Splendours of Europe & Prague
Booking Dates
12/27/2018 through 07/26/2020
Guiding you past some of Europe's most beautiful stretches of countryside and through some of the continent's most vibrant and enchanting cities; Emerald Sky ensures every minute of your holiday is exceptionally comfortable and enjoyable. From the spacious suites and staterooms to the contemporary, sophisticated public spaces, every inch of Emerald Sky has been considered.
Day 1 Arrival Amsterdam
Depart Time: -- - Arrive Time: --
Day 2 Amsterdam Cruising
Day 3 Cologne
Day 4 Rüdesheim
Day 5 Miltenberg - Wertheim
Day 6 Würzburg
Day 7 Bamberg
Day 8 Nuremberg
Day 9 Kelheim - Regensburg
Day 10 Passau - Linz
Day 11 Melk - Dürnstein
Day 12 Vienna
Day 13 Bratislava
Day 14 Budapest
Day 15 Budapest Disembarkation - Prague
Day 16 Prague
Day 18 Prague - Farewell
Amsterdam: A good time! That's what you'll have in this beautiful capital of the Netherlands, which feels at once like a 17-century city and a bustling modern metropolis. Famous for its canals and extraordinary museums, Amsterdam is also an intimate city with strangely alluring streets and squares.
Founded in 902, Bamberg remains a medieval-looking city known for its symphony orchestra and specialty "smoke" beer. Bamberg was also the first site in Germany of lithographic printing featuring movable type.
The city's winding streets are filled with baroque patrician houses as well as the breathtaking 11th century cathedral of Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich II, which houses his tomb as well as that of Pope Clement II. Tour the 16th century Alt Residenz (Old Residence) and the 17th century Neue Residenz (New Residence), both of which were bishop's houses.
The city of Bratislava holds a rich history for Hungary and its surrounding countries. Visit the castle of Bratislava, built in the 9th century, it was once home to Hungarian royalty, until a fire nearly destroyed it in 1811. It is now a museum and national monument.
The capital of Hungary, Budapest was formed by the unification of two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River. This sparkling eastern European capital has culture, nightlife, gambling, folk art and fine cuisine to offer. More than 4 million tourists each year are drawn by such attractions as the Buda Castle quarter, over 200 museums, around 80 geothermal springs, the largest synagogue in Europe and more.
Cologne's great Gothic Cathedral is a magnificent reminder of man's ability to create exquisite art from stone. Its lacy twin spires and wonderful stained glass never fail to impress. Miraculously, the Cathedral escaped wartime destruction, unlike most of the city. The Old Town attracts visitors with excellent restaurants, lively taverns, bars and boutiques. The pedestrian-only Hohe-Strasse is a shopper's paradise, and Eau de Cologne toilet water, trademarked 4711 (the former address), is world famous.
The famous Benedictine abbey of Melk, one of Europe's most splendid example of Baroque architecture, attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Melk, which was first mentioned as "Medilica" in a document in the year 831, received its town charter more than 100 years ago. This lovely town is like a picture book come alive!
The town center is quite small, however you still find such a great variety of architectural gems like in hardly any other town of Europe.
Nuremberg (German Nürnberg), city in south central Germany, on the Pegnitz River, in Bavaria, near Fürth. The city is a commercial and industrial center, served by railroads and the Ludwig Canal, which connects the Danube and Main rivers. Nuremberg is widely known for its toys and honey and spice cakes (Lebkuchen); other products include motor vehicles, electrical and electronic equipment, office machinery, textiles, and precision instruments. Among the city's points of interest are the Hauptmarkt, the main market square; the Gothic Saint Sebald's Church (mainly 13th century); a castle (begun 11th century); the German National Museum; toy and transportation museums; the house (now a museum) where the artist Albrecht Dürer lived; and extensive parts of the old city walls (chiefly 15th century). A section of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is in the city.
Human settlements have existed here at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers ever since prehistoric times. In this millennium the city was considerably enlarged by the prince bishops of Passau, who made it their royal residence and capital of the largest Danube diocese. The wonderful Baroque buildings that dominate the city today were built after the great fire of 1662. One of the most striking is cathedral of St. Stephan, which boasts the world's biggest church organ. One of the best ways to enjoy the magic of Passau is with a sightseeing tour by ship.
Prague, the capitol of the Czech Republic and Stredocesky (Central Bohemia), is a city of history unlike any other major European city. Unscathed by bombing during World War II, many of its old buildings stand as testimony to the events that occurred here.
Rüdesheim is a small, very quaint "Bavarian" village in Germany on the Rhine River. Points of interest include the Asbach Brandy Distillery, Cable-car to Niederwald Monument, Medieval Museum of Torture, a Falconry and many wine festivals throughout the year.
How is it that Vienna's mood manages to be at once so sanguinary and so sanguine? Somehow the city's fondness for the morbid and the bizarre never seems at odds with its sunny stability. Rather, all Vienna works the way its graveyards and its Graben work. The order here is rich, organic, and complex. Death takes its place alongside life, the old alongside the new, the eccentric alongside the conventional, the mad alongside the sane.
Even the city's geography is orderly in an organic, inspiriting way. Vienna is a series of concentric circles, or, more accurately, half circles, rippling outward from its center in the inner town (where Vienna began as the ancient Roman camp of Vindobona) to the Vienna Woods themselves, which are the ultimate foothills and fingerlings of the Alps. At the nucleus, the first district, you find this vigorous hodgepodge of old and new, sublimity and grotesquerie, urbanity and coziness. Around it, in a protective and officious circle, there is the Ringstrasse, a collection of public and private buildings, all planned nearly simultaneously (in the mid nineteenth century) on an enormous scale. The buildings are charmless but imposing, and they were all designed as though they were theatrical sets, with an eye to the illustrious past: fake Renaissance for the university, fake early Baroque for the Burgtheater (the Baroque being the period when common-
ers joined with the gentry in flocking to the theater), fake Gothic for the Votive Church and the Town Hall (since the medieval commune represented the source of Viennese government), fake Greek for the democratic institution of Parliament. At once expansive and forbidding, the Ringstrasse hems in the vibrant inner town and formalizes it. It
was built where the fortress walls of Vienna once stood, and even today it acts as a sort of wall, inside which the city carries on with the appropriate metropolitan bustle, and outside which Vienna can sprawl and relax and indulge itself. Small wonder that the next ring beyond the Ringstrasse, the Gurtel, is best known as the circle where streetwalkers ply their trade.
Beyond Gurtel, Vienna fans out into neighborhoods, pleasant, almost bucolic districts that retain the character of their past lives as quaint Austrian villages. There are workers' regions (including the beautiful and still-functioning Karl Marx-Hof housing project, built during the utopian twenties, when the city was often referred to as Red Vienna) and posh residential areas. Good mansion viewing can be had in the nineteenth district, where you can and should visit the Gey-muller-Schlossel. Although its clock collection is its gratest draw, the Geymuller-Schlossel is one of Vienn'a most delicious repositories of Biedermeier furniture, the igenious and beautiful stuff made to amuse the upper middle class during the early nineteenth century.
Intersecting trade routes, a favorable climate, fertile soil and a primary waterway brought wealth to Würzburg from the early Middle Ages. Symbols of this wealth-and the artistry it bought-are what still attract visitors: the massive, medieval Fortress Marienberg that towers over the city; the Residenz, arguably the most ornate Baroque palace in Germany; St. Kilian's Cathedral, with its Romanesque exterior and splendidly Rococo interior; and Neumünster Church.
Today, Würzburg, the northern terminus of the Romantic Road, is a surprisingly cosmopolitan Bavarian city filled with architectural and artistic treasures-and exquisite Franconian wine.
Those who make the trip to Würzburg are generally surprised by its warmth, charm and extensive variety of art, architecture and culture. Würzburg's prime location on the Main makes for delightful strolls along the promenade, and riverfront cafes overflow in good weather. Sightseeing boats offer sightseeing excursions and trips to neighboring villages, and passenger ships plying the Rhine, Main and Danube make the city a prime stop.
Würzburg lies in the heart of Franconian Wine Region, and wine and wine-making are central to life in Würzburg. In autumn, the hills surrounding Würzburg and throughout Franconia are dotted with grape pickers, who fill baskets and dump them into waiting trailers.
Outside$6110.00
Balcony$7510.00
Suite$9610.00
All our holidays are subject to availability. The prices shown are correct at the time of going to print – with all prices and upgrades per person for twin share (excluding ES Single Stateroom) in US$. Please call for details on single supplements (there is no supplement for ES Single Stateroom). The deposit required is $500 per person, with full payment required 90 days prior to departure. Itineraries, inclusions and ships operating a particular cruise are subject to change.
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