{"id":44327,"date":"2021-05-25T10:11:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T14:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/?p=44327"},"modified":"2021-06-10T15:04:18","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T19:04:18","slug":"croisieurope-gerard-schmitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/2021\/05\/croisieurope-gerard-schmitter\/","title":{"rendered":"River Cruising\u2019s Unlikeliest Pioneer: In Strasbourg, Where River Cruising Changed Course"},"content":{"rendered":"
In previous posts, we learned how river cruising evolved from an experimental steamboat on the Sa\u00f4ne\u00a0<\/a>to paddle-wheelers plying rivers in the United States and Europe<\/a>\u00a0to something resembling river cruising today: the first hotel barge on French canals<\/a>. After that first barge made its debut, forward-thinking entrepreneurs began to develop and build riverboats that became the blueprints for the magnificent vessels of today. In this post, we head to a city on the Rhine to meet one of river cruising’s unlikeliest pioneers. Who would have thought that the son of a potter would grow up to change the course of river cruising? And yet he did. Here\u2019s his story.<\/em><\/p>\n