Once upon a time we rattled our way to Oktoberfest on a clanky Top Deck Aussie/Kiwi booze bus… age means these days it would be the Romantic Road through Bavaria.
No more cramping into a bunk on the reconstituted double decker and cooking cheek by jowl on the tiny stove downstairs.
Not to mention tipping the contents of our bladders into the booze bucket and on to the Autobahn below.
Now we can’t guarantee that there will be no Twentysomething Aussies and Kiwis and one misplaced Scot on board with Travalue.ie.
But they will guarantee you a luxury coach and river cruise seven-nighter from €3,049 pps from September 29-October 6.
Palace on the water
You’ll get flown into Germany and taken by coach to Mainz to embark on your cruise ship.
But first, of course, you’ll need to visit the Gutenberg Museum, to pay tribute to Oul Johannes, the Father of the Printing Press.
Without which your favourite travel blogger would have no scribbling career.
Mainz boasts the Gutenberg Museum, which possesses two 1455 Gutenberg Bibles, among the first books ever printed.
Now there’s nothing in there as far as we can remember from Bible class.
And plenty in favour, of wine and maybe beer with both flowing (some things never change).
While you’ll get a lesson in the German resepticles, no not the Steins although there are no shortage, but in glassblowing.
As you cruise towards Miltenberg and continue to quaint Wertheim.
Baroque and roll
All a world away from our booze bus, of course.
But one we got a glimpse into as we made our way, budget style, to our beerhalls.
And glimpse these river palaces through Bavaria.
For a real bricks on the ground palace the jewel in Wurzburg’s is the Baroque Residenz.
It was originally conceived to rival the Palace of Versailles in scale.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it features one of Germany’s most spectacularly ornate staircases .
And dozens of interconnecting rooms adorned with gorgeous frescoes, priceless tapestries, sculptures and paintings.
Hills and thrills
As for the Romantic Road for which the Travalue package is billed.
It’s a route “made up of a spellbinding procession of folkloric scenery, medieval towns, lofty castles and grand palaces, so picture-perfect they could all serve as film sets.”
Your carriage, OK, your boat will arrive at gorgeous Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Crowning a hill with glorious views over the meandering river Tauber below.
And the old town is cradled within immaculately preserved walls.
And there’s time to explore its narrow, cobbled streets lined with tall gabled half-timbered houses.
Mini-Rome in Germany
If it’s UNESCO sites you’re after then 11th-century Bamberg, billed as a mini-Rome as it sits on seven lush green hills, will be on your list.
While Bamberg also boasts a ‘Little Venice’ – a delightful cluster of former fishermen’s houses built along the waterfront, mostly dating from the Middle Ages.
On board we’re promised the best hospitality, a ‘Chef’s Dinner’.
And Bavarian dance and songs performed on traditional instruments by a skilled trio.
Nuremberg trail
Your last stop will be Nuremberg which, yes is known for that.
But also for its football team whose supporters I met in taking in a Bayern Munich back then on that Oktoberfest trip.
But also for its rebuilt castle (the Germans are good at this sort of thing) and famous gingerbread,.
And they can turn out a mean gingerbread house too.
All of which is better taken in on the Romantic Road through Bavaria.
Rather than on a rickety booze bus with thirsty and rowdy Aussies, Kiwis and a single lost Scot.
