Page 17 - AAA Northway – AAA Now! – January/February 2017

Austria
Most river ships spend one or two nights in Vienna so there is plenty of time to enjoy the opera or other performances, visit a museum or simply find the perfect Viennese café. The Main River,
river cruising option. Elbe cruises can offer visits to Magdenburg, Wittenberg, Torgau, Meissen, Dresden and Bad Schandau in Germany, as well as Litoměřice and Melnik in the Czech Republic. Stays in Berlin and Prague often are either included in the itinerary or offered as pre- and post-cruise options.
towns on or near the tidal Dordogne and Garonne rivers and the Gironde Estuary.
Portugal
Down in Portugal, the number of river cruise options along the Douro River has really grown. Trips typically start with one or two nights in cosmopolitan Lisbon (The City of Seven Hills), before heading
France
Back in Western Europe, France features many river cruise destinations. Many river cruisers opt to begin or end their cruise with a stay in Paris. The City of Light remains a quintessential European destination
Main-Danube Canal and Danube River cruises also are very popular in late November and December, thanks to many small or sprawling Christmas markets in Germany, Austria and beyond.
to embarkation in the city of Porto, which is known for its port wines and lots of history. Typical stops along the Douro River can include Bitetos, Régua, Pinhão and Barca, with lots of excursions into the Portuguese – and even Spanish – countryside and wine country.
Russia
Though it’s not technically part of Europe proper, Russia has grown into another popular river cruising destination, thanks
to several rivers and other bodies of water that connect fabled St. Petersburg with Moscow. Typical
journeys are around two weeks long and generally include pre- and post-cruise stays onboard in both St. Petersburg and Moscow (with optional extensions in both cities and in nearby Helsinki, Finland).
Hungary
Hungary’s Budapest often serves as the port of embarkation or debarkation for many river cruises, as well as a pre- or post-cruise stay (as does Prague in the Czech Republic). Highlights here include
many museums, the Dohany Street Synagogue and several classic and historic Eastern European-style bathhouses.
Budapest marks the beginning or end of the passage to Eastern Europe on the Danube. Options on the cruise to or from Giurgia and nearby Bucharest in Romania can include Hungary’s Kalocsa, Croatia’s Osijek and Bulgaria’s Vidin and Russe. Of course, Bucharest is also a great pre- and post-cruise option.
The Elbe River in what was once part of East Germany and Eastern Europe provides another great European
and is ideal for a stay before or after a Western Europe river cruise. From the Eiffel Tower to French fare, Paris is a European gem well worth a stay of several days.
There are several popular and typical itineraries offered by cruise lines in France. For instance, Seine River cruises visit the heart of Normandy and also include time in Paris. Stops can include the home and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, the provincial town of Vernon, medieval Rouen, the Normandy beaches and Normandy American Cemetery and Conflans (often including an optional Palace of Versailles tour).
Of course, French wine and food are the focus of several river cruises in France. The Bordeaux region of southwest France is proving particularly popular with river cruise lines and their passengers. These cruises typically embark in the historic wine-soaked city of Bordeaux (including one or more overnight stays), with cruises to world-renowned wine regions and
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