THE ROMANTIC RHINE: AMSTERDAM TO BASEL
Lucerne’s bridges and towers are a part of the medieval architectural heritage to be discovered along the Rhine.
1. ARRIVE AMSTERDAM / EMBARK SHIP Tour begins: 4:00 PM, Amsterdam. A transfer is included from Schiphol International Airport or Amsterdam Centraal Station to your riverboat; check-in time aboard ship is 4:00 PM for all guests. After a discovery briefing where you’ll hear about your river travels ahead, please join us for a welcome dinner aboard ms Inspire to celebrate the start of a fantastic journey. Meals D
2. AMSTERDAM / DUTCH COUNTRYSIDE In a city indelibly linked to water, it’s fitting that your day begins with a cruise on its 17th-century grachten (canals) which fan out in crescent-shaped rings from the northern waterfront. On the drive to board your canal boat, you’ll get an orientation to the city, which at its heart feels more like a village than the compact center of a cosmopolitan city. Landmarks include Centraal Station, built at the end of the 19th century and still a place in constant motion – with people, bicycles, trams and buses; De Waag (Weigh House), once a fortified gate that today houses a popular outdoor café; and the Mint Tower, a gate in the city wall (circa 1400) that marks the intersection of two canals, tram paths, a pedestrian-only shopping street, and the outdoor city flower market – an ever busy, ever interesting crossroads. Aboard the canal boat, you’ll glide beneath curved bridges carrying walkers and cyclists – sometimes trams and cars – and by narrow merchant homes, whose goods were once pragmatically stored on the upper floors. After a guided visit
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to one of Amsterdam’s museums, a drive to the old university town of Utrecht brings you back to your riverboat, and cruising through the gentle Dutch countryside begins! Meals BLD
3. KÖLN CATHEDRAL & ROMAN CULTURE Overnight your riverboat crosses into Germany; you’ll awaken at a dock in the heart of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area and begin the day with a drive to Köln, arriving in time for lunch in a city made a capital of a Roman province as long ago as 50 AD. Sightseeing here begins with a guided tour of the immense twin-towered Köln Cathedral, whose construction took a mere six centuries. Completed in 1880, UNESCO declared this Gothic “Dom” a World Heritage Site in 1995, recognizing its cultural value as “a testament to the longevity of faith.” You’ll explore this intimately scaled city by coach and on foot, to discover its pedestrian-only shopping streets, cool cafés and traditional beer halls. There are medieval churches, avant-garde museums and the waterfront on the River Rhine. If you like, join us for an optional visit to the Romano-Germanic Museum (closed Mondays) adjacent to the cathedral. The collection contains examples of art, culture and everyday Roman life along the Rhine. Highlights include the Dionysus Mosaic, once the floor of a Roman banquet hall (which lies exactly where it was found in 1941, when workers were digging a World War II bomb shelter), the world’s largest collection of Roman glass, and a miniature portrait of the Roman Emperor, Augustus. Meals BLD
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