Budget European Travel by Cruise Ship

Budget Travel - 
What Comes to Mind

The next #WeekendWanderlust twitter chat will take place Tonight Thursday August 9th at 9 PM  Eastern time. This week’s questions are all about Europe travel.

Preparing for this week's chat, we gave that question some serious thought.  Most likely the first thing that comes to mind is backpacking across Europe, traveling by rail, and staying in hostels.  That's fine if you are in your early twenty's but after that, we doubt that would be your preferred method of travel.

Cruising Europe

We can't argue that backpacking across Europe is the epitome of budget travel, but for those that can no longer travel in that fashion, the next best thing could be seeing Europe by cruise ship.   If you are coming from the United States, the cost of air travel will be your largest component.   Since it is a fixed cost, no matter what you do upon arrival in Europe, we will not factor that into our budget assessment.

We'll use a Baltic cruise for an example on how cruising in Europe can be budget travel.  A typical Baltic itinerary will have about 7 or 8 ports of call.   If you were to visit those same ports by making your own travel arrangements, it would most likely include several flights between the various destinations, which as we've already mentioned could add significant cost to the trip.   Likewise, you would need to have lodging in each destination.

With a cruise, your lodging and transportation between countries is already included in the price.  Meals and entertainment are also included, all of which would have been extras if sight seeing on your own.

Exploring Ports

There are many ways to explore the countries that the ship visits.  There are several options which fall in the budget travel category.  We'll explore some of those which we used during a past cruise to the region.

The picture above is a "hop-on-hop-off" bus.   With this form of transportation you can typically start the tour when you get off the ship and conclude back at the ship, making a circle around the port city.  For one low price, usually around $20 USD, you have the option to get on and off the bus as many times as you like to see points of interest along the route.  This is how we toured Copenhagen for example.

In several of our ports, there were shuttles from the ship that would take us into town.  In Stockholm, we took the shuttle and then after a short walk, we were able to book a boat excursion "Under the Bridges of Stockholm".  This two hour tour was one of the highlights of the cruise.   We also used the shuttle method to go to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen for an evening at the amusement park.

In many ports of call, it was possible to simply walk to nearby attractions.  Such was the case in Bergen, Norway.   In this picture, we walked to the Fløibanen Funicular, one of Bergen's most popular attractions. Ride the tramway to the top for views of the entire area.

If you decide to have a meal while in port, for example in Bergen,  you have a full range of choices from the choices for the budget minded to expensive.   Perhaps something in the fish market would give you a taste of Bergen on the budget side.

The great thing about cruising is that it is all about choice.   The cruise lines offer excursions, which typically cost more than if you organize the same tour on your own.  The benefit to the ship's tours is that you don't have to plan anything and also, they are responsible for getting you back to the ship on time.  Which ever way you decide to go, you have already saved money by not having to pay for hotels, meals, entertainment and additional transportation during your multi-port visit.

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Walking Tour Cologne

Avalon Artistry II

in Cologne

Germany

Our morning tour began shortly after breakfast.  We departed the ship in groups as usual and headed for town.

Cologne (German Köln) is Germany's fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River, less than eighty kilometres from Belgium. The city's famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. (click on images).

One of the few remaining parts of Cologne, dating back to the Middle Ages, is located not far from the beautiful Romanesque St. Martin Church. There are many interesting and colourful old town houses which date back to between the 14th and 17th Centuries. Cologne was heavily bombed during The Second World War. Fortunately those charming Gothic buildings were not affected. The modern day fish market is a charming blend of inns and pubs.

Our guide lead us to the Cologne Cathedral at which time we were allowed to explore at our leisure. We had to be back on board the ship for lunch by 12:30 PM The ship sailed shortly after that.

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page

 

Cologne Walking Tour

Cologne Cathedral (Interior)

Cologne Cathedral (exterior)

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Bernkastel Wine Tasting

click images to enlarge

Avalon Waterways 

River Cruise

Provided Front-Row

View to Wine Country

A short 15 minute walk over the bridge from where our ship was docked and we were at a local Vinothek for a complimentary wine tasting event.   This wasn't your typical wine tasting with just a few varieties.

VinoThek

Upon entering the VinoThek, we were given a German Pretzel (bretzel), handed an empty wine glass, and directed to the wine cellar downstairs.

Bernkastel and the surrounding Moselle River valley is most noted for Riesling wines, so those were predominantly the wines we tasted.  There were a few red varieties for those that prefer red wine.

As you can see in the picture, the wines were displayed in bins with descriptive signs overhead.   Each variety was numbered and a chilled barrel contained one bottle for each variety.

You could pour as little or as much wine into your glass for tasting.   It was best to cleanse the pallet between tastings by taking a bite of your pretzel.   We quickly lost track of how many wines we tasted.   I think there were more than twenty that we sampled.   Someone would ask if we tried number 25, and we'd have to try that of course.

Finally, we narrowed down our search to two different bottles.   We opted for the high-residual sugar varieties which were very sweet.   Not being able to make up our minds, we bought both bottles.   Avalon allows you to bring them back on board and consume them in your cabin without charge or you can bring them to the dining room and pay a corkage fee.

We almost skipped this complimentary event because we had a long day and thought about relaxing before dinner.   Do not miss this wine tasting event - it was one of the cruise highlights.

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page

Bernkastel - Wine Tasting

Click on the image to the right for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc 

Taste of Bernkastel

click on image to enlarge

Enjoy Shopping in Bernkastel

The beautiful historical buildings of Bernkastel-Kues invite you to come and take a gentle stroll through the streets and cobbled lanes. Another incentive for exploring the town is to discover its various shops, which tempt passers-by to come in and take a look at the fascinating and diverse ranges of items on offer.

 Relax in One of the Shops

When we walked into one of the local bakeries, we knew that we had to try one of the pastries.  As we expected, it was quite tasty.

We suggest sampling the local foods when you are on walking tours.  If you aren't hungry, you can always bring something back to the ship for an afternoon snack (as if you can't get enough food on board).


Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page
 

Bernkastel - Walking Tour

Click on the image to the right for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc

Good Morning Bernkastel

click images to enlarge

Arriving in Bernkastel, Germany

Artistry II arrived in Bernkastel around 8 AM giving us the opportunity to capture some images as we first saw this beautiful region.

Walking Tour 

A local guide would meet us at 9 AM for a walk around the small but pretty village.   Because the other guides were running late, we were divided into two groups.  The other guides would join us during the tour in progress.

 Market Place

The entire Moselle Valley is famous for its beautiful and tranquil scenery, and in the middle of this region is the charming wine village of Bernkastel with its well-preserved half-timbered houses that have stood since the Middle Ages. We enjoy a guided walk from our ship that included the beautiful marketplace with its renaissance-style Town Hall and the “pointed house,” built in 1416.

Rathaus (City Hall)

Today's City Hall facade is a magnificent work of the late German Renaissance of the Trier sculptor RH Hoffmann (built 1608).

St. Michael's Fountain

The heart of the market place dates back to 1606, and is dedicated to the archangel Michael, who, standing with one foot on a dragon, holds a sword and scales in his hands. St. Michael is the patron saint of the town.

During our free time in Bernkastel, we had some unexpected entertainment. First there was a couple playing Alphorns and then a Yodeling Group performed in the Market Place. We take you to Bernkastel market place live in this video:

   

Rhine & Moselle River Cruise (Play all videos)

Video Diary of Avalon Rhine & Moselle River Cruise on Artistry II. This was a 13 day river cruise that started in Zurich, Switzerland and concluded in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 
Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:

Bernkastel - Walking Tour

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc
   

Late Afternoon Tour of Mainz

click on images to enlarge

Home of the Printed Word

After all passengers returned from the morning excursion to Heidelberg, the Artistry II set sail for Mainz, Germany.  The schedule allowed for up to 2.5 hours of individual touring of the city.

Possibilities included a stroll thru the old town center, a visit to the Gutenberg Museum, shopping, or our choice of visiting the Church of St. Stephen with its stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall.

Strolling Thru Mainz

On Our Own

Johannes Gutenberg was born in early 1400s in Mainz, Germany. He would borrow money to setup a print shop and produce a 42-line Latin Bible. The process of using movable type in a cheap and efficient manner would change the world. The Gutenberg Museum, in the heart of the old town center, has an original copy of the famous bible. The museum was only open until 5 PM so we had to skip visiting it in order to get to the church before it closed for the evening.

Marc Chagall Windows

The highlight of our visit to Mainz, was our visit to the Church of St. Stephen (Stephan) where we saw the gorgeous stained-glass windows of Marc Chagall. 

The Chagall choir windows in St. Stephan are unique in Germany. Between 1978 and his death in 1985, Russian Jewish artist Marc Chagall created nine stained-glass windows of scriptural figures in luminous blue. The figures depict scenes from the Old Testament. 

 Cathedral (Dom)

Mainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical center and market square of the city.  Since it was only about a 20 minute walk back to our ship, we had decided to make that our final stop on our self-guided walking tour.

This 1000-year-old Roman Catholic cathedral is predominantly Romanesque in style, but later exterior additions over many centuries have resulted in the appearance of various architectural influences seen today.

Mainz is a very easy city to explore on foot.  If you only have a limited amount of time for exploration, like we did, we'd suggest picking one or more of the attractions mentioned here.

 
^{Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:}

Mainz - On Our Own
Mainz - St. Stephan
Mainz - Cathedral


Click on the image to the right for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Afternoon Excursion to Colmar

click images to enlarge

Visit to Charming Colmar

Following lunch we boarded a motor coach for the optional excursion to Colmar.  It is best known as the birthplace of the father of the Statue of Liberty, Auguste Bartholdi.  It is one of the most beautiful small towns in France.

Colmar is the third-largest commune of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. The town is situated along the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the "capital of Alsatian wine" capitale des vins d'Alsace. The city is renowned for its well preserved old town, its numerous architectural landmarks and its museums, among which is the Unterlinden Museum with the Isenheim Altarpiece (which we will cover in a separate post: Colmar Unterlinden Museum).

Walking Tour


A maze of cobble stoned streets are lined with centuries old timbered houses, many of them decorated with flowers and other  decorations, like the one pictured above. Among other sites are the following:

Église Saint-Martin – 1234–1365. The largest church of Colmar and one of the largest in Haut-Rhin. Displays some early stained glass windows, several Gothic and Renaissance sculptures and altars, a grand Baroque organ case. The choir is surrounded by an ambulatory opening on a series of Gothic chapels, a unique feature in Alsatian churches. 

Église des Dominicains – 1289–1364. Now disaffected as a church, displays Martin Schongauer's masterwork La Vierge au buisson de roses as well as 14th century stained glass windows and baroque choir stalls. The adjacent convent buildings house a section of the municipal library.

We had some free time after concluding the official tour at the Unterlinden Museum so we decided to have a snack. These meringue cookies were quite tasty. The price was right also; they were only 1 Euro each.

Tip: Make small purchases like these so that you have some small change for guide and bus driver gratuities. Purchasing food or beverages also is a good way to find a free water closet (WC).

 
^{Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:}

Colmar - Walking Tour

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc




 

Budget Travel by Cruise Ship

Budget Travel - 
What Comes to Mind

The next #travelpics will take place Monday, July 21st, 2014, from 3-4pm Eastern time (8-9pm UK time). This week’s questions are all about budget travel.

Preparing for this week's Twitter photo chat, we gave that question some serious thought.  Most likely the first thing that comes to mind is backpacking across Europe, traveling by rail, and staying in hostels.  That's fine if you are in your early twenty's but after that, we doubt that would be your preferred method of travel.

Cruising Europe

We can't argue that backpacking across Europe is the epitome of budget travel, but for those that can no longer travel in that fashion, the next best thing could be seeing Europe by cruise ship.   If you are coming from the United States, the cost of air travel will be your largest component.   Since it is a fixed cost, no matter what you do upon arrival in Europe, we will not factor that into our budget assessment.

We'll use a Baltic cruise for an example on how cruising in Europe can be budget travel.  A typical Baltic itinerary will have about 7 or 8 ports of call.   If you were to visit those same ports by making your own travel arrangements, it would most likely include several flights between the various destinations, which as we've already mentioned could add significant cost to the trip.   Likewise, you would need to have lodging in each destination.

With a cruise, your lodging and transportation between countries is already included in the price.  Meals and entertainment are also included, all of which would have been extras if sight seeing on your own.

Exploring Ports

There are many ways to explore the countries that the ship visits.  There are several options which fall in the budget travel category.  We'll explore some of those which we used during a past cruise to the region.

The picture above is a "hop-on-hop-off" bus.   With this form of transportation you can typically start the tour when you get off the ship and conclude back at the ship, making a circle around the port city.  For one low price, usually around $20 USD, you have the option to get on and off the bus as many times as you like to see points of interest along the route.  This is how we toured Copenhagen for example.

In several of our ports, there were shuttles from the ship that would take us into town.  In Stockholm, we took the shuttle and then after a short walk, we were able to book a boat excursion "Under the Bridges of Stockholm".  This two hour tour was one of the highlights of the cruise.   We also used the shuttle method to go to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen for an evening at the amusement park.

In many ports of call, it was possible to simply walk to nearby attractions.  Such was the case in Bergen, Norway.   In this picture, we walked to the Fløibanen Funicular, one of Bergen's most popular attractions. Ride the tramway to the top for views of the entire area.

If you decide to have a meal while in port, for example in Bergen,  you have a full range of choices from the choices for the budget minded to expensive.   Perhaps something in the fish market would give you a taste of Bergen on the budget side.

The great thing about cruising is that it is all about choice.   The cruise lines offer excursions, which typically cost more than if you organize the same tour on your own.  The benefit to the ship's tours is that you don't have to plan anything and also, they are responsible for getting you back to the ship on time.  Which ever way you decide to go, you have already saved money by not having to pay for hotels, meals, entertainment and additional transportation during your multi-port visit.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc for more ideas.

Images of Mykonos

A Day in Mykonos

Thanks to its proximity to the mainland, Mykonos was one of the first Greek islands to become an international travel destination. During the late '60s and early '70s, it was famed as a haunt for the rich. The island's nightlife is a glittering whirl of colored lights, music, and parties.  But what is Mykonos like when the sun is out?

Come explore with us as we visit this beautiful island in the Greek Isles.

Driving Through the Countryside       (Mykonos Countryside)

Our motorcoach departs the Port of Mykonos where our ship, Star Princess, is anchored.  We begin a scenic drive through the rocky countryside en route to a photo stop along the coast in the town of Agios Ioannis.   Here we explore a quaint little countryside church before continuing our journey to Kalafatis Beach, one of the most beautiful sandy beaches in Greece.

Arriving at Kalafati Beach    (Kalafati Beach)


One of the earliest established beaches, this beautiful bay and long sweeping Kalafati beach has become famous to wind surfers who enjoy a good offshore breeze.  Rows of thatched umbrellas stand guard between us and the turquoise Aegean Sea, but we cannot be denied our romp in the sea.   Kalafati Beach is home to soft sand, crystalline blue waters, and an amazing view of Cape Tarsanas where traces of a prehistoric citadel are preserved.

Panagia Tourliani Monastery    (Panagia Tourliani Monastery)

Panagia Tourliani Monastery, originally built in 1542 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was our next stop. It has impressive architecture, whitewashed exterior and a colored dome which has long charmed visitors from around the world. In the interior of the church, we see an impressive wooden iconostasis (altar screen) made in 1775 by Florentine artists.

Mykonos Town    (Mykonos Walking Tour)

Mykonos town features hip boutiques, restaurants, jewelry stores, souvenirs, taverns and cafés. The island's famed windmills are found just south of the waterfront.  Mykonos is a picturesque town with a labyrinth-like maze of tiny streets, white houses and red-roofed churches.  Our guide led us on a walking tour through the narrow, winding streets introducing us to some of the area's most treasured landmarks before giving us time to explore on our own before returning to the ship.

Making Memories in Mykonos    (Returning to Port of Mykonos)


Words cannot do justice to this picturesque town and surrounding area.  So  we have captured our memories on digital media cards and copied some of those images to our Facebook Fan page.   We invite you to visit our page and "like" us so that you will be notified as we post more photos and continue our story of this 12-Night Greek Isles & Mediterranean Cruise adventure.  The links above will take you to our photo albums.

Come back to visit our blog as we continue our cruise stories ... we will look at each of the above in detail.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Where have you explored? 

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