and vineyards from above:

 In the afternoon we set sail through the scenic Rhine River Gorge, with its fabled legends and many castles and vineyards. This stretch of the Upper Middle Rhine is often called the Rhine Gorge or Romantic Rhine, and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our cruise director and an area expert narrated many interesting facts about the beautiful structures and scenery along the way:

Cologne, Germany

This would be our second visit to Cologne, the first being in Oct. 2017 which I detailed here.

Since we’d visited the Cologne Cathedral last time, we opted for beer tastings at two local taverns to try out the popular Kölsch beer. Kölsch is a style of beer originating here in Cologne, a product which has a protected geographical indication in the EU. It’s brewed according to Reinheitsgebot, which is a law that regulates the brewing of the beer. This 500-year-old German beer purity law states that only barley, hops, water, and yeast may be used.

 In Cologne, Kölsch beer  is traditionally served in a tall, thin, cylindrical 6.8 US fl. oz. glass called a Stange. If the drinker does not want another refill, he/she must place the coaster on top of the empty Stange and pay for the number of beers marked on the coaster. In the picture above we did not want any more refills so all of the Stanges are covered. Forget to cover it and they’ll keep filling it up!

That night we joined in the festivities on the ship, placing ornaments on the Christmas trees:

Later that night I sat down with Santa and his lovely angels:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Fortunately, we had previously visited Amsterdam in 2017, my story about that visit is here. I say fortunately because neither one of us wanted to join excursions in the cold and rain that we had this time. So we passed on the outdoor activities and stayed in the ship to pack and get ready for our next adventure.

Our week on the River Rhine came to an end too quickly. The cities we visited radiated warmth with their Christmas spirit, giving them a magical atmosphere. Too bad the lousy weather put a damper on our experience much of the time. We had a great experience cruising with AmaWaterways, and we would recommend them favorably to those interested in river cruising.

This is our last post for 2023, and we greet all of our dear readers and faithful followers:

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First up next year:  All roads lead to Rome!