Rhine River Cruise. Switzerland, France & Germany

Firstly departing on Eurostar from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, with a local road transfer to Gare du Lyon and then onto the high speed train à grande vitesse to Basel in Switzerland. A very nice way to travel....at a stately 196 mph at times through France on the TGV.

This journey followed by embarkation upon the MS Geoffrey Chaucer, operated by Riviera travel, in Basel on the river Rhine.

Our first and rather spectacular excursion took place on the next day...a visit to pretty Lucerne followed by a mountain visit to Schynigge Platte.

The rather lovely city of Lucerne sits on the edge of the lake. It is dominated by the covered wooden Kapellbrucke footbridge crossing the river Reuss there. The bridge's origins are 700 years old, festooned in flowers and decorated with paintings. It was badly fire damaged in 1993, however, it has been restored beautifully.

We then set off for Wilderswil in the Bernese Oberland, taking the cog railway from there, climbing up along 7 miles of track up to the Schynigge Platte. Time was fairly limited there, but we did get the chance for a brisk 1.5 mile walk at 2000 meters....with magnificent views of the Eiger and Jungfrau regions. We made it back just in time to the station for the return descent....otherwise we could have had an extra day there!

This time the river sailing was downstream with the flow towards the North sea as such. The following day we berthed in Breisach am Rhein, Germany...and took an excursion to the spa lakeside town of Titisee. The popular town there is located in the southern Black Forest region.

Strasbourg, France next...the centre of which is actually an island, surrounded by building fringed canals. Made of pink sandstone, the Notre Dame Cathedral dominates the skyline. The astronomical clock inside the cathedral is described as a Renaissance masterpiece...indeed it is...and it is a functioning, head turning, piece of art. Other attractions seen included Pont Couverts, Petit France and Maison Kammerzell.

We visited Speyer, Germany the following morning..with another major cathedral to be seen. There are an abundance of churches present in this compact city. The afternoon sailing was a lovely part of this voyage, it started perfectly taking lunch in the restaurant at the stern of the ship...and looking out over the Rhine as we cruised along.. We overnighted in Rudesheim. Rudesheim: Opening with a morning town walk and continued with an uphill trek to the Niederwald Monument,a 38m tall structure built to commemorate the unification of Germany after the Franco Prussian war of 1871. The views over the Rhine are worth the effort. We then sailed by the famous Loreley rock in a narrow part of the river to arrive in Koblenz later in the day. We took a couple of walks there in the afternoon and in the evening. Koblenz lies at the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle rivers. It is known as German corner and a huge statue of Emperor Wilhelm I adorns the rivers' edge.

After passing the remains of the historic bridge at Remagen, the final cruise day ended in Cologne, Germany. The Cologne Cathedral, or Dom, is renowned for holding the shrine of The Three Wise Men therewithin. A staggeringly large cathedral, it is the third highest in the world. A beer in the main square and a bit of shopping for rye bread and senf prepared us for the trip home.

Having visited the Danube so recently, one naturally compares the rivers. It is hard to do! Certainly, the latter part of this cruise was populated by many stunning Schlosses (castles).. however, contrary to that, the Rhine is much more of a working river serving the industrial heart of Germany and Europe with many factories and powerplants nearby too.

The ship is very well appointed, with super efficient staff...and again it was a very smooth operation overall.

The trip home involved a bus to Brussels and then the Eurostar train back home to London.