The river cruise that changed my mind

Sailing from Luxembourg to Nuremberg with AmaWaterways, a journey along the Moselle, Rhine and Main reveals steep vineyards, medieval towns, storied castles and a surprisingly active side to river cruising

A day into my first ever river cruise – a seven-night journey from Luxembourg through southern Germany to Nuremberg on the Moselle, Rhine and Main rivers – something atypical happens. I start to slow down. Content to sit on the balcony of my stateroom or on the sun deck I watch France‘s Moselle Valley, a place I’d normally be chafing at the bit to see, just drift by. The perpetual noise and distractions of my pre-cruise, cacophonous life are gone. We make our stops – places like Bernkastel, Trarbach and Cochem with its towering medieval and neo-Gothic Reichsburg Castle – but in the meantime, in those languid in-between moments, life is refreshingly slow.

The source of my contentment, the 135-metre long, 81-suite vessel AmaPrima, is taking me past places I’ve never heard of, like Enkirch and Reil, Lof and Dieblich, and above them the endless vineyards – the steepest in the world – of the riesling-mad Moselle Valley.

I’ve always sought the open sea, feeling rivers are somehow too restrictive – as though a 545-kilometre-long river, with the Rhine and the Main to come, could somehow feel hemmed in. Not as wide as the Rhine, the Moselle meanders in gorgeous arcs and loops and tranquil bends. Life along its banks is a mix of campgrounds, cycleways and towns where reeds still bend in the wind, echoing the gentle ebb and flow of river life.

Through vineyards and villages

Our cruise begins in Luxembourg, one of Europe’s most fortified medieval countries. Then comes Trier, just over the border in Germany. Conquered and developed by the Romans in the 1st Century BC, it’s the country’s oldest city and birthplace of Karl Marx, so it’s no problem picking up a copy of Das Kapital. It’s also home to nine UNESCO World Heritage sites including Porta Nigra, the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps.

Daily excursions have something for everyone: a visit to a renaissance palace, or maybe a bakery to see how pretzels are made. A museum, or perhaps a cafe for coffee made with brandy and chocolate. Hikes are graded ‘easy’ (village walks) or ‘demanding’ (vineyards and hilltop castles).

AmaWaterways was the first river cruise company to offer complimentary bicycles to its guests, and local guides are used so that never a wrong turn is taken. At Traben-Trarbach in Germany, our group of six cycles for 26 kilometres and back to Reil, a typical Moselle wine town. My misconceptions are officially out the window: river cruises are getting physical.

Good to know

Reichsburg Castle, the largest and one of the highest castles on the Moselle River, dominates the town of Cochem. Constructed in the Middle Ages, it was destroyed in 1689 and stood ruined and abandoned until purchased by Prussian industrialist Louise Ravene in 1868. A complex mix of medieval and neo-Gothic elements, this triumph of German Romanticism became Ravene’s personal residence; its imposing silhouette seen from the river draws you inexorably to its pointed windows, towers, battlements and spires.

It’s a plus if you have a passing interest in locks. On this trip we traverse dozens of them, and not being able to build a ship wider than them means every centimetre counts. River craft are, by necessity, narrow. And while some forgo balconies to increase room size, more than half of AmaPrima’s cabins have proper outside lounging spaces. The internal compromise, meanwhile, is minimal.

The Panorama Lounge is the venue for everything from daily debriefs and plans for the coming day, to the ‘Sip & Sail’ cocktail and mocktail hour, and concerts by visiting string quartets and lectures by local historians. You can take a massage or a daily fitness class, work out in the well-equipped gymnasium, or swim laps in the ship’s heated swimming pool. Destinations aside, AmaPrima is an indulgent world unto itself.

AmaWaterways is also a member of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs culinary society, and has built a formidable reputation for its food and wine. Lobster bisque, pan-fried salmon fillets, slow-roasted black Angus tenderloins with wine pairings are the norm – the farm-to-plate menu never disappoints.

The perpetual noise and distractions of my pre-cruise, cacophonous life are gone.

Water world

We enter the Rhine at Koblenz and next day are on the Main river through Northern Bavaria. The baroque and stucco splendour of the UNESCO-listed, 18th-century Wurzburg Residence takes this old architecture writer’s breath away. The next day we do one last cycle – an 18-kilometre ride from Eltmann along the Main to Bamberg.

Bamberg has it all: a Romanesque/gothic cathedral, the canals of its ‘Little Venice’, gorgeous frescoes, a rose garden with 4,500 plants laid out in the 1760s – and of course, Bamberg’s own famous ‘smoky’ beer, its Rauchbier.

At Restaurant Kachelofen we savour our half-litre glasses of Rauchbier before mounting our bicycles once more. One can debate the wisdom of tourists navigating wet cobblestones through a crowded Old Town after such indulgence, but there are no mishaps to report – not even a puncture. It is simply another example of AmaWaterways redefining what makes the perfect, and surprisingly physical, European river cruise.

Cruise notes

AmaWaterways’ ‘Europe’s Rivers & Castles’ seven-night voyage from Luxembourg to Nuremberg on AmaPrima starts from AU$5,034 per person. amawaterways.com/au