Messing about on the river
EVER since my first river cruise some years ago, I knew it was the way to go. The joy of checking into your cabin, unpacking your stuff once and moving from city to city without any hassle is hard to beat. I boarded the AmaMagna in Austria and knew straight away fun was to be had. Our fellow passengers had already been on board for a few days and were all in good spirits. One gentleman that I spoke to said he hadn’t one criticism or complaint and would most definitely be coming back. Another couple were on their 53rd AmaWaterways trip.
Co-founded in 2002 by Vienna-born Rudi Schreiner, Kristin Karst and Irish American Jimmy Murphy, AmaWaterways brings the luxury to river cruising. The AmaMagna was launched in 2019 and is twice the size of normal river cruise boats but still with only 196 passengers and 70 friendly and helpful crew. My suite was vast and opulent with a lovely balcony and a high comfy bed, ideal for kicking back and watching the stunning vistas.
Basilicas, castles and vineyards line the Danube and the great thing about river cruising is that the boats are small enough to get in close to the city or town. This cruise commenced in Passau, Germany but we joined it in Spitz, a picturesque Austrian town known for its vineyard and castle.
It’s well worth getting out and about to explore. You can do your own thing or avail of one of the daily excursions provided by AmaWaterways. All abilities are catered for including biking trips for the most active. After my few days on board and all the food and wine consumed, I was realistically only fit for the slowest walking tours. If crawling had been an option, I’d have gone with it.
We opted for the panoramic tour of Vienna. What a beautiful city.
Around every corner there’s a stunning edifice. The Hofburg Palace is huge. It began as a modest building but over the years has expanded into a lavish palace right up to when the Hapsburgs fell from power in 1918. The famous Lipizzner horses are bred at the stud farm at Piber, outside Vienna, but when they are four years old they are brought into the Spanish Riding School in the grounds of the Hofburg.
There’s so much to see. So many coffees and Sachertortes to linger over and so many concerts to choose from. We passed the house where Strauss was born and the Café Landtmann where Sigmund Freud liked to sit and sip. Austrians sit for hours over a coffee.
Walk done and appetite whetted, it was back on board to dine. The food is sublime and the choice is vast. With a capacity of under 200 people, the choice of four different restaurants is way above the norm. The main restaurant has a choice of cold and hot starters and main courses celebrating the fare of the country we were passing through. Jimmy’s Wine bar and restaurant, named after the cofounder Jimmy Murphy, who sadly passed away a few years ago, (his son is now senior vice president of sales) with its high tables is more of a family dining experience where I devoured the most divine prawn risotto ever.
We indulged ourselves in the chef’s table on one of the nights. Carrot and ginger soup, followed by skin grilled pike perch with citrus sauce, celery mash and Beluga lentil ragout, followed by rum raisin crumble and vanilla ice cream was all divine. Wines are paired with every course. Ursula, our waitress, who studied film in Oxford had impeccable English and was great fun. One of our gang chose to avail of the spa facilities in the Zen Wellness Studio and deemed it excellent at €60. I on the other hand chose to chill out with my glass of wine and book in the lounge, with the pianist gently lulling me into my own zen.
For the more active, there are spinning classes and circuit training at no extra cost. There was a message on our newsletter asking people not to go jogging on deck before 8 in the morning. No chance of me breaking that rule.
Budapest was our final destination and another Danube jewel.
We took a tour up to Matthias Church. Located on top of Buda Castle Hill, it provides panoramic views of the city. It’s a stunning neo-Gothic building filled with treasures. The Chain bridge connects the two original cities, Buda and Pest united into one city in 1873. Pest is bustling and colourful. ‘Ruin’ Bars have become the rage here in fairly recent times. Abandoned spaces have been converted into bars and the locals have been very creative in repurposing these spots. Second-hand furniture and home-made decorations make for a very quirky environment.
Szimpla Kert was the first of these back in 2004 and they have taken off since.
Every time I came back on board after a trip out, I felt I had returned home. Because the numbers on board aren’t huge, there’s a great sense of belonging and ‘family’.
When we boarded the boat originally, the captain exhorted us to watch the safety video in our suites. I did as I was told.
Now the guy playing one of the guests was divine. A silver-haired fox. I played the video more than once. By the end of the trip I could have saved everyone in the unlikely event of an emergency.
There was a woman with him in the video but when I questioned her validity as his wife, Robert, one of the staff members on board assured me she wasn’t and was only an actress.
I spent the rest of the trip hoping he’d turn up. Futile I know, but we can all dream. I imagine Robert has my face committed to memory.
I’ll be back on another AmaWaterways cruise for lots of reasons, not least to try to locate your man on the safety video.