"My wife Barb and I thoroughly enjoyed our “Europe’s Rivers & Castles” AmaWaterways combination escorted land and river tour in May. Our hotel in Paris, surrounded by beautiful neighborhoods and numerous restaurants and sidewalk cafes, was off the beaten path but ideally located. The vibrant activity on the Seine River and along the Champs Elysees was within leisurely walking distance. After a nice afternoon of free time in Paris, a welcoming orientation by our cruise director, and a wonderful dinner at a sidewalk bistro, we enjoyed a comfortable first night’s sleep and woke up to a family of Barred Owls serenading us from the garden courtyard outside our French door."

Historic Reims, where all the French kings were crowned, and the Champagne countryside dominated by bright fields of yellows and greens, were the highlights of our 2-day land tour prior to taking a luxury bus to Luxembourg. In the Champagne region, we visited famous Champagne houses and the cathedral in Hautviller where Dom Perignon is buried. There are thousands of miles of chalk caves underground where the champagne is stored during the aging process. The fifth-generation owner of the champagne producer, G H Mumm, related to us a story about his great grandfather hiding American soldiers in his underground caves during World War I.

The next day we bid farewell to Reims and our 5-star hotel and drove aboard a luxury bus through beautiful hills and valleys into Luxembourg. The area in Belgium we passed through on the way to Luxembourg included the Ardennes Forest, a major combat theater during World War I. We enjoyed a comprehensive walking tour through the historic district of Luxembourg City, the capital, and had a nice lunch in a very colorful restaurant where they sold numerous teas, coffees, and pastries. Every child who grows up in Luxembourg is required to learn Luxembourgish (a dialect which combines French and German phonetics), French and German. In school, they could have classes taught by teachers who speak all three languages.

Continuing through lush green countryside, we arrived late afternoon to board the recently renovated AmaCerto, ported in Lahnstein on the Rhine River, just south of Koblenz (which takes its name from a Latin derivative meaning confluence). On to Cochem, Germany on the Moselle River the next morning for a visit to one of the most spectacular castles we’ve ever visited in the world! It was built in 1000 by peasants, their motivation a fear of God and the anticipated second coming of Jesus. In Koblenz (German for confluence) we entered the Main River (pronounced mine) and soon passed Mainz, the town made famous by Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press.

Wurzburg, Wertheimer, Rothenberg and Nuremberg are all wonderful cities to explore on foot as is the spectacular city of Prague. While in the Czech Republic’s capital city, we enjoyed a very comprehensive walking tour during which we witnessed the National Hockey Team players, with Gold Medals around their necks, walk across a beautiful courtyard into the Government Seat where they would visit with the President. Later, outside our hotel, we saw a security escort for our Secretary of State Blinken, who was in Prague for formal meetings with his Czech counterpart.

Our final day included a tour of the fort in Terezin, built by the Hapsburgs in the 1870s to protect from invasion by the Prussians to the north. During WWII, it was used to incarcerate Jews and political prisoners from multiple countries who spoke out against Hitler. We also visited the ghetto where many Jews were forced to live before being transported to concentration camps. The experiences in and around Prague put an exclamation point on the conclusion to our AmaWaterways “Europe’s Rivers & Castles” tour. - Russ V. 

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