A taste of Europe via River cruise

A recent article reminded me of our many trips to Europe.  To spread the good feeling, I thought I'd share the love a little bit here.

The Moselle River

This article in the Wall Street Journal  is really about the Moselle Region's vineyards.  But it has some great descriptions of the region and great views of the Moselle river. Which of course reminds me of several of our trips to this part of Germany.

The Moselle is in Western Germany and flows into Luxembourg.  It joins the Rhine River in Koblenz.   Most river cruises will go as far as Trier Germany.  This section of the river is among the most scenic in al of Europe with steep valleys lined with vineyards.  It's all white wine here - Riesling.  Look at that the above picture!  It's so reminiscent of our trips along the Moselle.

Wine is very abundant in this part of the world.  In fact, in the center of Trier is a local wine tasting store right on the main town square.

River Cruising

The Moselle makes a great river cruise for a variety of reasons.

First, there's so many great little towns situated along the river.  There's Trier, which was a major European center during Roman times.  But also Zell, Cochem and Koblenz.  In Cochem, you can tour the famous Reichsburg Castle or check out the mustard mill right in town.  Zell, hosts a wonderful continuous wine festival.

This also makes for some great biking along the river and hiking up the vineyards.

Finally, river cruises typically combine the Moselle with:

• the Lower Rhine which takes past the Castles along the Rhine gorge, Strasbourg and into Basel Switzerland
• the Upper Rhine - up through Cologne and Amsterdam
• the Main-Danube canal which includes the wonderful towns of Wertheim, Bamberg and Nuremberg.

Here's our blog from our first trip on the Moselle with AmaWaterways. We loved the combination with the Main -Danube canal. The two big rivers for cruising are the Rhine and the Danube so this itinerary captures lots of small in between towns generally not seen on either of the two big rivers.  Absolutely stunning landscapes as well.

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