Your day starts with breakfast onboard… sharing your favorite table by the window with the couple you became friends with at your welcome dinner… enjoying your favorite buffet selections just the way you like them… along with great views of the colorful spring blooms that line these beautiful inland waterways, and lighthearted conversation with your companions. The riverboat docks right around the time you’re finished with breakfast; you couldn’t have asked for better timing…
As you step off the ship, our local experts eagerly await to show you around the medieval town they call home; soon it may feel like home to you as well. You’ll spend the rest of your morning exploring with your local guide, discovering 17th-century canals, amazing formal gardens, and old cobblestone streets so different from those you’re used to back home. You might decide to stay ashore for lunch, sampling the cheeses and local beers the region is famous for – or return to the riverboat for lunch onboard. If it’s a warm day, the ship’s staff will greet you with a cool towel and a cold drink upon your return (or hot towels and a hot drink if it’s a tad chilly). Maybe you’ll indulge in a glass of wine as the riverboat sets off, and you wave farewell to the town you just got to know… and love.
Back aboard, you’ll have some time to explore your “floating hotel.” You spot the couple from this morning about to take a dip in the Jacuzzi. “Like to join us?” they ask. You say you’d love to, and are soon relaxing and chatting as you bask in the sun, sipping a cool drink. Refreshed, you head into the lobby just in time to watch the riverboat dock; this afternoon, you’re off to discover what life was like in a turn-of-the-century fishing village, check out a 400-year-old windmill, and pay your respects at a military cemetery where brave troops who fell fighting for freedom in a foreign land were laid to rest.
Dinner tonight may be something you have never experienced before… an interactive culinary experience in a centuries-old terraced castle… the only one of its kind in the country! Walking to the chateau, your Tauck Director and local guide fill you in on the history that surrounds you. Your jaw drops as you enter the magnificent building and are escorted to a state-of-the-art kitchen, where you’ll don a chef’s hat and help the chefs prepare a gourmet feast. The couple you had breakfast with joins you, bringing along some new friends who join in the fun. You’re all transported back in time as you enjoy your sumptuous meal together in the Roman-style grottoes deep within the castle. You don’t want the evening to end, but alas, it must… another Tauck experience to check off on the “wow” list…
Heading back to the riverboat, you notice the city lights reflecting on the river, and choose a riverside bench to sit on for a few moments’ reflection, taking in the magic of the riverscape one last time. Back on board, you take a moment to send a quick note about your day to the folks back home, then meet some friends for a little more camaraderie around the piano in the lounge before calling it a night. Later, drifting off to sleep, you smile… realizing that you’ll soon be waking up in another magical city… to embark on another perfect day of your Tauck river cruise…