In October, 38 of us cruised from Amsterdam to Basel on the Rhine and Moselle rivers. The 11-night cruise was preceded by two nights in Amsterdam and ended with an optonal four nights in Switzerland, ending in Zurich. My write-up of our cruise will come next week. For now, sit back and enjoy some of the photos from our three weeks in Europe.
The Rhine is a storied river. We enjoyed our transit of the Rhine Gorge and many of the stops along the way, including Rudesheim and a favorite of mine, Strasbourg.
The Moselle arguably is Europe’s most beautiful river in the fall, and during our trip, the Moselle did not disappoint, even if the weather was overcast for much of the time that we were on the river. The wine harvest was in full swing, and the Rieslings were crisp and delightful. We enjoyed a few bike rides along the Moselle and tours of the fairy-tale like towns.
One highlight of the dining experience on AmaPrima was The Chef’s Table. This reservations-only aft restaurant is surrounded by windows, making for lovely views. The set menu remains the same for the duration of the cruise, with special wine pairings. There is no cost to dine at The Chef’s Table.
After disembarking AmaPrima in Basel, nearly 20 of us boarded a bus for Lucerne. Before heading out, though, we toured Basel, a lovely city that I knew little about. During our post-cruise extension, we’d spend two nights at Hotel Schweizerhof in Lucerne and two nights at the Schwiezerhof in Zurich. One of the highlights, was a one-hour boat ride across Lake Lucerne to board our motorcoach fo the continuation of our journey to Zurich.
As I write these words, it has been more than a month since tropical storm Helene devastated Western North Carolina. When our cruise ended and our Swiss extension was over, we were in no hurry to rush back home, where even today, we cannot drink our tap water (it will be mid-December before the City of Asheville can pour a glass of water from the tap). We headed to Colmar. The Alsatian town of surprised us with its many delights and its affordability compared to Switzerland and even Asheville. The Vosge mountains reminded us of home during an eight-mile hike, punctuated by a hearty meal in a lovely Auberge.
If you choose your seat correctly, you’ll see Greenland when flying home from Europe. I managed to snap this photo from my seat on the “starboard” side of the plane.
