A cruise along the Danube river has food, wine, great outdoors
On my sailing along the Danube river in Austria on the maiden voyage of the Avalon Passion, time onboard was just as enjoyable as excursions. My stateroom in this Avalon Waterways ship — which launched sailings in April — featured a bed that faced an 11-foot-wide, floorto-ceiling window. Bringing the outside in, we never lost sight of where we were, or Avalon’s new direction: serving fresh local food and getting guests active outdoors.
The quirky culinary duo, the Wrenkh brothers, were brought in to design the new locally sourced food program, “Avalon Fresh,” which will be available on all of the river cruise line’s ships by 2017. The young local stars are at the helm of Austria’s top vegetarian restaurant, WRENKH, and a cooking school where classes include forest harvests and herb hikes.
Avalon’s new “Active Discovery” program has guests hiking, biking and canoeing between ports along the idyllic Danube and taking in local landscapes from vistas and hard-won views achieved from hikes, versus a glimpse from the back of a bus. These more active itineraries will likely appeal to a younger, more active demographic.
We started our Austrian cruise on the Avalon Passion in Vienna, home of Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss. We took in the sights of the city by biking like a local as part of the ship’s “Biking and Polaroid” tour, hitting key stops like the Museum Quarter, the neo-gothic Town Hall, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Danube Island and the Ferris Wheel.
We also saw Hundertwasserhaus — a colorful Viennese apartment house that was designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser together with architect Joseph Krawina.